Pollan Discussion Questions

What is the “omnivore’s dilemma”?  What does this mean in the modern era?  How does Pollan try to address the difficulties it poses?

What are the three food chains the book examines?  Why did Pollan choose to concentrate on these?  What do they represent?

What makes corn such a successful plant species?  How has it been adapted to become a critical part of industrial agriculture?  What other innovations made this type of farming possible?

How did federal government policy contribute to increased, industrial corn production?  How does the “Naylor Curve” explain this?

What are the environmental and social consequences of industrial agriculture, from growing corn to maintaining feedlots to wet milling?  Do the consequences outweigh the benefits?

What does Pollan mean by the “industrial meal”?  What is in it?  How is it prepared?  Why is it so ubiquitous and nominally cheap?

What does Joel Salatin refer to himself as a “grass farmer”?  What role does it play in food production at Polyface farm?  How does this make it different from George Naylor’s farm?

What does “organic” mean?  Why is that not necessarily the same thing as “sustainable”?  How has organic farming been industrialized?  Is this good or bad for the environment and society?

What is “management-intensive grazing”?  What are its origins?  What makes it sustainable?  How does it conflict with the methods and logic of industrial agriculture? 

How does distribution happen in industrial and alternative agriculture?   What are the similarities and what are the differences?  Why is this important?

What did Pollan learn from hunting and gathering his own “perfect meal”?  What made it perfect?  How does he incorporate this into his critique of modern industrial food production?

What are the arguments for vegetarianism?  How does Pollan respond?  Are you convinced more by one or the other?  Why or why not?