The author asks a simple question,
“What do we eat for dinner tonight?” and its follow up, “Where are we going to
get the food?” He then traces three food
chains from the natural environment to the family meal explaining evolution
(natural selection as it relates to plant and animals), growth (or food, as
well as industry), and government involvement (how rules help some and strap
others): 1) the industrialized, corn-fed,
hormone and antibiotic treated meal; 2) the farmer, organic, unnecessary
government-ruled, meal; and 3) the hunted and gathered meal from the wild. The story is fascinating in how much we don’t
know about government subsidies and how those affect the market and treatment
of plants and animals. He also explains
how our food has changed to have less nutrients and its impact on obesity. In
the end, Pollan doesn’t say one meal is better or worse, but he does say once
in a while we can eat the McDonald’s meal, but we should also, once in a while,
eat the hunted and gathered meal (the “perfect meal”) as well.