50 pages • 1 hour read
Michael PollanThe Omnivore's Dilemma
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2006A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Key Figures
Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan (1955) is an American journalist and researcher. Pollan’s work is concerned with the interplay between humans and the natural world. His works have explored everything from gardening, architecture, botany, cooking, and narcotics. He is the King Professor of Science and Environmental Journalism at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Pollan received the Washburn Award from the Boston Museum of Science and was granted the title of fellow at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. He was given the James Beard Leadership Award and Genesis Award from the Humane Society of the United States.
Pollan’s work has influenced many other nonfiction writers and researchers, including Samin Nosrat. However, his work has received some criticism for being too reductionist concerning the agriculture industry. Pollan’s most recent words—How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence and This Is Your Mind on Plants—explore the effects of psychedelics and other mind-altering drugs on humans. Although these works have received a handful of negative reviews, they have been applauded for their treatment of the controversial topic.
Fritz Haber
Fritz Haber (1868-1934) was a German chemist who invented the Haber-Bosch process. The Haber-Bosch method enabled scientists to synthesize ammonia from nitrogen gas. Haber’s research had profound effects for the agricultural industry, enabling a new wave of large-scale fertilizers to be produced and distributed. Haber’s invention also contributed to the creation of explosives, and he has been called the “father of chemical warfare.”
Haber received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 and the Rumford Medal in 1932. Pollan credits the Haber-Bosch process with the boom in human population, stating that “two of every five humans on earth today would not be alive if not for Fritz Haber’s invention” (43). Haber’s reputation is marred by the association of his work with modern warfare. In fact, the discovery of Zyklon B by Haber was used in the gas chambers of Hitler’s concentration camps. Haber, a Jewish man, fled Germany in the 1930s.
Joel Salatin
Joel Salatin (b. 1957) is an American farmer and writer. Salatin boasts unconventional farming practices on Polyface Farm in Swoope, Virginia. Salatin emphasizes biodiversity on his farm and refuses to ship his produce beyond a local range. The 550-acre farm uses pasture to raise animals in a symbiotic cycle of health and sustainability. Salatin has written many books including Everything I Want to Do is Illegal: War Stories from the Local Food Front and Folks, This Ain’t Normal: A Farmer’s Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World.
Pollan states that Salatin refers to himself as a “Christian-conservative-libertarian-environmentalist-lunatic farmer” (125). Salatin is known for speaking bluntly about his views, and his career is not without controversy: In August 2020, Mother Earth News severed ties with Salatin after a blog post that some deemed racially divisive.
Wendell Berry
Wendell Berry (b. 1934) is an American writer and activist. Although Berry is well-known for his poetry, he has written numerous novels and essays with agrarian themes. He has received the National Humanities Medal and the 2013 Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award. The eco-conscious writer has written over thirty books that emphasize a connection with nature and agriculture. Born in Kentucky, the writer still resides in the state and has advocated for the importance of locality and staying home.
Throughout The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Pollan references Wendell Berry. The poet’s philosophies closely align with the message that Pollan promotes in his work. Berry, who was raised by parents who believed in the Biblical principle of caring for the land, takes a spiritual view of farming. He criticizes the modern agricultural industry for separating culture from farming. Pollan’s work explores this idea further by breaking down the way industrialized agriculture disconnects people from nature.
Related Titles
By Michael Pollan
