I thought of a third title: "In which I try to convince you to agree with my taste in books." Which, by the way, I am not trying to do at all so it wouldn't be a terribly accurate title. The second option isn't very accurate, either. Cheryl just likes to say that I'm trying to be pretentious when I read bestsellers and such. In fact, I read this for two reasons and two reasons only. Neither of which involve pretention or the fact that this fits in with my usual genre. My usual genre, just for reference, is science fiction and fantasy.
The first reason I read this was because my friend had read it for one of his classes at Stanford (and yes, I do mean that Stanford) and recommended it to me, saying that I would enjoy it. I can't remember what I said to him at the time, possibly something non-committal because I didn't really read non-fiction much at all. I don't even watch the news. That probably would have been the end of it in all liklihood but the title stuck with me. Omnivore's Dilemma. And then the second thing happened. I figured that if I was going to break the rules of the store at which I work and read at the counter when I'd finished my other work I should read something intellectual and it just so happened that that day we'd gotten in a new copy of the Omnivore's Dilemma. And that's why I read it.
At least. That's why I started to read it. I continued to read it because I was hooked from the very first page. Just like a good fantasy novel that I picked up and couldn't put down this book grabbed me almost from the moment I opened it and though I've long since finished reading it still hasn't let me go.
Why should you read it, though? You want to know the answer to that question. And I'll answer, like many of the teachers you probably found annoying in school, with a question. Why do you eat? Do you eat because you have to? Is food just a fuel for your body? Do you eat because you enjoy it? Do you hate eating but do it anyway? Do you eat to comfort yourself? Whatever reason you have for eating you still have to do it and since you have to you should at least think about what it is you're putting into your body and where it comes from.
Omnivore's Dilemma follows the course of not one but four unique meals back to their various sources. The book explores the golden sea of corn lurking in so many processed foods under mysterious names like maltodextrin and in things you wouldn't imagine contained corn at all. Like your steak dinner that was most likely raised on a giant Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation eating a diet of corn. He also talks about all of that organic food you see in supermarkets and what about your diet you should actually change if you want to reduce your carbon footprint.
I could talk on and on about the subjects that the book covers. I could tell you how it made me feel and how it opened my eyes. I don't really want to do that. I just want to get you across the two biggest hurdles preventing you from reading this book. It's long. It's non-fiction. It looks like it's going to be hard to read. It's also not even out in massmarket print yet so it's expensive. In the store it's going to run you about sixteen dollars for a (as my father would call it) "big paperback" or that I have learned they are called in the industry "trade sized paperback". You can get it for less than six dollars used online. And it is definitely worth it no matter how much (or little) you pay for it.
I will agree that it is long and it is non-fiction. It does contain some large words but none any longer than the ones on the back of your cereal box or the chicken nuggets you have in your freezer. The author also writes as though he's talking to you. The style is very easy to read and all the long words are typically explained immediately. For a book about food it has a surprising amount of action and the subject matter is so interesting and near and dear to all of us that you wont want to stop reading.
So why not read it? It's interesting. It's pretty easy to read. It's a subject you are probably endlessly fascinated by if it comes in culinary form. You'll learn something. And you can go to Amazon right now and spend six dollars to get it. I even provided you with a link above so you have no excuses.
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