Read 'n' Seed 2: First quarter of Omnivore's Dilemma

First Quarter: Industrial: Corn

Chapters 1-7

Pages 15-109

This sections explains where our food comes from and how it is produced.  Corn is in 1/4 of the foods we eat.  The book starts by explaining the history of corn and how is has come to be in 14 of the foods we consume today. Pollan covers many disturbing topics from mass production, processed foods, feed lots, obesity, subsidizing, and all of the politics behind it.  

There were many amazing facts brought up in this section of the book. A few that I thought were really interesting were: 

Facts

• Early in the twentieth century American corn breeders figured out how to bring corn reproduction under control and to protect the seed from copiers this eventually lead to the seed patents.  Soybeans are also found in 2/3 of all processed foods.  
• Government spends up to $5 billion dollars a year subsidizing cheap corn.
• When you add together the natural gas in the fertilizer to the fossil fuels it takes to make the pesticides, drive the tractors, and harvest, dry, and transport the corn, you find that every bushel of industrial corn requires the equivalent of between a quarter and a third of a gallon of oil to grow it-- or around fifty gallons of oil per acre of corn.  
• According to the surgeon general, obesity today is officially an epidemic costing the health care system an estimated $90 billion dollars a year.  
• Three of every five Americans are overweight.
• The United Nations reported that in 2000 the number of people suffering from overnutrition --a billion-- had officially surpassed the number suffering from malnutrition-- 800 million.  
• 19% of American meals are eaten in the car.

Implications:

The things I have learned in the book so far are very disturbing and shocking.  We should care where are food comes from and we should care how our technology has effected our society.  Even though Americans are over weight the Government and food industries keep pumping cheap corn into every food product they can in order to make a profit. We need to take control of our own lives and make better choices for ourselves and for the environment.  When we buy processed food products, fast food, meat, ect. we are saying that we agree with what is being done in the food industry and that we want it to continue.  I am as guilty as anyone but reading this book is making me think twice before purchasing these items.