Chapter four of Omnivore’s Dilemma goes into grave detail when it comes to the poor conditions of life as a cow. Most individuals had an idea that a cow’s life wasn’t the greatest, but Pollan takes it three steps further. This chapter goes into detail in the process of turning corn into meat. As a result, tons of cows are not living full and healthy lives. Pollan describes how cows must live off of excess corn instead of natural grass. Corn is commonly overproduced and instead of wasting it, individuals feed it to cows in order to use all our resources and save some money in the process. Again, everything comes down to corporations ensuring that their money is top priority, doing everything in their power to ensure this money is only increasing. It is true that many consumers do not have a care in the world whether or not cows are hurt in the process of meat production, but maybe these people would care a little more if they knew how these diseases could in fact hurt their own health. Cows are not use to an “excess corn diet.” Therefore, they get sick. When cows get sick, they must take supplements and antibiotics. These medications increase the chances of diseases and not to mention cost more money than no antibiotics at all. Overall, a natural diet of grass is not only better for the lives of cows, but also makes it less likely the consumer will fall to disease after consuming this unnatural industrial meat.
I never thought I could learn about the food industry in even more disgust than when I had watched Food Inc. I was clearly wrong. Before tonight, I focused all my concern on the effect these diseases have on the consumers. Never did I imagine what role the cows played in this entire scenario. This past chapter of Omnivore’s Dilemma opened my eyes to many more perspectives when it comes to the hidden secrets corporations try to prevent the public from knowing about. I am now not solely concerned on how humans are distressed. If cows went back to simply eating natural grass instead of excess corn, what the consumers would be consuming would be much healthier. Everything unhealthy and unnatural about the excess corn fed to cows is passed onto the consumer, us!
Pollan basically mimics the idea I was trying to express in my past blog regarding Food, Inc. “It takes a lot of “not knowing” about how industrial beef is made to enjoy it. Or forgetting once you do know” (83). I don’t think this concept could be explained any clearer. Just because we all watched the film on how bad meat is for us and read Pollan’s beginning chapters certainly does not mean we are all going to stop eating meat. As I look back on what I have eaten in the past few days, I will be honest and admit I ate meat without even remembering the past film. Individuals cannot change their eating habits overnight and some, after 19 years of eating meat, cannot change them at all.
- Do you think cows should continue to be fed excess corn or go back to natural grass?
- Do you support my idea of many consumers either forgetting or not caring about how industrial beef is made?
- After watching Food Inc. and/or reading chapter 4 of Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, do you think differently about eating meat?
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