APES- Reading Guide- Part #1 The Omnivores Dilemma by Michael Pollan Reading Guide Instructions: For each of the

statements listed below: DISCUSS the meaning of the statement, give your reaction and give an example from the book.

Introduction: Our National Eating Disorder

Pg. 1- What Should We Have For Dinner? How did we ever get to a point where we need investigative journalists to tell us where our food comes from and nutritionists to determine the dinner menu? This question comes from the author stating that the average American does know much about their food. I agree with this because it is true within many families. An example would be the bread staple on the first page. Pg. 5- Certainly the extraordinary abundance of food in America complicates the whole problem of choice The meaning is the more choices we have, the less we know about our food. It is true in my opinion.

Americans have never had a single, strong, stable culinary tradition to guide us Compared to other nations that have long cultures that spread throughout their food, U.S.A. does not have one. I have noticed this whenever I go to eat at restaurants. There is limited American food.

Pg. 10- By replacing solar energy with fossil fuel, by raising millions of food animals in close

confinement, by feeding ourselves those animals foods they never evolved to eat, and by feeding ourselves foods far more novel than we even realize, we are taking risks with our health and the health of the natural world that are unprecedented. The American food system is very different compared to its past. What we are feeding ourselves is biologically different from nature. I agree with this statement. Pg. 10- Our eating also constitutes a relationship with dozens of other species- plants, animals and fungi- with which we have co-evolved to the point where our fates are deeply entwined. We have biologically tampered with the plants, animals, and fungi in our food. We are affected by the chemicals.

Industrial Corn- One: The Plant- Corns Conquest

Pg. 17- Except for the salt and a handful of synthetic food additives, every edible item in the supermarket is a link in a food chain that beings with a particular plant growing in a specific patch of soil (or, more seldom, stretch of sea) somewhere on earth. All edible foods in the supermarket were first from the Earth or sea. I thought this was true before I read this excerpt. Pg. 18-19- There are some forty-five thousand items in the average American supermarket and more than a quarter of them now contain corn. Make a collage- showing the items that are made of corn in the average American supermarket. Corn is now a major ingredient in our food items of an American supermarket. I was surprised that there is so much corn in our food.

Pg. 19- Why are Mexicans (descendants of the Mayans) referred to as the corn people? They are descendants of the Mayans whose corn was a major product in their body for over 1000 years. Pg. 21- What is the C-4 trick by plants? The C-4 trick is when carbon is brought in by the plants stomata, taking as much carbon in without losing much water molecules. Pg. 22- What does the higher ratio of Carbon 13 (isotope) to Carbon 12 in a persons body tell us? It tells us the amount of corns in the body. Pg. 22- How much wheat flour do we eat compared to corn flour? (Americans) Americans in 114 pounds of wheat flour.

The Rise of Zea Mays

Pg. 23- Explain why some people regard agriculture as a brilliant evolutionary strategy on the part of plants and animals?

They regard it as brilliant because of the desirable genes that would benefit us. Pg. 24- What was the biotic army that the white man brought to the new world? The biotic army were diseases. Pg. 25- Explain how corn won over the wheat people because of its versatility. Wheat was not as versatile and not adaptable to harsh conditions as corn was.

Married to Man
Pg. 26- Why is corn considered to be married to man? Humans are closely linked with corn.

Corn Sex
Pg. 30- For to prosper in the industrial food chain to the extent it has, corn has to acquire several improbable new tricks- What did corn have to do? Corn must go through a process that will allow it to produce more kernels. They are able to mix within different corns with desirable traits that allows them to have the traits of their parents. This is done by mixing pollen of one corn plan with the silk of another.