The illusion of Choice: The doublethink of the American Food Industry

After reading chapter 1 of "The Omnivore's Dilemma", I am especially struck by the paradox that occurs every day in American supermarkets and restaurants; the seemingly endless choice with such limited variety. With most food today being produced from corn and only a hand full of heavily subsidized cash crops, despite the myriad of tempting logos, pastelled boxes and near-divine photographs, we in reality only choose between a dozen types of food produced by half a dozen conglomerates. Essentially, we are bamboozled and disoriented on a primal, instinctual level to commit to a diet that violates our very hunter gather sensibilities. Even extending beyond the supermarket, I am especially struck by how the entire food industry and agricultural policy seems to simply be a collection of paradoxes. We have farm subsidies to protect the idyllic American free farmer, yet these very laws have driven this archetype into decline and near servitude; we have genetic modification to increase biodiversity, yet we are now driven to only token number of crops; we have globalization to increase prosperity for all, yet only the corporations yield true profit. This is a very worrying set of contradictions.