"The Omnivore's Dilemma": Fast Food, Corn, Organic and More!!!

After reading chapters 9-12 in "The Omnivore's Dilemma" I came across a ton of interesting and somewhat shocking facts. I haven't eaten at McDonald's since freshman year when we watched "Super Size Me", and after reading chapter 9, I definitelly don't plan on going back any time soon. It's so sad to hear that one in every three American children eat fast food every day and 19% of American meals are eaten in cars... what has this world come to? The amount of corn in a fast food diet is absolutely rediculous. For example, of the 38 ingredients in a McDonald's McNuggets, 13 of them come from corn. The McDonald's meal options are so high in corn it's amazing: Soda- 100% corn, Milkshake- 78% corn, Salad dressing- 65% corn, Nuggets- 56%, Cheesburger- 52%, Fries- 23%. Not exactly what I want to be putting into my system... And it's not just corn that's a problem at fast food resturants.... 45 of the 60 menue items contain high fructose corn syrup. This chapter really gave an inside look into fast food chains and exposed the food for its undesireable ingredients and health problems.

Chapters 10-12 talked about everything organic and the difference between organic and industrial organic. Although I personally do not eat organic, I can definitelly see why many people are starting to. Organic has gone global. There are now "organic TV dinners" and even organic twinkies are on the rise, but most industrial organic foods are not very different from the non-organic foods as most people think. If you've ever heard of a free-range organic chicken, let me tell you what they mean by "free-range": "There is a little door in each shed leading out ot a narrow grassy yard", but they can't go out until they are five weeks old and are to be slaughtered the next week.  Many people don't even realize that organic factory farm chickens live only slightly better lives than the no-organic chickens. Not only that, but industrial organic foods contain just as much fossil fuels as non-organic foods. If you want to have the TRUE organic experience you need to go to organic farms where they refuse to ship their food anywhere and let their animals live off of the grass.

Honestly, this made me a little angry to know that the supposedly "organic" foods are not as organic as we think, only the truly local farms can be considered organic: food grown without pesticides and animals raised without corn based meals. Next time you want to eat organic, eat local!!!!

-Ann