The Food Industry's Ultimate Contradiction

In chapters of eight and nine of "The Omnivore's Dilemma," Michael Pollan traces a delicious meal of roast chicken, roasted vegetables, and a spring salad back to its origin. A very simple, supposedly organic meal, with an underlying complexity of industrial processes - this is the food industry's ultimate contradiction: Organic Industry.

Here, the battle between capitalism and protecting nature takes center stage. Is a compromise between these two realistic? Certainly, the industrialization of organic products comes at a price. In fact, organic farming has unfortunately come to resemble industrial farming systems. This truly is unfortunate - for the word "organic" was initially intended to stand for everything in opposition to industrialization.

Yes, it's true that "organic" chickens get slightly more space to move around, and due to lack of hormones and antibiotics in their diets, they live a few days longer. It's also true that organic foods contains no pesticides or chemicals which harm the soil and could potentially affect our health. However, the only way organic produce can be sold at a reasonable price is by chilling, washing, packaging, and transporting it as one would a nonorganic food. This means shipping food around the country with diesel fuel - further exacerbating our dependence on fossil fuels and our harm to the planet around us. The organic food industry thus functions in an environmentally unsustainable manner, making us question if the added expenses and hassle is truly worth it.