The Omnivore's Dilemna
"The Forest"


This was a little painful. Vegetarianism and Vegan ism are about as alien and incomprehensible as any concept can possibly be to a person who lives life in the manner that I do. I love animals. They're delicious. And PETA has always been an organization that I've viewed with a special form of disdain that I normally reserve for Congress and television evangelists.  I'm the guy that rolls my eyes whenever those Sarah McLaughlin commercials come on; while there are still humans suffering in the world, I don't see the point in focusing on the troubles of animals. So you can imagine that it is very hard for me to understand why Pollan endured such a crisis of guilt during his temporary stint as a vegetarian. I've never felt guilty about eating a dead animal. But what I could appreciate about this section was the idea that Pollan wanted to construct a meal that he had prepared completely. That appeals to the small part of me that would love to go off camping for a few weeks in the deep wilderness just to see if I could do it. I really enjoyed his interactions with Angelo; I can appreciate anyone as industrious and self-sufficient as him.

It was a little off-putting to me for him to be collecting wild mushrooms; the idea that I shouldn't eat things I find in nature was drilled into my curious mind by my parents since I was a boy, and there's still this constant lingering suspicion towards wild plants in my consciousness.

What about you? Do you object to killing or gathering your own food, and, if so, why?