Summary Of Forager By Michael Pollan

In the final section of the book, author Michael Pollan attempts to prepare a meal by gathering all of the ingredients himself. In the chapter called Forager, Michael talks about how he wants his meal to feature all three edible kingdoms: animal, vegetable, and fungi. He will hunt, gather, or grow all the ingredients needed for his final meal. In the end he makes a salad out of the greens from his own garden, and makes bread using wild yeast. He feels that this meal will help us to “reconnect us with the natural origins of food and also human history”. He also stated that “agriculture brought humans a great many blessings, but it also brought infectious diseases”. This links back to what we have been studying in class. Agriculture has dramatically changed over the years as technology has advanced. Farmers are now adding all of these nutrients and pesticides to plants to try and promote growth, but it has also brought harmful bacteria.
He talks about how our culture of food has totally changed over the years. We went from having family home cooked meals to eating fast food every night. Now America’s eating traditions have changed to having a fast food dinner at McDonalds. He makes a good point in the chapter stating “we find ourselves as a species almost back where we started: anxious omnivores struggling once again to figure out what it is wise to eat”. I personally feel that this is true. America’s eating habits have completely changed over the years, and the amount of obesity increases every year. I think this is a very important part in the book and that America needs to slow down our eating habits and take time to enjoy a healthy