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I’ve never actually shopped at a Whole Foods supermarket or a Trader Joe’s. But there is a food store, Wild by Nature, that I do shop at. Although I don’t typically buy the organic foods it sells (I go there for fresh bread and good deli meat) I always had the idea that they were unprocessed and closer to nature. At least closer than my sliced deli ham. I’m glad I’m reading this book because it has opened my eyes a bit more to the machinations of the food industry and the manipulation of its newest pet, organic. I’ve never been one to believe labels, especially when the purpose of the labels is to get money from a consumer. But I always thought that some food items were worth spending a few extra dollars for. Now I’m not so sure.

As for Vegans and Vegitarians… well I think that’s there own choice. To state that vegans and vegetarians fail to understand how things work and therefore possibly shouldn’t be vegans or vegetarians, Pollan is contradicting his statement about the human’s ability to make a conscious decision about what they eat. I know some vegetarians who don’t eat meat think they’re helping animals by consuming one less steak. I disagree with this ideology because, despite their efforts, the animals will still be killed for every other carnivorous human in the world.

But, really, vegetarianism is a personal choice. If eating meat makes one think of the animal that was killed for the meal, and if that thought is disgusting to a person, then by all means they have the right to abstain from meat consumption. Pollan mentions that predation is a fact of nature but what we’ve done is created a business that manufactures meat. Eating this meat is not predation. There is no hunting involved, no natural selection in which only the strong cows survive. Thus I disagree with Pollan’s implication that our slaughtering of chickens and cows is in any way similar to predation. It’s not necessary for individual survival to eat meat. I believe we are meant to eat meat (evolution points towards this assertion) but it doesn’t hurt anyone if they choose not to.