According to Pollan, the omnivore’s dilemma is the overwhelming choices we face when it comes to what we eat. As omnivores we have a variety of choices, but we question them when we think about what they’re made of, where they come from, and if they’re healthy for us. “Most of us would simply rather not be reminded of exactly what meat is or what it takes to bring it to our plate” (Pollan 3). According to the text, these type of ideas can cause anxiety to the things we consume for our own survival.
Q8) Some probable causes for the rise in popularity of vegetarianism and animal rights awareness is some people believing that the killing of animals is wrong, not just because is for us to eat but because they believe some people enjoy killing. People who haunt are seen as basically bad people to others even if they’re meat eaters which just contradicts them because you have to kill an animal to eat it. Pollan also says that “It may be that as a civilization we’re groping toward a higher plane of conciousness” (Pollan 3). This could mean that people are acknowledging that the killing of animals is wrong in many ways and we could use other ways to survive. I think this idea is so popular now because we see animals going extinct or we see what animals who get killed go through. Personally, I’ve watched many videos of animals being mistreated who are going to get killed either way, but we sometimes need to realize that they are living beings that also produce food for us to eat, like chickens giving us eggs or cows producing milk that we can drink.
Q9) The “schizoid quality” that Pollan identifies in the relationship today between people and animals is how we seem to have more mercy on the animals that we may see on our daily lives, like dogs. Animals that we don’t see on a daily basis are pigs, chickens, or cows, which are meats that we may eat for lunch or dinner. The “schizoid quality” hits when you don’t stop to think about other animals, while complaining about it, and yet still end up eating their meat because it’s not an animal you would feel any remorse over.
Q10) Pollan highlights the point of “the loss of everyday contact between ourselves and animals… has left us deeply confused about the terms of our relationship to other species” (Pollan 4). I think this means that people have forgotten how sacred our food is in a way where we don’t think about where our food comes from. We survive with and from the animals and seeing that we have no type of contact with them, we don’t have any remorse over the things we consume because we don’t see it everyday or rarely. Pollan even says that he can’t choose over not acknowledging what’s going on or just becoming vegetarians.
