policies.  Pollan’s chapter on grass (Chapter Ten) for instances, describes the ultimately counter-productive practice of encouraging growth of grasslands to feed livestock, as sustainability of grass needed for animal consumption, with human consumption of the animal the ultimate goal, inevitably involves the use of farming techniques harmful to both the environment and to humans.  The use of agrochemicals, for instance, is repeatedly cited by the author and by those whom he consulted or interviewed for the purpose of illustrating how the requirement for such chemicals in order to sustain an alien farming practice functions at variance with nature’s own system for rejuvenating earth.

Similarly, in Chapter Eleven, Pollan discusses the arbitrary (in terms of the natural environment and ecosystem) practice of raising animals in specific regions and the requirements of sustaining that practice.  By interfering in the natural order of animal existence, more and more artificiality has to be injected into the farming and ranching processes to make systems work that are otherwise incompatible with nature’s structure.  By describing at length the farming techniques used by Polyface, Incorporated, a family-owned farm in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, which employs sustainable, environmentally-friendly techniques, Pollan argues that such a return to more complicated if less-industrialized farming practices could both sustain humanity and preserve the environment.  Pollan inverts the definition of “successful farming” by rejecting the economics of large, industrial agricultural concerns, which define success in terms of yield, in favor of techniques that minimize damage to existing ecosystems.  An added advantage, he points out, is the reduction in costs associated with artificial means of sustaining impractical techniques.  In defending the economics of sustaining agriculture, Pollan points out that “you need to count not only all the products it produces . . . but also all the costs it eliminates: antibiotics, wormers, paraciticides, and fertilizers.” 

Part II of Pollan’s study continues in this vein, as the products of the current agricultural system make their way to grocery store shelves and, finally, to the dinner table.  In looking, therefore, for a unifying theme for these chapters, once could logically state that it is the pursuit of agricultural practices that provide sufficient quantities of food at affordable prices while sustaining the environment.  Integral to this more logical system, he and others argue, is the currently growing support for buying locally-produced foods, which eliminates or minimizes the costs associated with transporting produce and meats to market while ensuring that consumers enjoy the freshest products untainted by preservatives. 

The Omnivore's Dilemma is an investigation into the food production chain that leads the author to the belief that local, sustainable food sources are best for everyone.

Michael Pollan posits that humans have a multitude of food choices and yet have little information about where that food comes from. He goes on to say that humans would be better off if they found out more about their food supply chain and chose options that benefited both their health and the health of the planet. For example, it takes a great deal of fossil fuel calories to ship one pound of lettuce with 80 food calories. 

To make his point, Pollan tracks the life of a calf from its beginnings to its end, when it's killed for food. He points out how much corn the cow is fed.

Next, he discusses how organic food is unsustainable and in many ways not better for the planet. He contrasts farms of different sizes and shows the various effects their practices have on the planet. 

Finally, Pollan goes into the woods and creates a meal for himself from ingredients he obtains. He hunts, gathers, and grows ingredients before cooking an entire meal.

At the end, he admits that there is no single approach that will work for everyone -- but that simply having more information about where food comes from would be beneficial and help people make better choices.

Pollan's thesis is that omnivores struggle with the proverbial question of what to eat for dinner because they are faced with a mind-numbing number of choices. Unlike the koala, who feeds on eucalyptus leaves because it is in his or her genetic code, a human has a wide variety of choices. In our choices, we are guided by memory and information (such as our knowledge about what is poisonous and what is nutritious), as well as by our taste buds. In fact, some scientists believe our large brains evolved to help us handle the dilemma of what to eat. While our choices can help us eat food that is pleasurable, our wide variety of choices can also incur stress. As a result, we tend to divide food into good and evil. We are prone to developing eating disorders in which we see food as calories rather than as enjoyment and sustenance. Pollan also believes our place in the food chain determines a great deal about us. This includes the shaping of our memory and powers of observation, as well as the fostering of our dependence on food scientists and marketers to figure out what to eat.

Pollan's main thesis in this book is that we in the United States need to adopt a lifestyle in which we get our food from the "pastoral" food chain rather than from the industrial one.

Pollan argues that we get the vast majority of our food (even the food that is sold as "organic") from an industrial food chain.  He says that this food chain is bad for the environment, bad for the animals that are raised in it, and bad for the quality of the food that it produces.  Instead, he says, we should rely on the pastoral food chain.  He believes that we should be eating food that is grown locally and in a more old-fashioned and sustainable way.  This food would taste better and the way that it is raised would be better for the environment and for the animals that we eat as well.