About the Author

Michael Pollan is the author of four books in addition to The Omnivore's Dilemma: In Defense of Food, Second Nature, A Place of My Own, and The Botany of Desire. The latter was the 2001 Borders Original Voices Award winner for nonfiction and was also recognized as a Best Book of the Year by the American Booksellers Association. A longtime contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine, Pollan is also the Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley. His writing on food and agriculture has won numerous awards, including the Reuters-World Conservation Union Global Award in Environmental Journalism, the James Beard Foundation Award, and the Genesis Award from the American Humane Association.

Discussion Questions

1. What is the omnivore's dilemma?

2. How do we currently make food choices? Do we rely on cultural traditions to guide us?

3. Pollan looks at the three food chains that sustain us: industrial food, organic or alternative food, and food we hunt and gather. In industrial food, corn is king. Why is corn so important to the modern food industry? How often does corn show up in our own daily diets?

4. How do you as a consumer navigate the marketplace to find the healthiest food? How does this affect your food budget?

5. What values do you want to support with your eating decisions?