음식은 세상의 몸 : 마이클 폴란의『잡식동물의 딜레마』에 나타난 생태적 섭생

Abstract

This paper explores Michael Pollan's vision of ecological eating through a close reading of his book, The Omnivore's Dilemma . He asserts that our eating is not just a mere physical act but a spiritual act which connects humanity with nature. By simplifying the complex working mechanism of nature and dissecting food into nutrients, industrial agriculture and food industry manipulate our food to produce nothing but “edible foodlike substances." These food-looking substances are contaminated with various chemicals and threaten our health. But the more serious problem is that industrial agriculture limits our choice of food by producing only the few crops they can easily manipulate. As an epitome of the food industry, corn is so productive that they have virtually occupied our tables, turning us into human koalas, eating corn day after day. Because industrial food floods over the supermarket shelves while real food is difficult to find, to determine what to eat poses a real dilemma to many of us. In order to escape from the threat of industrial agriculture and food, Pollan suggests that we should realize that humanity is both predator and prey in the food chain. This means that we are eating each other in a bond of interconnectedness. Because how we eat determines the health of our body as well as the health of nature, he insists that we should eat with gratitude and responsibility. Pollan's writing serves as a manual for those who suffer from the dilemma of deciding what and how to eat under the present rampageous industrial agriculture and food industry.