Reading Response 6

Omnivore’s Dilemma: 3

              The part 3 of this book starts by this sentence; “There was one more meal I wanted to make, and that was the meal at the end of the shortest food chain of all. What I had in mind was a dinner prepared entirely from ingredients I had hunted, gathered, and grown myself. (277)” I totally agree with this ultimate form of a food chain. Previously, I wrote a memoir about getting a food by myself. Maybe what I wanted to say in my memoir was like this thought. I think one of the definitions of the perfect meal is that we should “get” it by ourselves. In order to live we have to eat so it is natural to make much effort on getting food, and be responsible on what we eat. At the same time, it seems to me that “the shortest food chain” allows us to gain truly fulfillment. Of course it is very challenging but that difficulty lets us to feel that we rely on nature, we are based on certain sacrifices, and we are one of the members of nature. What made me so excited were all of these feelings and actual experience that I get energy for living by myself, I think.

              The interesting was that the author succeeded in referring to the difficulties of living in nature. He is not just an idealist but has an intelligence to consider for a situation. As he says, of course living wildly can be ideal but it can be fatal, because there are many poisonous food in nature. I was very surprised at the fact that one of the reasons why we invent our food cultures is to remember which food we can eat with well-nutrition. (296) In this section I was deeply impressed by the great accumulation of knowledge. It is very surprising that every culture has reasonable reasons for existing. Then, I felt disappointed at the fact that many traditional cultures have been ruined by globalization. At first glance, globalization seems very reasonable and it is the most suitable way for a progressive point of view. However, different from traditional food cultures, it does not have any reasonable facts on healthiness and sustainability, which are the most important points for food. It destroys great human knowledge. That is a shame.

              The author wrote about his idea of perfect meal. Especially, he prioritized that he has to gather ingredients by himself, and he did it actually. And, it seems impossible for us to do so in this the 21th century’s modern life. Therefore, my opinion about perfect meal is that we have to use our head thoroughly, like hunters doing so. We have to pay attention about where and how they come from, how about its nutrition, and how to cook it appropriately. I think this is not for environment, but for us. Originally, we humans have put almost all of our energy. As I mentioned above, thinking about what we eat can enrich our food lives. It will make meals more enjoyable and moreover, make us healthier.