Yummr

Economist and foodie extraordinaire Tyler Cowen reviews the popular book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" in Slate magazine. 

This book seems very interesting.  It sounds like it teaches a lot about the evolution of food production in the past to the present.  I like Pollan's idyllic "man as gardener," it sounds satisfying to grow my own food.  However, that very idea is enabled by the industrialized economy.  I'm sure his criticisms of industrial agriculture have merit, but actually adopting his alternatives sound scarily to me like mass starvation and population control.  Here is an excerpt from Cowen's critique:

The problems with Pollan's "self-financed" meal reflect the major shortcoming of the book: He focuses on what is before his eyes but neglects the macro perspective of the economist. He wants to make the costs of various foods transparent, but this is an unattainable ideal, given the interconnectedness of markets. Often the best ways to solve environmental problems are invisible and not available to the consumer in the supermarket aisle. We can tax or regulate offending activities, such as fertilizer runoff or the bad treatment of animals. But we cannot always tell how much environmental evil any given foodstuff contains.