Bravo! This is the kind of book from Pollan that I wanted to see after reading [b:The Botany of Desire|13839|The Botany of Desire A Plant's-Eye View of the World|Michael Pollan|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166573832s/13839.jpg|908398]. Researched and well-edited, but refreshingly introspective and well-balanced with real life experience. Pollan journeys into the heart of conscious food preparation and eating and brings his insight to fruition in an extremely thoughtful manner, by tracing 4 different meals to their source and explicating the process of how they came to his table. On the way, he teaches us of the irony behind the industrial use of the term "organic", reminds us of the horrors of agribusiness, chides vegetarians for their philosophical naivete, and gently guides us into appreciation of what it is to be grateful for and be fully aware of what we put into our bodies.

Pollan, as in The Botany of Desire, loves to embark on tangential dreamy intellectual meanderings, but this time around, he harnesses his gaze and keeps it focused on elaborating the intention behind his writing. His writing itself can be clever and utilizes deft turns of phrase and word placement, but without being overly wordy and self-conscious.

His (subtle) indictment of industrial agriculture is well-grounded in a thoughtful and researched omnivorous exploration of the alternatives. Eat on, conscious omnivores.