Michael Pollan
Humans are uniquely burdened by the open-ended choice of what to eat, a dilemma now exploited by an industrial food system that prioritizes cheap calories over nutrition and ecological balance.
Because humans can eat almost anything, we rely on cultural traditions rather than biology to guide our diets, a system that modern food science has entirely disrupted.
The American food system is overwhelmingly dependent on genetically modified, subsidized corn, which is chemically processed into countless additives and used to unnaturally fatten feedlot cattle.
Large-scale industrial organic farming often mimics the unsustainable practices of conventional agriculture, relying heavily on fossil fuels and massive distribution networks despite avoiding chemical pesticides.