The joy and often, let’s be honest, obsession of reading comes from stumbling upon the occasional book that hooks you unexpectedly and opens your mind to some otherwise obscured aspect of the world. Through a truly great book, a reader is given a new perspective from which to view something as simple and habitual as sitting down to eat a meal. Such is the case with Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, one of last year’s best works of non-fiction and certainly one of the most eye-opening books on today’s food industry.

Anyone who eats would do well to consider the findings of Mr. Pollan, who is as much a philosopher as food writer. His mission here is to get to the bottom of our national eating disorder, from our obsession with fad diets to our reliance on processed foods and meals wolfed down in cars. He deconstructs our eating rituals and determines how far we’ve strayed from our natures. "...The dream of liberating food from nature, which began as a dream of the eaters (to make it less perishable), is now primarily a dream of the feeders — of the corporations that sell us our food."

The four meals in the book’s subtitle include a highly processed fast-food meal, which is composed mostly of America’s top crop, corn; two organic meals, one collected from a whole foods grocer by means not so different from industrialized meals as we’d like to think, and another from an organic farm in Virginia, where the sustainable practices of raising animals and vegetables are meticulously kept in the sync with the rhythms of nature; and a meal comprised of ingredients the author gathered or killed himself.

Pollan’s reports on each method are fascinating — especially the inspiring notes from the organic farm, which offers hope for an improved quality, locally sustained food economy — he avoids preachiness while delivering his prognosis. This book is not a political statement but a thoughtful examination of how we are fed and how this affects our bodies and our land. It’s as engrossing and appetizing as it is dire and discomforting.

Order The Omnivore’s Dilemma at TurnRow Book Co.