omnivore's dilemma-week3

In this week's reading, we have moved into grass farming part. And I'm really glad that apart from industrial farming, there still exist some natural systems  for farming.

I really like the way grass farming works.  The natural system not only is efficient but also self-contained and diversified. It is interesting to know that in grass farming, "the chicken feed not only feeds the broilers, but transformed into chicken crap, feeds the grass that fees the cows that ,as I was about to see, feed the pigs and the laying chicken." This is how the nature actually works without much need of machinery, fertilizer and chemicals.  It is amazing that the nature seems to have its own way to make the ecological system circulate.  In this sense, there is no point using industrial system for human beings.  However, I can understand that  commodifying everything and simplifying the production process will bring certain benefits to the governments and some people.

Further, I'm really attracted by the idea of threats posed by globalization , which is mentioned in chapter thirteen the Market. Although globalization has enabled us to be more connected to each other, it threatens our lives in some ways as well, especially, the food aspects. The globalization is accompanied by homogenization, which could mean the disappearance of traditional food cultures. And we may wonder what is traditional food cultures?

According to the author, it is a sense of security that you know your community, you know the local knowledge about the farming and the satisfactions of buying food from a known farmer.  From my point of view, I believe it is the interaction between people and nature that plays a key role here. You know what you are eating thus you feel secure.

It is true that industrialization harms cultural difference and it's horrible to imagine that one day all of us would eat the same thing in the same way every day throughout the whole world.