Has Michael Pollen changed the way I think about food?

 Brenan:

Yes. One hundred percent yes. But just reading the book "The Omnivores Dilemna" didn't change my views completely.  The curiosity I acquired from this book made me look deeper for the answers I was really looking for. I grew up in a small farming community called New Hamburg, fifteen minutes outside of Stratford. After reading this book I questioned my whole childhood and really started to question if the extremely whole hearted, friendly farmers I have known my whole life have really just been in on the big scam- manufacturing food- as opposed to growing it.
To answer this question I took it upon myself to take a trip back home (though I'm getting quite comfortable here in the city!) to find the answers I've been looking for.
Although I never grew up on a farm, some of my friends have, so I made a call and within a few hours, there I was, driving down a long country driveway with the increasing smell of cow manure wafting into my car. Mr. Weber was kind enough to lend his time to me to answer a few of my questions.
John Weber (as i was very happy to discover) is not the typical American corn belt farmer that Michael pollen has described to us, Mr Weber is a dairy farmer, that just so happens to grow corn as well.  He gave me a tour of his barn and the corrals where his cows live, and then quickly showed me his cornfield, which was just planted and was barely above my knees.  I asked Mr Weber why he choose dairy farming over the life of a corn farmer and he told me this. "Money, I think of myself as a business man, although I'm very much a farmer, there's no money in corn!"  Mr. Weber's family have been a dairy farmers for 63 years and in his 5 acre farm he grows food for people, not animal feed. 2 acres of this is sweet corn that he sells at farmers markets and to local buyers.  He stressed the importance of eating local and is lucky enough to have a diet consisting of almost all products he grows!  I would love to do this, but the only thing I don't think i could handle would be the smell.  Even in the house you can smell the cows! I guess I'm just destined to always be a city kid.
I thanked Mr Weber for his time, took a few pictures of the corn, and then drove off into the seemingly endless country sunset.

To summarize my answer, Michael Pollen has changed the way I think about food by sparking my curiosity in the food i have grown up on, and in turn, making me much more careful about what i consume.

My next question: Will you, or have you made any changes in your eating habits since reading "The Omnivores Dilemna"?