There is something about Pollan's mental health-related language that nobody has addressed yet. He says America is experiencing a "National Eating Disorder" in the way we have become dependent on the industrial food system, despite evidence that doing so is harmful for ourselves and our environment. Later, Pollan also notes how schizophrenic our relationship to food is, at large.
Eating disorders and schizophrenia are intense mental health conditions with very real consequences. Because of this, Pollan's language is effective in bringing attention to the urgency and severity of our food crisis. However, as someone with a family history of health concerns like Schizophrenia, it comes off as a touch insensitive. Yes, it adds a lot of intrigue and edginess to his book, associating the food industry to these experiences, but to me it also downplays the lives of those who must deal with these disorders.
It seems like while Pollan acknowledges the implications of America's food industry, he does not go into how it relates to the intricacies of mental health in America. I realize digging into this information is not the goal of The Omnivore's Dilemma, but I do feel that the reader should have been given a disclaimer at some point about how he chose to describe the food industry with mental health conditions, and not something else.
Still, I appreciate the shock-value of the claim that America is dealing with a country-wide eating disorder. I just wish that while we uncover the messy politics of our food system, that we also consider the same in how America treats and values folks with mental health concerns, because that is also horrific. I guess this text just isn't the right place for this conversation.
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