Omnivore Quotes

“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
― Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto

“Much of our food system depends on our not knowing much about it, beyond the price disclosed by the checkout scanner; cheapness and ignorance are mutually reinforcing. And it's a short way from not knowing who's at the other end of your food chain to not caring–to the carelessness of both producers and consumers that characterizes our economy today. Of course, the global economy couldn't very well function without this wall of ignorance and the indifference it breeds. This is why the American food industry and its international counterparts fight to keep their products from telling even the simplest stories–"dolphin safe," "humanely slaughtered," etc.–about how they were produced. The more knowledge people have about the way their food is produced, the more likely it is that their values–and not just "value"–will inform their purchasing decisions.”
― Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

“The "omnivore's dilemma" (a term coined by Paul Rozin) is that omnivores must seek out and explore new potential foods while remaining wary of them until they are proven safe. Omnivores therefore go through life with two competing motives: neophilia (an attraction to new things) and neophobia (a fear of new things). People vary in terms of which motive is stronger, and this variation will come back to help us in later chapters: Liberals score higher on measures of neophilia (also known as "openness to experience"), not just for new foods but also for new people, music, and ideas. Conservatives are higher on neophobia; they prefer to stick with what's tried and true, and they care a lot more about guarding borders, boundaries, and traditions.”
― Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

“The emotion of disgust evolved initially to optimize responses to the omnivore's dilemma. Individuals who had a properly calibrated sense of disgust were able to consume more calories than their overly disgustable cousins while consuming fewer dangerous microbes than their insufficiently disgustable cousins.”
― Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

“Out in the field, sitting on the grass, the hard-core omnivores are hunched around and over the cadaver of a creature they've courageously downed, greedily feasting on its flesh, while furtively looking around in all directions.. one of them has thrown in a few wilted sprigs of asparagus and a bucketful of ketchup to sweeten the deal.

The vegetarians have caught an animal, chased her baby over to the omnivores, and are suckling from her nipples, while others feast on a basket of gathered birds eggs.

The vegans have just ploughed through a mono crop of wheat, and soy and are enjoying their tofu burgers.

Meanwhile those radical fruitarian extremists are in the cherry trees, looking on in wide-eyed bewilderment..”
― Mango Wodzak

“Shod Omnivorism; it pretty much sums up the current state of the world. I find the word 'shod' deeply descriptive; it conjures such an archaic barbaric feeling, of being shackled and tamed, captive and downtrodden. Omnivorism is the concept that every living and non-living thing on this planet is a potential meal, and God forbid that anyone should question another’s right to eat whatever, whoever and however they desire. Shod and Omnivorism together truly emphasise the sad disequilibrium of the dominant prevailing human mindset.”
― Mango Wodzak, Destination Eden - Eden Fruitarianism Explained

“I love animals, especially with barbeque sauce.”
― J. Richard Singleton

“Don't you find it odd that people will put more work into choosing their mechanic or house contractor than they will into choosing the person who grows their food?”
― Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

“The curse of the omnivore is that when it comes to figuring which of those things are safe to eat, he's pretty much on his own.”
― Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma: The Secrets Behind What You Eat

“Human dietary variation, including our ability to intensify carbohydrate-rich resources, is known to be a key evolutionary strenght. Diet and environment are key drivers of our evolutionay past, and a transition to agriculture among many populations worldwide has had far-reaching implications for our foodways and health.”
― Kimberly A. Plomp, Palaeopathology and Evolutionary Medicine: An Integrated Approach

“Diet has played a role in the evolutionary success of our species and the diversity of local diets exploited may be a key to a health strategy in adapting to local environments.”
― Kimberly A. Plomp, Palaeopathology and Evolutionary Medicine: An Integrated Approach

“Man got to the top of the evolutionary heap by eating everything that got in his way. And if he wants to stay there, he had better keep doing it.”
― Anonymous Biologist

“...humans have evolved a desire to consume animal protein, and they are not going to lose that desire. As such, it is wrong-and likely suboptimal to our well-being-to expect us all to become strict vegans. 56 That is simply a fact for which there is anatomical, physiological, morphological (cranial and dental), paleobiological, parasitological, archaeological, cross-cultural, anthropological, nutritional, genomic, genetical, medical, sexual, and psychological data to support my argument.”
― Gad Saad, The Saad Truth about Happiness: 8 Secrets for Leading the Good Life