The most beautiful state park I've ever been to is Mount St. Helens, located in the Olympic Mountain Range in Washington State. The volcano erupted in 1980, and changed the landscape significantly. When one visits there, there are now patches of growth and wildlife but the destruction is still clearly visible in the toppled trees and the changes in the shape of the mountain. On pages 381-382, Pollan describes the landscape of Eldorado Nation forest as "the same landscape exhibited a tranquil, almost modernist abstraction that was just beautiful". That kind of natural destruction is a harsh beauty of our natural world. Without fire, there would be little new growth in forests.
Thus, the third section to me, and the foraging of mushrooms in general, was the most beautiful section to me. Pollan also earned my respect when he finally shot his own pig, because for all his talking he finally proved his worth and willingness to see his omnivorousness to the end.
In a quick side note about the smell of mushrooms, there's a perfume about that that's one of the more amazing things I've smelled. One can find it here. Yes, it's hippie-dippie, but it recalled the feeling of section three's writing to me.
Overall, my dissent with parts one and two of the Omnivore's Dilemma was negated by the third sections, and Pollan's reverence towards food. He may not have a solution for the American food industry, by he knows nature is a good place to start looking for a balanced ecosystem and inspiration of life. Corny, I know, but soothing enough.
Colleen, it's great that you get to like third part. That was most interesting parts to me too because among three parts it was written with his adventure of earning the source of food instead of him going into supermarket and grab ingredients and make food! It is fascinating part his tracking of our food system. After reading Part III, I realized that people need to appreciate nature because it gives what we need to eat. Also, I believe appreciation toward nature starts when eaters go outside and involve in getting quality ingredients from nature.
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