The tired old adage ”You are what you eat ” acquires new life in Michael Pollan’s compelling book The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (The Penguin Press). Tracing our food back to its sources in feedlots and fields Pollan convincingly argues that modern Americans are made of corn -- and that this is a very bad thing for our health our economy and our environment. According to Pollan corn underwrites a national eating disorder even as Americans’ lack of a centuries’ old cuisine makes us exceptionally vulnerable to fad diets trendy nutritional advice and fast food.