With Taco Bell's recent green onion debacle following hot on the heels of spinach's fall from grace, there's plenty of stomach-churning news out there about what goes in our bellies. But even these health-scares fall off the front pages after a few days, so NY Times Magazine contributor Michael Pollan doggedly pursues an answer to the question: "What are we eating?" In The Omnivore's Dilemma, Pollan dissects four different meals, from one of McDonald's boxed burgers to one he wrangles with a rifle in hand.

The first thing Michael Pollan wants you to know is that about 1/4 of all the products in your local grocery store are made from corn. Forget the happy yellow cobs, most of these products are the work of corn alchemists, who concoct everything, from crackers to soda to the glue on the cardboard boxes, out of these humble kernels. Pollan traces the corn trail back to the root, explaining how we (as taxpayers) are paying for a system that guarantees we're gorging ourselves. Growing all that corn guzzles oil (for making fertilizer), bankrupts farmers (due to a corn surplus), fattens Americans (with high-fructose corn syrup), and creates a massive, oceanic "dead zone" in the Gulf, where ocean life suffocates (due to fertilizer run-off).

Obviously, there's plenty of bad news to be dug up, and when it comes to the battle of local organics vs. corporate, industrial agriculture, you can bet where Pollan sides. But unlike the carnivore-converting tour de force that is Fast Food Nation , this book takes a less dogmatic approach in bringing everything back to your dinner plate. As more and more packages are labeled "organic," "natural," and "free range," Pollan shows that you may be surprised at what you find behind the branding. This actually prompted an online showdown between Pollan and Whole Foods CEO John Mackey over what "big organic" is really selling to consumers.

Whether Sunday morning finds you in a farmer's market or in Dunkin' Donuts, The Omnivore's Dilemma is worth picking up. It will change the way you fill a grocery cart.

-Lauren Sommer