Articles tagged with: Michael Pollan
Of all the animals in the world, certainly we have the widest selection of possible foods; we can eat meat, vegetables, grains, legumes, dairy, and even industrial chemicals (apparently). And yet while a squirrel can look at an acorn and know instinctively that it is good to eat, we have to consider our food options. With so much variety, the only way we know what is good to eat and what isn’t is through trial and error, cultural norms, and our sense of taste and smell.
This is the omnivore’s dilemma, and it forms the basis for the book by Michael Pollan, which explores how we modern humans produce, acquire, and prepare our food.
every time I read about the state of the American food system, my heart breaks all over again. Choosing to opt out seems like a constant uphill battle, which is stupid because all I want is to eat vegetables grown in healthy soil and animals that didn’t spend their whole lives suffering. That doesn’t seem like such a crazy wish!
Last week, Michael Pollan published an essay, “The Food Movement, Rising,” discussing the myriad of activities that, while operating separately, together create formidable dialogue and rationale around changing the state of our food system. The entire essay is thought-provoking, but the part I related to most is about purchasing food “beyond the bar code.”
In his book, The Town that Food Saved, Hewitt doesn’t spend a lot of time going over the depressing statistics relating to food miles and the obesity epidemic–those facts are present, but they’re a side-line to the main focus–which is how a local food system gets built, what it might look like, and how long-time residents of a community might react to it being built on their home turf.
We’ve got a whole raft of articles this weeks. A Michael Pollan interview, alternative views on GE crops, a DIY article on self-watering planters, and much more. Lots of variety so there’s something here for everyone. Kind of like your CSA basket. Enjoy!
“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants.”
With these words, Michael Pollan opens his latest book In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto (Penguin, 2008). Like most of what Pollan does these days in talks, essays and TV appearances, the book is a toehold for the progressive food movement. But the book also has significant drawbacks that make it a less enjoyable and entertaining read than Pollan’s previous bestselling book, the ridiculously popular The Omnivore’s Dilemma.
