These questions for Mr. Pollan were submitted by New York Times readers. The first 10 questions below were the most popular among those we received. They were answered by Mr. Pollan on Oct. 6, 2011, after the Food Issue was originally published. Our family is on a budget and can’t afford to eat all organic.
December 8, 2009; San Francisco, CA. Jewish Community Center. November 4, 2009; San Francisco, CA. City Arts & Lectures. In conversation with Wendell Berry October 16, 2009, San Rafael, CA. Bioneers. October 14, 2009, San Luis Obispo, CA. Fundraiser for Cal Poly’s Sustainable Agriculture Resource Center. September, 30, 2009, Berkeley, CA. Zellerbach Hall. UC Berkely’s
Food. There’s plenty of it around, and we all love to eat it. So why should anyone need to defend it? Because most of what we’re consuming today is not food, and how we’re consuming it — in the car, in front of the TV, and increasingly alone — is not really eating. Instead of food, we’re consuming “edible foodlike substances” — no longer the products of nature but of food science. The result is what Michael Pollan calls the American paradox: The more we worry about nutrition, the less healthy we seem to become.
“A useful and funny purse-sized manual that could easily replace all the diet books on your bookshelf.”
In this issue of Lancaster Farming we interview Michael Pollan, guru of the “real food” movement. He spoke recently by phone from his home in California with Northern edition editor Tracy Sutton. Pollan is the author of “In Defense of Food,” and the previous critically acclaimed best-seller “The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four
The human digestive tract has about the same number of neurons as the spinal column. What are they there for? The final word isn’t in yet, but Michael Pollan thinks their existence suggests that digestion may be more than the rather mundane process of breaking down food into chemicals. And, keeping those numerous digestive neurons
Written with Pollan’s customary bite, ringing clarity and brilliance at connecting the dots.
In this slim, remarkable volume, Pollan builds a convincing case not only against that steak dinner but against the entire Western diet.
What should I eat for dinner tonight? Here is Pollan’s brilliant, succinct and nuanced answer to this question: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
BROOKE GLADSTONE: For decades, the consumption of news has complicated our consumption of – food. Nowadays, what we buy to eat is determined by shifting health studies. Carbs are good for you. No, they’re bad. Fats make you fat. No, they don’t. And food labels only increase our confusion. Michael Pollan, journalist and professor of
