Interviews of Radio
Dinner: An Author Considers the Source
Journalist Michael Pollan’s new book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, follows industrial food, organic food, and food that consumers procure or hunt for themselves, from the source to the dinner plate. It also examines the importance of corn in all of our food products. Pollan is a professor of science and environmental journalism at University of California
Diet Fads and American Eating
LINDA WERTHEIMER, host: This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I’m Linda Wertheimer. Coming up, the skinny on Luciano Pavarotti. But first, Michael Pollan is an author. He’s written about food, gardening, the environment, building his own small house in the woods. That book is called “A Place of My Own.” He’s now turned his
Factory Farming
A new report finds high levels of PCB contamination in farmed salmon, at a time when American consumption of the fish is growing rapidly. Factory farming keeps the U.S. meat and fish supply cheap and plentiful, but at what cost? Join NPR’s Neal Conan and his guests. Listen to the interview here.
Overabundance of corn and its effect on the economy
ALEX CHADWICK, host: As you sit down to Thanksgiving dinner, consider for a moment the side dishes. One of the items that may be there can do more than provide nourishment. It can also affect public health, the economy, even national politics. Corn is the subject of this report from DAY TO DAY’s Mike Pesca
Writers on Gardening
Planting, nurturing, toiling, rooting, blooming, culling and crafting are all literary metaphors borrowed from the age old obsession with plants and flowers. In this hour of Talk of the Nation, Neal Conan talks with some award winning writers who are also master gardeners and discover the pleasure of borrowing from one vocation to grow the
My Summer in a Garden
BOB EDWARDS, host: Early last month, MORNING EDITION began a series called The Armchair Gardener, a winter distraction for listeners unable to dig in the dirt. The first installment followed three zealous plant lovers through the gardening section of a bookstore. Today an all but forgotten author who helped invent American garden writing. Here’s NPR’s
Michael Pollan discusses his new book, The Botany of Desire
What do sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control have to do with plants? Well…everything according to Michael Pollan, the author of the best selling The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World. In this hour of Science Friday, we’ll take a look at the way people and plants–including apples and marijuana–interact with each other,
Author Michael Pollan Talks About the History of the Apple
Listen to the broadcast BOB EDWARDS, host: Henry David Thoreau wrote, ‘It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man.’ That’s particularly true. The apple’s history in the United States where a passion for sweetness has transformed this simple fruit. In the second part of her conversation
Evolution of plants as explained in Michael Pollan’s new book, Botany of Desire
Listen to the broadcast BOB EDWARDS, host: Plants have evolved complicated strategies to ensure their survival. The most obvious is the flower, designed to attract pollinators, typically bees. In his new book, “The Botany of Desire,” Michael Pollan suggests that the plant world’s most obliging suitor is man, and the plants that have figured out
NPR Workhut
HIGHLIGHT: Daniel talks to Michael Pollan, author of “A Place of My Own: The Education of an Amateur Builder.” Pollan tells what he discovered about the relationship between people and architecture while he was building his own ‘workhut.’ He and Daniel tour the workspace at National Public Radio. BODY: DANIEL ZWERDLING, HOST: When writer Michael