Sunday, January 28, 2007

Michael Pollan Nails It


Today's New York Times Magazine cover article, "The Age of Nutritionism", by Michael Pollan is a must read for anyone with the slightest interest in health and food.

This is a brilliant essay that gets to the very heart of all that is wrong with America's industrial and scientifically dominated food philosophy and production system.

And at the end, he offers nine simple pieces of advice that could - were people to actually practice them- not only kill the likes of McDonalds, Monsanto, and the weight-loss/diet book industry but reinstitute a common-sense and sustainable approach to producing and consuming food.

  1. Eat food (real food that is)
  2. Avoid even those food products that come bearing health claims
  3. Especially avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable c) more than five in number — or that contain high-fructose corn syrup.
  4. Get out of the supermarket whenever possible
  5. Pay more, eat less
  6. Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.
  7. Eat more like the French. Or the Japanese. Or the Italians. Or the Greeks.
  8. Cook. And if you can, plant a garden - Cooking and growing food allows us to rediscover that food is not merely fuel but communion - with the environment and our very identities as human beings (This last sentence added by me)
  9. Eat like an omnivore