[Homestead] In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan

eureka at hctc.net eureka at hctc.net
Fri Jan 4 20:18:41 EST 2008


Well said, Gene. We just finished reading Barbara 
Kinsolver's Animal Vegetable Miracle, the book Plenty, and 
have ordered Pollan's new book. We have started talking 
about the benefits of eating locally to everyone we meet. 
It makes so much sense, not only from a health 
perspective, but from an environmental one. It's 
astounding--and ridiculous-- for food to travel 1500 miles 
before it reaches an American plate. Thanks for all you 
do.

--Sage
Way Out in Texas

On Fri, 4 Jan 2008 15:53:28 -0700
  Gene GeRue <genegerue at ruralize.com> wrote:
> This is the review I have written for Amazon.com:
> 
>  Want health?
> 
> “. . . no people on earth worry more about the health 
>consequences of  
> their food choices than we American do—and no people 
>suffer from as  
> many diet-related health problems.”
> 
> What to do? Like so much today, food truth is hard to 
>find. We can’t  
> trust government to tell us the truth because it is 
>influenced by the  
> industrial agriculture giants that produce most food. We 
>certainly  
> can’t trust labels using “natural” to describe chemical 
> 
> agglomerations. And, frankly, we can’t trust doctors 
>because they are  
> simply not educated about food. Nutritionists? Many are 
>educated, but  
> how do we learn their bias? And, can they overcome “the 
>pitfalls of  
> reductionism and overconfidence?”
> 
> I trust Michael Pollan. He has now written enough books 
>regarding food  
> that we know who and how he is. If he has a bias, it 
>seems to be that  
> he really gives a damn about we American consumers.
> 
> Pollan shows how, starting in 1977, government dietary 
>decrees began  
> to speak in terms of nutrients rather than specific 
>foods. This was  
> due to the pushback from the meat industry against the 
>Senate Select  
> Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs. Senator George 
>McGovern’s  
> committee had made the fatal mistake of suggesting that 
>Americans  
> should eat less red meat and fewer dairy products. Enter 
>agribusiness  
> lobbyists. And that changed the whole story of the 
>Western Diet. “The  
> Age of Nutritionism had arrived.” No longer would 
>certain foods be  
> extolled; now we would be sold nutrients. No matter that 
>these  
> mysterious and unpronounceable ingredients might be 
>manufactured  
> rather than grown.
> 
> At the end of the day, and near the end of this most 
>valuable book, is  
> the suggestion: “Cook and, If You Can, Plant a Garden.” 
>I relate well  
> to that. I was lucky--I grew up poor in a family that 
>raised most of  
> our food. The proof of the eating is that my parents 
>long outlived  
> their eight younger “buy it at the store” siblings; Dad 
>died at 93 and  
> Mother is still avidly gardening at 94.
> 
> If we can’t raise food we can buy from small producers 
>as close to us  
> as possible--we can be locavores. The more we know about 
>the people  
> who produce what we put in our body the more we can 
>trust our food- 
> buying decisions. And when we buy food we vote our 
>values. The shorter  
> the distance from field to plate, the less oil is 
>consumed. Win-win.
> 
> So buy from nearby growers. Buy from farmer’s markets 
>and CSAs. Spend  
> more money on best-quality food and spend less money on 
>health  
> insurance. It’s an essential choice.
> 
> I won’t be a spoiler and tell you about the new and 
>contradictory  
> information about fats, cholesterol and heart disease. 
> I won’t bore  
> you with the stories of how our present unhealthful 
>dietary condition  
> came to be and the many businesses and agencies who have 
>created it.  
> And I won’t tell you what you should do, beyond this: 
>read this book  
> and act on the uncommon commonsense knowledge it gives 
>you.
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