"Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants" -- the rallying cry of Michael Pollan fans. Despite the haiku-like elegance of Pollan's seven-word summary, it really winds me up. Not because of disagreement with Pollan, but because of the prevalent use of it as a rejoinder to any discussion on food. In the hands of anyone other than Michael Pollan, it mostly comes across as facile and smug, dispensed by the internet ignorant as if making a wise and profound point that is the last word on the matter at hand.
As a big fan of both Fast Food Nation [great book] and Hugh Fairly Long Name, and as someone who has thought a lot about food sourcing, I haven't yet read Pollan's books because it seems like I would mostly heartily agree with them while not learning much. I take issue with the catchphrase on a couple counts: (1) "not too much" -- meaningless/tautological, and (2) "mostly plants" -- wheat is a plant, no? If I eat banana sandwiches washed down with orange juice, am I still following this dictum? I admit I have a strong carnivore bias, but still....
4 comments:
if bread is a plant byproduct, how much further rationalization does one need to conclude that beef is a plant byproduct?
Let's cut to the chase now and declare all of it solar-based.
excellent. now we're all solatarians. let's see someone be contrary to that.
I enjoyed the book, and learned a great deal about food policy in the US. Maybe I am just ill-informed.
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