Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Michael Pollan and the New Food Rules
I've been a follower of Michael Pollan ever since his book called the Botany of Desire. I was even more amazed by his next book, The Omnivore's Delimma.
Now, he's got a new and very small book called Food Rules, which in a way is a completely different way to fix America's health and obesity crisis. One of his quotes struck me as especially prescient "I think we need to recognize that cheap food has a very high cost, in terms of health and the environment. That cost is getting paid by other people, by the public health system. That's part of the problem and the disconnect. I think that's where there's a disconnect, between what you pay for a cheap, fast-food meal, and the ultimate price of eating that way."
"That's the worst sentence I've ever heard said!" Stewart exclaimed "Suddenly the health insurers will have an interest in your health, which right now they don't?!?!" Stewart loves the irony, and so do we.
Watch this clip on the Daily Show for a bit of an interview about the book and some of the ideas it contains:
There's a great story at the New York Times that gives several of the rules from his new book here - http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/10/11/magazine/20091011-foodrules.html.
You can also read another interesting interview at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-pollan/food-rules-a-completely-d_b_410173.html in which he describes some of his rules. These rules are, in many ways, absurdly simple and common sense. And yet, few people follow them - much to their dismay.
Now, he's got a new and very small book called Food Rules, which in a way is a completely different way to fix America's health and obesity crisis. One of his quotes struck me as especially prescient "I think we need to recognize that cheap food has a very high cost, in terms of health and the environment. That cost is getting paid by other people, by the public health system. That's part of the problem and the disconnect. I think that's where there's a disconnect, between what you pay for a cheap, fast-food meal, and the ultimate price of eating that way."
"That's the worst sentence I've ever heard said!" Stewart exclaimed "Suddenly the health insurers will have an interest in your health, which right now they don't?!?!" Stewart loves the irony, and so do we.
Watch this clip on the Daily Show for a bit of an interview about the book and some of the ideas it contains:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Michael Pollan | ||||
| ||||
There's a great story at the New York Times that gives several of the rules from his new book here - http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/10/11/magazine/20091011-foodrules.html.
You can also read another interesting interview at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-pollan/food-rules-a-completely-d_b_410173.html in which he describes some of his rules. These rules are, in many ways, absurdly simple and common sense. And yet, few people follow them - much to their dismay.
Labels: Thoughts
# posted by Zebraman @ 5:55 PM 
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Hey Kevin - I'm a big fan of Michael Pollan. He does go too far ocassionally, but I think that people need to think about the sources of food, and what food is, more than we do. And the critique of artificial nutrients is spot-on. I've recently heard about food product manufacturers adding fiber to a variety of foods - that is, "fiber" that comes from a wide variety of non-food sources. Somehow, I am not eager to find out if non-food fiber will have the same health effects as edible plant fiber, and all the other nutrients (many unknown) that come from the same sources!
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