'In Defense of Food'

I am just about done reading Michael Pollan's newest book In Defense of Food. At first I had doubts about the value of delving into another of his works, yet those doubts have all disappeared. I thought that In Defense of food might be more or less just a condensed version of The Omnivores Dilemma. While some information is repeated, In Defense of Food is also a much more coherent, well thought out philosophy about the state of eating in America. Pollan uses a century's worth of information to show the detrimental effects of "the western diet," a food culture based upon industrial processed foods and the "wisdom" of food science.

In his effort to stress the importance of eating whole foods, Pollan states that if his "explorations of the food chain have taught [him] anything, it's that it is a food chain, and all the links in it are in fact linked: the health of the soil to the health of the plants and animals we eat to the health of the food culture in which we eat them to the health of the eater, in body as well as mind." Later on, he suggests shopping at local farmers market a one good way to start to break the food science, industrial food cycle, to "shake the hand that feeds you."

Pollan describes a country that is seeing skyrocketing rates of both diabetes and obesity. His work suggests that when doctors are for the first time in history seeing multiple cases of children who are simultaneously obese and suffering from diseases due to nutrient deficiency, it is time to begin questioning our modern, western ideas about food. Perhaps expecting food to be cheap, fast, and served up in large quantities is not the best strategy.

Pollan shows how so many of the things we eat and the ways we look at food are a direct result of government policy decisions. Government subsidies of corn and soy have helped lead to a 20% fall in price of industrial sweeteners and fats since 1980 while during the same time period the cost of fresh fruits and vegetables has increased by 40%. We all know that it can be more expensive to eat healthy than not to. This may always be true, but perhaps there are things that can be done to close the price gap between the detrimental cheep foods so many of us currently choose, and our healthier, whole food options.

I have enjoyed reading In Defense of Food, and was grateful for all of the great information and inspiration it provides. If you have read other works in the same genre, I think this still worth the read, and If you have not, well it's not a bad place to start.