In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto

by Michael Pollan
Hennepin County Library audioCDs 5 discs
read by Scott Brick
genre: non-fiction, nutrition

Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants.

That's the essence of Pollan's latest book. Fascinating but sometimes a little overwhelming, he debunks the last few decades of "nutritionism" and talks about how our country's obsession with eating healthier has actually made us more unhealthy. Amazing look at our culture and what brought us here.

Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants. There were a LOT of points under these three topics, but I couldn't write them down while driving (safely), so I guess I'll have to get a print copy of the book. Amazing book. This guy is good!

Some other notes I made on the book:
- eat food your (great) grandmother would recognize
- don't eat food that cannot rot (e.g. Twinkies)
- avoid foods with ingredients you cannot pronounce, more than five ingredients, and/or high fructose corn syrup
- avoid food products that make health claims

Omnivore's Dilemma: The Secrets Behind What You Eat

the Young Reader's Edition
by Michael Pollan
adapted by Richie Chevat
PRMS, hardcover, 298 pages
genre: Non-fiction, food science / agribusiness

Wow. This was a very thought-provoking book. It made me happier than ever that we participate in a CSA. And buy our beef from a local farmer. It makes me want to try harder to eat healthier and closer to home. The biggest shocker to me was the power of corn, the corn subsidies, and the fact that cows don't naturally eat corn! Their stomachs deal with a diet of grasses, and being fed corn is part of the agribusiness unnaturalness that this book covers. The author talked about point to point development of food within the industrial, organic industrial, beyond organic, and hunter/gatherer models. Powerful stuff. Makes me think about what I'm eating!