Today, it’d be hard to catch a family actually eating together, and, when they do, what they eat is usually manufactured: lasagna that tastes as plastic as the tray it’s baked in, and garlic bread pulled from a disposable foil package. A glance at the bread’s ingredient list might show items like isolated soy proteins, hydrogenated vegetable oil, and high fructose corn syrup. As Michael Pollan states, “over the last several decades, mom lost much of her authority over the dinner menu, ceding it to scientists and food marketers (often an unhealthy alliance of the two) and, to a lesser extent, to the government, with its ever shifting dietary guidelines, food-labeling rules, and perplexing pyramids.”
Food, or at least our perception of it, has become decidedly more complicated. To add to the mire, we’re fatter and sicker than ever, a fact which Pollan directly attributes to the shift away from traditional whole foods–vegetables, fruits, whole grains, naturally raised meat and dairy–and towards what he terms “edible food-like substances”–think margarine, cereal bars, and the previously mentioned garlic bread. In Defense of Food aims to offer simple guidelines for deciding what–and how–to eat to reclaim our “health and happiness as eaters.”
Pollan’s easy-to-follow style and informative but affable tone aptly reflect his mission to simplify the complex question of “what we humans should eat in order to be maximally healthy.” This question has become particularly confusing in the face of more food choices than ever before, ever-new dietary studies, and increasing health claims on everything from packaged bread to bottles of water. The book is divided into three sections. The first two, “The Age of Nutritionism” and “The Western Diet and the Diseases of Civilization,” investigate what Pollan terms the American Paradox, or why Americans face skyrocketing rates of obesity and dramatic increases in Western diseases, while simultaneously devoting more and more attention–and dollars–to health and nutrition.
A glance down any grocery store cereal aisle–where colorful boxes expertly advertise their whole grain heart healthy benefits, omega-3 fatty acid content, or grams of protein–supports his claim that nutrients have become more important than foods themselves, and are helping to fund a rapidly growing food industry. While readers who are interested in the politics behind food will find these first two sections captivating, others, searching for a concrete answer to the question, “what to eat?”, will have to hold out until the last section. But they are advised to press on. Only through understanding the research laid out in the first two sections do Pollan’s core messages acquire their weight in the last.
The last section, “Getting Over Nutritionism,” is the manifesto– although manifesto seems much too strong a word for his friendly, easy-to-swallow tips–where Pollan outlines his rules and guidelines for escaping the perils of the Western diet. He compellingly argues that instead of relying on ever-new–and often contradicting–nutrition studies, health claims and diet fads for advice on what to eat, Americans should instead look to “great-grandma” for advice. Eat only foods that she would have recognized as food. Avoid impostors like that garlic bread that look recognizable but that have ingredients she wouldn’t understand. And don’t eat too much, sticking mostly with vegetables.
With its concise research and palatable wisdom, In Defense of Food will be as fulfilling as the home cooked meals once served at our ancestors’ tables, especially for those who are passionate about food. Hopefully, it will also extend its reach far enough to capture the attention of those millions of Americans for whom dinner means little more than microwaving.
In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
Michael Pollan
The Penguin Press, 2008
Purchase In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto from Amazon.com
