In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto By Michael Pollan

This is a book review sent me by one of the Harford County Public Library's book group moderators. If you are interested in taking part in a monthly book discussion meeting, please check the Book Groups page in ReadersPlace for a group meeting near you.

In Defense of Food: an Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan

"Michael Pollan continues his crusade against what he calls industrial food: Food that is grown, processed, and/or actually manufactured from chemicals under factory-like conditions, food that looks alluring in the supermarket (often found in the middle aisles plastered with health claims) but is in reality poor in nutrients and flavor or chock-full of harmful things. In other words, pretty much the entire modern American diet. Seemingly the more our scientists know about nutrition, the fatter and sicker the populace becomes. Pollan makes a convincing argument that perhaps all those nutritional experts know a lot less than they’re willing to let on about how food sustains us. To begin with, a lot of the received wisdom about nutrition is either largely unproven or simply wrong. For example, there has been no evidence of any link between our total cholesterol score and heart disease. LDL, referred to as “bad cholesterol” (even though it’s not actually cholesterol but rather a fatty carrier of cholesterol) has only a slight correlation to heart disease. Furthermore, Pollan tells us, it has been shown that isolated (aboriginal) populations have largely avoided the prevalent chronic diseases of modern life (heart disease, cancer, diabetes, tooth decay) despite the amazing variation in their diets: high fat and protein with no vegetables to speak of (Eskimo), low fat with lots of fruits and vegetables (Mediterranean), diets with and without whole grains (as long as no processed grains are included), and on and on. So which diet is really healthy for us? According to Pollan’s research, almost any diet that is not “Western” (i.e., not full of refined sugars, highly processed grains, and an overabundance of calories) would improve our health outlook. Even more important, populations that treat food as a part of a broader tradition and culture, something to be celebrated and savored, tend to live longer with far fewer chronic illnesses. After all, Pollan insists, our mothers and their mothers’ mothers’ mothers’ must have learned something about nutrition through many generations of trial and error.

This book is somewhat shorter on pure entertainment than Pollan’s previous work, The Omnivore’s Dilemma; and it does recap some of the facts, findings and opinions in that marvelous earlier work. Yet if you really want to understand how large corporations, elephantine marketing budgets, and the so-called science of nutrition have steered us way wrong and confused us; if you’ve sometimes wondered why America today is the only place and time in history when the population needed experts and journalists (!) to tell us what we can and can’t eat; if you occasionally ask yourself whether all those heart-healthy, reduced fat, low cholesterol, salt-free, American Heart Association certified processed foods on your grocer’s shelves really deliver on their promise; if you scratch your head over living in a country where the poorest citizens are the fattest; if, ultimately, you’re looking to cut through the blather of diet books and scientists to figure out how to approach food shopping and eating with even the slightest degree of sanity—then please read this book with an open mind."

Further Reading:

Click on Michael Pollan's website, In Defense of Food

Jen Vido, Author, Columnist, and Book Reviewer Launches Website

On September 1, Jen Vido, well known to Harford County readers in the Bel Air area as the leader of a book discussion group in the Bel Air branch and also the regular contributor of author interviews on ReadersPlace, launched her own website. Here is the link: http://www.jennifervido.com/index.html

As you probably know, Jen is also the former Chairperson and now Vice Chairperson Representing the Bel Air Area on the Harford County Public Library Board of Trustees. A woman of many talents, she is also a French teacher, a book reviewer for FreshFiction.com, and an aspiring author.

If you like chick lit, romance, mystery or suspense, do look at her website for gossip and news from the publishing world. This is what Jen says on her home page:

“Welcome to your ultimate source of tidbits and tantalizing scoop happening in romance, chick-lit, mystery, and suspense! Aspiring author Jennifer Vido dishes the scoop with her right-off-the-press book reviews, up-close and personal interviews with popular authors, and even sizzling contests that you just can’t find anywhere else on the web. Add http://www.jennifervido.com/ to your list of favorites so that you can stop by and see what’s happening. And, don’t forget to sign-up for her monthly newsletter so that Jen can keep you in the loop of what’s hot and what’s not in the world of publishing. Yesterday’s newcomer could be tomorrow’s star! You won’t want to miss it!”