In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan

Great book; quick to read; great follow up to The Omnivore’s Dilemma. To quote Pollan: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” That’s mostly what the book is about — it’s a critique of nutritionism and the way that we eat so much processed food today. Has had a profound impact on the way I think about the food that I eat — in the category of things I probably already knew but hadn’t read together like this — and is slowly having that same impact on the food that I actually do eat. Great book.

6 comments

  1. He started an article in the NYT magazine last year with the same three sentences: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nu… — I suspect the article borrowed some material from the book-in-progress, or something like that. Reading that article influenced the way I think about food as well.

  2. He started an article in the NYT magazine last year with the same three sentences: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html?pagewanted=all — I suspect the article borrowed some material from the book-in-progress, or something like that. Reading that article influenced the way I think about food as well.

  3. Glad to hear this is worth reading — it’s on my list of Books to Read. (I’ve got American Creation going right now, finally finished the last chapter or so of Dreaming in Code this week after letting it sit dormant for a couple months, and plan to pick up The Mythical Man-Month tomorrow!) I think In Defense of Food might be after that… if I don’t switch to fiction after Man-Month.

  4. Glad to hear this is worth reading — it’s on my list of Books to Read. (I’ve got American Creation going right now, finally finished the last chapter or so of Dreaming in Code this week after letting it sit dormant for a couple months, and plan to pick up The Mythical Man-Month tomorrow!) I think In Defense of Food might be after that… if I don’t switch to fiction after Man-Month.

  5. That is a great book “In Defense of Food”

    The book implies that “what we are eating today is not food”

  6. That is a great book “In Defense of Food”

    The book implies that “what we are eating today is not food”