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 - In Defense of Food: An eater's manifestoThis is a very important book. I read it in the library and wanted my own copy. And I have purchased copies for my friends as gifts. It is very well researched and I want to pursue some of his sources. Rating:  - Stick with Omnivore's DilemmaI thought it was beyond funny that the first people Michael Pollan cited in his acknowledgments sections were his editors. I thought this book could have used some more editing actually. It was repetitive and overly sensational. I cook my own food and have a garden, and it still made me feel incredibly inadequate at providing for myself, which is ridiculous. I am not entirely convinced that we should completely denounce nutritionism and science because God does it better. Sounds like the same malarkey that challenges evolutionary science. And I thought it a serious weakness that Pollan uses food studies when it's convenient for his argument to do so. Kudos to Pollan for making a lot of this research and information approachable to the average American, but I feel like he's preaching the the choir. The people who really need to read this book probably can't afford it. Bottom Line: I celebrated finishing this book by serving myself up a HUGE bowl of Lucky Charms. Ah...high fructose corn syrup...it's been a while, my friend... Rating: - Dietitan DelightedAs a Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Educator I am delighted that Pollan has put together one pouch with most all the jewels. The system while well meaning is not yet optimizing our access to the path of health. Rating: - Learn to cookYou really have to read Pollan's masterpiece, "The Omnivore's Dilemma," to appreciate this one, which functions as a kind of coda to Omnivore's exploration of industrial farming and its effects on the food supply. In "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto," Pollan's attack on nutritionism--the separating of a food into its components--certainly puts the lie to "alternative" medicine health gurus like Andrew Weil, who sometimes seem to push pills (vitamins, anti-oxidants, etc.) as heartily as his counterparts in traditional medicine. According to Pollan, there is no magic substance, whether it be oat bran or omega-3 oils, that can bestow health. He points out that human beings have thrived on all kinds of different diets, the so-called Western diet excepted. He convincingly argues, citing infant formula as just one example, that efforts to reduce a valuable food to its components are primitive at best and that attempts to define what comprises a healthy diet, like the emphasis on low fat consumption, have been just plain wrong. Shop the outer walls of the supermarket, he advises, looking for the real food: vegetables, fruit, fish, and meat. Stay out of the middle, where the "whole grain" junk food and "heart healthy" cookies dwell. This is an interesting and sensible book full of good advice that is ridiculously easy to follow. Despite some of the more enthusiastic reviews, I do have to say that for middle-aged readers the notion that if you follow Pollan's precepts you will live longer and avoid devastating diseases is a bit silly. (Pollan does not make this claim.) Who can predict such things? However, for those who choose to teach their children or grandchildren to eat well---what better gift for the next generation? Reader: if you can't cook you are going to have to learn. Rating: - Spread the word...If this fabulous book becomes a best-seller, as it should, if enough people read and follow its advice, if we can manage to get the kids on board with healthy eatting (PLEASE write a kid's version, asap), we can put the food processors, food "scientists" on notice that their imitation food is at least one contributing factor behind so many "new" epidemics: bi-polarity in children, autism, ADD, allergies, asthma, diabetes I & II, obesity, etc etc etc. Thank you Michael Pollan for stating the case for real food so very well. This Saturday, I'm off to the farmer's market.
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