In Defense of Food An Eaters Manifesto

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto (Paperback)







Authors Michael Pollan

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Product Description
Food is the one thing that Americans hate to love and, as it turns out, love to hate. What we want to eat has been ousted by the notion of what we should eat, and it's at this nexus of hunger and hang-up that Michael Pollan poses his most salient question: where is the food in our food? What follows in In Defense of Food is a series of wonderfully clear and thoughtful answers that help us omnivores navigate the nutritional minefield that's come to typify our food culture. Many processed foods vie for a spot in our grocery baskets, claiming to lower cholesterol, weight, glucose levels, you name it. Yet Pollan shows that these convenient "healthy" alternatives to whole foods are appallingly inconvenient: our health has a nation has only deteriorated since we started exiling carbs, fats--even fruits--from our daily meals. His razor-sharp analysis of the American diet (as well as its architects and its detractors) offers an inspiring glimpse of what it would be like if we could (a la Humpty Dumpty) put our food back together again and reconsider what it means to eat well. In a season filled with rallying cries to lose weight and be healthy, Pollan's call to action—"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."--is a program I actually want to follow. --Anne Bartholomew

Product Details
# Paperback: 256 pages
# Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); 1 edition (April 28, 2009)
# Language: English

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Reviews In Defense of Food An Eater's Manifesto


Practical, insightful and really instructive. Pollan should be on a national FDA board to help curtail wreckless diet practices perpetuated by the government, communities, corporations, and individuals. We have forgotten where we came from in the world and this book along with Omnivores Dilemma go a long way toward putting the American diet back on track. Awesome recital of food facts, environmental issues, and dietary history of the contemporary American diet.

Was debating on this book or "Food Rules" however read this one first and am starting on the other. For the scientific searching mind, this book will give you all that you will ever need to know about the theory, history and science of food and for the simple layman just wanting to know what, when, how and why they should change their eating habits, the words became a little too technical and I kept reaching for the end for the answers to my questions. Facts are very beneficial but just needing the "bottom line", I then reached for "Food Rules" and am finding just what I need by focusing on how all this relates to my daily life and practices by getting off the Western Diet. As the author said "Food Rules" is a radically pared-down book and am looking forward to it. In the meantime, I am not sorry about reading "In Defense of Food" and might venture into again some day when I feel I need a dose of scientific intelligence.