Insightology

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

To be clear, Michael Pollan is not a food scientist, nutritionist, physician or a government employee. He is a journalist with a long interest in food and its impact on society. Consequently this book does not contain a specific diet nor does it focus on combating a particular condition such as weight loss. What it is, oddly enough, is what it says it is - a defense of food. It might seem strange that someone would need to write a book to defend something as fundamental and essential to life as food, but Pollan shows that this book is necessary because the very definition of "food" is under question. He wrote this book as a follow-up to his best seller The Omnivore's Dilemma, which explored the origins of four different meals and in the process explained where our food comes from and how that affects us. In this easy read he focuses on what we should eat, laying out an "eating algorithm" that is based on a very simple rule that is printed right on the book's cover: eat food, not too much, mostly plants. All the guidance you need to eat well and live long.

The book is divided into three parts. The first part talks about the age of "nutritionism" the idea that food can be reduced to its component nutrients. Since nutrients are invisible (and incomprehensible), scientists are needed to tell us what to eat and manufacturers can add or subtract nutrients to make foods more "healthy". Pollan's point is that food is more complex than the sum of the sparse and recently identified nutrient parts. Tradition and culture have taught humans what to eat over thousands of years and neglecting that in favor of what was identified in the lab last month to create "edible food-like substances" is not a good way to go. In fact, he argues that eating should be about more than just health. Imagine that!

The second part of the book talks about the Western diet and the diseases of civilization. Over the last half century or so, scientists and physicians have known that cultures dominated by the Western diet have tended to develop what are known as diseases of civilization - heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer etc. The Western diet can be broadly defined as one that includes lots of processed foods and meat, lots of refined carbohydrates and added sugar among other things. He talks about how we came to become dependent on this diet and what we can do to move away from it, primarily by eschewing food science in favor of food culture.

The last part of the book provides general rules for eating which are unlike anything you are likely to see in books about food or healthy eating. Here are some of my favorites:                           

• Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
• Avoid food products that make health claims.
• You are what you eat eats too.
• Eat slowly.
• Pay more, eat less
• Eat more like the French. Or the Italians. Or the Japanese. Or the Indians. Or the Greeks.

Obviously, this book is not about counting calories or points, watching your weight, overloading on proteins or avoiding fats, or for that matter finding the "best value" meals.  It is about making your eating experience more pleasurable and in the process making you more healthy. And it is written in a simple, elegant language that avoids too much jargon and hysteria. You wouldn't be wasting your time spending a couple of hours reading this little gem.

Michael Pollan is the author of several other books including The Omnivore's Dilemma and The Botany of Desire, both of which are best sellers.  He is the Knight Professor of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley.