Real Food and Michael Pollan

I recently finished reading the Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, and found it inspiring insofar as bringing more organic and more local food into my diet. It helped confirm my choice to become a vegetarian - even if it is 15 years after the fact - and it puts in print right in front of you what is so wrong with industrial agriculture. His new book, In Defense of Food, is coming out at the end of the month, and the Guardian has had a couple of excerpts. The latest one offers tips on "How to Get Back to Real Food." Eating is perhaps the most important thing we do for ourselves everyday, and getting back to feeding our bodies in a way that is not only healthy for us as individuals, but also as a whole society - and of course healthy for the environment and planet - is one of the pressing issues facing each of us on a daily basis. Pollan offers thoughts and ideas on how to bring change about in accessible, and informative ways, and most refreshing, he adds some humor in there too. Of course we can't all do everything, but taking steps, and making an effort can begin to bring around real change, and taking control of your body and diet may be one of the most political acts we can make. Here are some of the tips he offers in the Guardian article:
- Don't eat anything that your great-grandmother wouldn't recognise as food
- Avoid food products that make health claims
- Get out of the supermarket
- Eat mostly plants, especially leaves
- Eat wild foods when you can
- Don't look for the magic bullet in the traditional diet
- Eat less
- Eat meals
- Do all your eating at a table
- Try not to eat alone
- Cook - and, if you can, plant a garden