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Food Rules: An Eater's Manual
Michael Pollan and Maira Kalman come together to create an enhanced Food Rules for hardcover, now beautifully illustrated and with even more food wisdom.
Michael Pollan's definitive compendium, Food Rules, is here brought to colorful life with the addition of Maira Kalman's beloved illustrations.
This brilliant pairing is rooted in Pollan's and Kalman's shared appreciation...more
Michael Pollan's definitive compendium, Food Rules, is here brought to colorful life with the addition of Maira Kalman's beloved illustrations.
This brilliant pairing is rooted in Pollan's and Kalman's shared appreciation...more
Hardcover, 212 pages
Published
November 1st 2011
by Penguin Press HC, The
(first published November 2009)
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Feb 01, 2012
Paquita Maria Sanchez
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
truthiness
Watch out, folks, this is a variation on the drunken book review called the "my doctor prescribed me syzzurp" review. The M.D.P.M.S. review. An appropriate acronym on so many levels!
So, I have been sick for a month. No exaggeration; a month. I thought I could tough it out like a champ and avoid the combined cost of a doctor's visit, medication, and missing work. That is, until I woke up at 8 this morning with...okay, do you remember that scene in Freddy's Dead: The (totally not final) Final Nig...more
So, I have been sick for a month. No exaggeration; a month. I thought I could tough it out like a champ and avoid the combined cost of a doctor's visit, medication, and missing work. That is, until I woke up at 8 this morning with...okay, do you remember that scene in Freddy's Dead: The (totally not final) Final Nig...more
It's a good thing I only paid five bucks for this book because I felt a bit gypped after reading it. This is basically In Defense of Food: Lite or, worse, In Defense of Food: Dr. Phil-a-fied. I read it in an afternoon - not because it was so riveting, but because it's only 140 pages long. And that's deceptive: Every other page has a picture of an onion or a pepper or something on it, so that cuts it down to 70 pages, and several of the non-onion pages only have a snippet of text on them, so that...more
23 likes · like · see review
This book is an "abridged" version of Pollan's book "In Defense of Food" and gives excellent advice about what to eat and not to eat as far as being natural and healthy. He's not an extremist; but, what he says makes good sense. He advises that if it comes through a car window, it's not food. If your food is made in a plant rather than coming from a plant, you shouldn't eat it. He mentions "edible food-like substances" which is very reminisent of another book I've read in the last couple of year...more
5 likes · like · see review
This book was a super quick read with 64 "food rules" which each had a paragraph or two explaining them in more detail. It has some great reminders and a few new ideas. Some of my favorites are:
Avoid food products that make health claims (you shouldn't have to advertise how healthly something is), Eat only food that will eventually rot, Treat meat as a flavoring, Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself (fries, ice cream, pies are all harder to make and highly processed, yo...more
Avoid food products that make health claims (you shouldn't have to advertise how healthly something is), Eat only food that will eventually rot, Treat meat as a flavoring, Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself (fries, ice cream, pies are all harder to make and highly processed, yo...more
Jun 06, 2011
Rebecca Schweitzer
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
People who eat
Shelves:
2011
A very concise little book about what's become of our food and what we really should eat.
The book can be boiled down to seven words and three sections: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
Each brief chapter is a food rule with a short explanation. Rules are mostly common sense, but they are a good reminder to pay attention to the food we eat and what's been done to it.
Some example rules:
Eat Food.
"Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food."
"Avoid foods you see ad...more
The book can be boiled down to seven words and three sections: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
Each brief chapter is a food rule with a short explanation. Rules are mostly common sense, but they are a good reminder to pay attention to the food we eat and what's been done to it.
Some example rules:
Eat Food.
"Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food."
"Avoid foods you see ad...more
My rating is based on a combination of a)the book's content; and b)the book's usefulness to me. The usefulness is what brings it to a higher rating.
I've been studying health and nutrition on my own for many years now, so the content was not new to me. I bought the book to have on hand for motivation and reminders of what I already know. The way the information and "rules" are presented makes it perfect for keeping me on the healthy path. I read the entire book in a little over an hour and marke...more
I've been studying health and nutrition on my own for many years now, so the content was not new to me. I bought the book to have on hand for motivation and reminders of what I already know. The way the information and "rules" are presented makes it perfect for keeping me on the healthy path. I read the entire book in a little over an hour and marke...more
Nov 29, 2011
nicole j. wroblewski
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2010,
instructional
As someone already interested in more conscious eating and practiced in adjusting my own diet to reflect healthier habits (flexitarian, what whatttt), this book reads as a collection of obvious proverbs, but still useful reminders, especially as I've slipped back into some bad habits. That said, FOR ME, this book isn't worth the list price. But for someone else (the gift recipient I have in mind), Pollan's rules might truly be enlightening, as they would have been to me a couple years back (Weig...more
I'd heard Michael Pollan's "eat food, not too much, mostly plants" quote many times, and have meant to read his books. So, when I saw this 64-point, 90-something page condensed version of his work available as an e-book download from my library last night, I snagged it and read it within a couple of hours. Simple, sensible, mostly familiar stuff. Easy to put into practice? No, not for me. Following his rules is something to aspire to though, and I appreciate that he broke it down to the essentia...more
2 likes · like · see review
This book is full of common scents for most of us, but it is good to be reminded that we become what we put in our bodies. It is so easy to fall pray to what modern convenience has turned "food" into. To anyone who strives to live a happy, healthy, disease free life, this book is worth reading. Its a small book with very big content.
This is a nifty quick reference for the basics of how to eat well. It seems like a "cliff notes" version of "in defense of food". Still, I found it helpful and enjoyable for the hour or less it took to read.
I read this super short book at lunch, upon the recommendation of a gorgeous 72 year old woman who claimed to be married to "the hottest 80 year old you've ever seen." Granted, I read it while eating ramen, but I <3 Michael Pollan and the IDEA of eating well.
This is a really short book. Some of it's 140 pages only have one sentence on them, or a drawing of an onion or other vegetable. It seems to be an abbreviated version of In Defense of Food, another book by the same author. That being said, the ideas expressed about food and eating are very smart and commonsensical.
This book is just fine. Clear language, common-sense, catchy. It's not jargon-y or meant to do anything but convince the reader that you should "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
But....it's a snack size book. In comparison to the multi-course spreads that are Pollan's other work, it's a granola bar. (That I made myself from stone-ground, local ingredients, sweetened lightly from a natural plant-derived, minimally processed sweetener, and only consume from a small plate in a communal meal s...more
But....it's a snack size book. In comparison to the multi-course spreads that are Pollan's other work, it's a granola bar. (That I made myself from stone-ground, local ingredients, sweetened lightly from a natural plant-derived, minimally processed sweetener, and only consume from a small plate in a communal meal s...more
Really, this book is just a repackaging of Pollan's other work on food, making it most suitable as a quick introduction for someone unfamiliar with his other books. Still, I recommend it as a quick refresher or how-to manual since it feels well-suited for taking action towards improving one's own eating habits.
A few of my favorite rules:
#8 Avoid food products that make health claims.
#12 Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.
#35 Eat sweet foods as you find them in nat...more
A few of my favorite rules:
#8 Avoid food products that make health claims.
#12 Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.
#35 Eat sweet foods as you find them in nat...more
After reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals and In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, I went in search of other books by Michael Pollan and came across Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual. There are two versions of the book. The first published in 2009, and a revised version published in 2011 with illustrations by Maira Kalman. I chose the latter version.
The Bottom Line
When compared to previous Michael Pollan books, Food Rules is a slender volume. It condenses information...more
The Bottom Line
When compared to previous Michael Pollan books, Food Rules is a slender volume. It condenses information...more
This is not a book that adds much to the knowledge imparted by Pollan's other books, In Defense of Food and The Omnivore's Dilemma. Those who expected it to be a new treatise may be disappointed. Arguably, it's not really a book at all, but more a collection of aphorisms and mini-essays.
But there is another way to look at this small paperback. There is a wealth of practical wisdom from many cultures and generations here that, if we make use of them, could replace shelves of diet and fitness book...more
But there is another way to look at this small paperback. There is a wealth of practical wisdom from many cultures and generations here that, if we make use of them, could replace shelves of diet and fitness book...more
This might literally be the fastest book I've ever read (with note: I took a break in the middle to have lunch).
For someone who has dabbled in finding ways to be healthier, with either no success and/or ultimate frustration and forfeit, this book was incredibly refreshing. No diet plans, no patronizing comparisons to So and So who lost 87 pounds in just four weeks! The matter of fact confrontation of what to eat, etc., minimized a lot of anxiety and made the whole goal of food and eating right s...more
For someone who has dabbled in finding ways to be healthier, with either no success and/or ultimate frustration and forfeit, this book was incredibly refreshing. No diet plans, no patronizing comparisons to So and So who lost 87 pounds in just four weeks! The matter of fact confrontation of what to eat, etc., minimized a lot of anxiety and made the whole goal of food and eating right s...more
A really quick read, less than an hour, that focuses on 64 easy rules for changing what and how we eat. The rules fall into three categories: 1) eat food, which means less processed foods and more whole foods, 2) eat mostly plants, these focus on eating the leaves and a variety of different plants and 3) eat less, which discusses not eating everything on your plate, smaller portions, and eating at a table with other people, not in your car or in front of the tv alone. Many of the "rules" are com...more
“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
This is the premise of Food Rules, a book written by Michael Pollan. It is a nonfiction book about a proper nutritional diet; the book follows an expositive format with an argumentative twist. He conveyed the dangers of a Western diet through several rules. Pollan wanted to educate the world about healthy versus deleterious food. Although he is not a biochemist, he is a professor of science journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. He wanted to...more
This is the premise of Food Rules, a book written by Michael Pollan. It is a nonfiction book about a proper nutritional diet; the book follows an expositive format with an argumentative twist. He conveyed the dangers of a Western diet through several rules. Pollan wanted to educate the world about healthy versus deleterious food. Although he is not a biochemist, he is a professor of science journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. He wanted to...more
Written by journalist and pseudo-nutritional expert Michael Pollan, this book has little new information about diet, nutrition or weight loss. But in fairness -- that's because there really isn't any "new” information about improving our diet. Most of us already know what we should and should not be eating – real food, less processed foods, etc. -- but we ignore those rules.
Pollan is not trying to write a diet or how-to book, he is only trying to summarize the best of the information that is ou...more
Pollan is not trying to write a diet or how-to book, he is only trying to summarize the best of the information that is ou...more
At first, I thought, "Really? This is a book?". I've read longer articles in the NYT Magazine or the New Yorker.
The book consists of 60 rules that expand on his basic premise, "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants". The rules are simple and easy to understand, perhaps too simplistic at times, which made me wonder whether Michael Pollan was trying to insult my intelligence. I had felt he had "dumbed down" the content. Perhaps he was trying to broaden the appeal of this book to a wider audience,...more
The book consists of 60 rules that expand on his basic premise, "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants". The rules are simple and easy to understand, perhaps too simplistic at times, which made me wonder whether Michael Pollan was trying to insult my intelligence. I had felt he had "dumbed down" the content. Perhaps he was trying to broaden the appeal of this book to a wider audience,...more
This is a really quick read, and a solid resource for sound advice regarding what we should be eating. The book consists of an in depth foreword and 64 rules (which are more like snippets of advice than rules) for a person's food intake. The foreword explains that there is still not too much understood about nutritional science, which goes hand in hand with what I have been finding out during the past few months. Some resources advise one particular diet, while the others advise the complete opp...more
I saw this at my library and checked it out on an impulse. Nothing here should be actual news, but it's a nice concise list of 64 rules that are common sense but not so common. I read negative reviews here about how the book is so small for the money. Here's an idea: patron your library. Buy books you have already previewed and know you'll enjoy. Don't spend your money on a gamble. Other negative reviews talk about how this book is nothing but things people should know anyway. You don't like it...more
I appreciated that this book of eating guidelines focused on concrete things people can do right away to change bad eating habits, written in a concise way, rather than boring me with a lot of studies and science. Also nice to be able to read it from start to finish in one evening and still get a lot from it. That said, there was nothing new here for anyone who's got a bit of common sense and who pays attention. Shop the perimeters of the grocery store, avoid products that contain ingredients yo...more
The cutest bathroom-grade collection of food witticisms, splendidly illustrated by Maira Kalman.
Her artwork perfectly complements Pollan's writing, so much so that I can't imagine this book without it. Food Rules feels like a collaboration; earlier editions must be so empty without Kalman's child-like paintings.
As other reviewers noted, all of Pollan's tips are common sense and completely obvious. Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. But who doesn't love aphorisms? I'm particularly fond of the...more
Her artwork perfectly complements Pollan's writing, so much so that I can't imagine this book without it. Food Rules feels like a collaboration; earlier editions must be so empty without Kalman's child-like paintings.
As other reviewers noted, all of Pollan's tips are common sense and completely obvious. Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. But who doesn't love aphorisms? I'm particularly fond of the...more
I first saw Food Rules: An Eater's Manual, the illustrated edition, at an Anthropologie, where it was probably tucked between a rooster shaped butter dish and a soy lavender candle, which should give you an idea of the intended audience of this book. Anyway, I was intrigued by it, so when I saw it on the new books shelf at the library where I work, I picked it up and read it while cooking dinner one (last) night. I've always been intrigued by Michael Pollan's books, but I haven't read them becau...more
I read (actually, listened to) In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto a couple years ago; I remember listening to it in airports on my way back from the 2010 ALTA conference in Philadelphia, which dates it to November 2010. It was good, though a bit officious and prescriptive in tone (though, in turn, that tone was mostly the audio book narrator's, not the author's). I agreed with Pollan's conclusions—Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.—which meant I considered Food Rules: An Eater's Manual...more
There is an insight from The Perks of Being a Wallflower that I will paraphrase to describe what I thought of M. Pollan and M. Kalman's Food Rules: You know that something's very good when you are changed after reading it.
I can't say that it was only after reading this book that my entire outlook on food and health changed. Before this, there was D. Buettner's Blue Zones--an equally eye-opening achievement. As Blue Zones was thorough, Food Rules was concise. And I love (and was changed by) them...more
I can't say that it was only after reading this book that my entire outlook on food and health changed. Before this, there was D. Buettner's Blue Zones--an equally eye-opening achievement. As Blue Zones was thorough, Food Rules was concise. And I love (and was changed by) them...more
1 like · like · see review
I have been wanting to read Pollan's books for a while now but there is always a long wait to get them from the library. Finally, this week I got notice that the e-book version of Food Rules was available. I downloaded it onto my phone (thanks to Overdrive) and read it while my son was napping.
I'm still adjusting to reading books on my phone. I much prefer paper in my hands, the feel of turning pages, using book markers... but I can't deny the convenience of e-books with a toddler. I don't have...more
I'm still adjusting to reading books on my phone. I much prefer paper in my hands, the feel of turning pages, using book markers... but I can't deny the convenience of e-books with a toddler. I don't have...more
*The to-go (and go-to) version*
Michael Pollan wrote the book on healthy eating. Literally. And, here it is, served up in 64 bite-sized rules dished out over 140 highly digestible, delightfully illustrated pages. Based on the meat (no pun intended, really) of his ground-breaking _In Defense of Food_, the pocket-sized, readable-in-one-sitting (though preferably not while eating) _Food Rules_ presents do-able, understandable, and yes, even enjoyable how-to's for following Pollan's eating holy trin...more
Michael Pollan wrote the book on healthy eating. Literally. And, here it is, served up in 64 bite-sized rules dished out over 140 highly digestible, delightfully illustrated pages. Based on the meat (no pun intended, really) of his ground-breaking _In Defense of Food_, the pocket-sized, readable-in-one-sitting (though preferably not while eating) _Food Rules_ presents do-able, understandable, and yes, even enjoyable how-to's for following Pollan's eating holy trin...more
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Michael Pollan is an American author, journalist, activist, and professor of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is also the director of the Knight Program in Science and Environmental Journalism.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
More about Michael Pollan...
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
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“What an extraordinary achievement for a civilization: to have developed the one diet that reliably makes its people sick!”
—
26 people liked it
“Not everyone can afford to eat well in America, which is a literal shame, but most of us can: Americans spend less than 10 percent of their income on food, less than the citizens of any other nation. ”
—
13 people liked it
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