Paulette's review
rating:
Pollan's In Defense of Food makes the call for a return to healthy, pleasurable eating. Pollan notes that American eaters are less likely (than their European counterparts, for example) to take their time in eating food; rather they're apt to eating alone and on the go, and consume processed, "food-like" products as opposed to actual food. Pollan argues that we should go back to eating only what our great grandmothers would recognize as food, taking the time and investing the money in purchasing, cooking, and enjoying said real food (mostly plants, he advises). Pollan provides a sketch of the genesis and growth of the nutrition movement, noting that this "science" (a term that he finds highly debatable) often went hand-in-hand with the political and economic agendas of various interest groups. I found his writing to be engaging and enjoyable, and certainly, his arguments, while nothing revolutionary for the most part, were generally persuasive enough for me to b...more
Pollan's In Defense of Food makes the call for a return to healthy, pleasurable eating. Pollan notes that American eaters are less likely (than their European counterparts, for example) to take their time in eating food; rather they're apt to eating alone and on the go, and consume processed, "food-like" products as opposed to actual food. Pollan argues that we should go back to eating only what our great grandmothers would recognize as food, taking the time and investing the money in purchasing, cooking, and enjoying said real food (mostly plants, he advises). Pollan provides a sketch of the genesis and growth of the nutrition movement, noting that this "science" (a term that he finds highly debatable) often went hand-in-hand with the political and economic agendas of various interest groups. I found his writing to be engaging and enjoyable, and certainly, his arguments, while nothing revolutionary for the most part, were generally persuasive enough for me to be still thinking about the book days later. I appreciate his pointing out that we've seemed to have lost the culture in eating, the rituals of communing over food, for example. That said, one can point to several shortcomings in his book:
1) Analytic Slippage: Pollan spends much of the book seeking to prove that the science of nutrition is inherently flawed and simplistic, failing to capture the holistic, interactive nature of diet and health outcomes. However, in attempt to support his claims about the inherent weakness of nutritional science (that we should all but ignore, according to him) and the evils of the Western Diet, he relies pretty heavily on evidence from... nutritional science! Even though he argues that we should be focusing on the food item itself (e.g., blueberries) and not the one or two nutrients that we THINK are good for us(e.g., antioxidants), he falls into the similar habit of "reducing" (in his words) the food to its purportedly effective nutrient. Pollan acknowledges the slippage (and logical fallacy, using my own words) in the final part of the book and, I think, is forced to point out the positive aspects of nutritional science, that this is the best methodology we got, blah blah blah; otherwise his arguments would have collapsed by his own initial critiques of "nutritionism."
2) Glaring Omission: Pollan barely (if at all) acknowledges the role of race/ethnicity and socio-economic status and the ability to eat healthy foods. In his final section, in which he offers suggestions to the reader for healthier eating, he states that the socio-economically disadvantaged cannot follow his suggestions, which is a shame, really, but "the rest of us" have no excuse. This book was clearly written by the privileged for the privileged, about which he is unabashedly unapologetic.
3) Another Big Omission: Understandably given the title, Pollan would keep his focus on healthy eating, but the other important x variable in physical health is, of course, physical activity, which barely gets an honorable mention in his work.
4) Pollan argues for a return to culture (which he equates to "Mom") in our eating, and instructs us, among other things, to eat at a table (and no, a desk doesn't count, he responds preemptively), and eat in the company of others. While I couldn't agree more with that sentiment, Pollan does nothing to address what I believe are the far bigger systemic issues that prevent us from being happy foodies in the first place: the instability of the labor market, the declining pay in many sectors of our economy, the culture of work that makes it virtually impossible for people to get more than 2-3 weeks vacation per year, and so on. Americans, in general, are a pretty stressed out, overworked bunch, and so eating, among other pursuits, will consequently suffer.
Despite these and other critiques I have about the book, I still recommend it for its helpful synthesis of the main arguments we've heard about healthier eating and for its claim to not ignore the social and cultural aspects of eating, which are just as important as the health benefits we're trying to learn (and reap). ...less
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto