Michael Pollan, the author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food, has done some substantial research about the food that we, as Americans, eat. In his book, he makes some great points about how food for us has to do more with consumption than nourishment.

In this recent article, Pollan talks about his new book and explicates some of his observations about the effects of our food system on energy and global warming amongst other things. You can also view the webcast of a talk that Pollan and Whole Foods CEO John Mackey gave a few years ago at UC Berkeley. It is available online here. Note that you will need RealPlayer.

Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone else has read either of Pollan's books and what you all thought.

Omnivore's Dilemma was pretty interesting and a fast read. In the last section of his book, Pollan describes his venture to grow, forage, and hunt an entire meal. I was intrigued by the idea and although I didn't have the time or resources to duplicate his experience, I tried to go an entire day without eating a processed food item. I ended up eating a lot of bananas. I would recommend reading it...the section on beef was also very interesting.

I read Omnivore's Dilemma as well and even though I had already known about the downsides of corn in our diets since I dabbled in the Blood Type Diet for a while, I was in quite a shock to find out just how many of my body molecules now consist of corn! This book also provided me with concrete information regarding the effects of our meat and processed food consumption on the environment. After reading this book I started buying food from the raw food restaurant in SF and was really surprised at how good it was! I also regained my appreciation for the local farmer's market and make an effort to go every week and have a new excitement for cooking as many fresh veggies as possible

Thanks for the link to the interview it was super interesting and makes me want to read In Defense of Food. The issues Pollan brought up in the interview remind me of the themes of a book I'm reading Food Politics by Marion Nestle

What is the Blood Type Diet?

I read The Omnivore's Dilemma and found it fascinating. Especially the description of the pastured raised chickens and beef. It made me decide to raise chickens for eggs. I visited a farm over the summer which raises chickens according to some of Joel Salatin's methods (the farmer Pollan visits in the Omnivore's Dilemma and author of Salad Bar Beef and Pastured Poultry Profits). The farm I visited was pretty sweet, the chickens raised for meat were kept in movable pens, they could run around (although not a ton) and eat the grass and clover, and then when that grass was eaten they were moved to the next patch. This farm is making money too, so it's not a loosing proposition.
Anyway, I'm really happy people are thinking about the food they eat.

The Blood Type Diet is mainly a non-processed food diet that is based on the 4 blood types, such that people who are Type A, B, AB, O all have different lists of foods that are beneficial to their health, neutral, or bad for health and should be avoided. That is the simple summary, but there are further specifications depending on whether you are a secretor, and now they have revamped it yet again with another category but I haven't followed the new trend. The guru of the diet is Dr. Peter D'Adamo and the diet has a great deal of die hard supporters. When I was strictly following the diet I really did have a great deal of energy and just felt better overall, but I had a really hard time following the diet when I ate outside of my home. I do still try to follow some of the main principles of the diet and focus on eating my "beneficials" and not my "avoids". The original book is called "Eat Right for your Type" and it is a really interesting read even if you don't plan on following the diet. Apparently your bllod type affects the workouts that are best for you, your personality, and more! You can find more information at http://www.dadamo.com/

I was also very fascinated by The Omnivore's Dilemma. Pollan raises a lot of issues that were definitely not part of general public consciousness before he published his book.

However, something that we must take into account about Pollan is that he is a professor of journalism, not of agriculture. He knows how to stir our emotions, and he does bring up a lot of good points, but his work can also tend to be somewhat simplistic at times.

For example, in his introduction to The Omnivore's Dilemma, Pollan refers to "the three principle food chains that sustain us today: the industrial, the organic, and the hunter-gatherer" (7). To me, it does not make sense to categorize our food systems in this way, because much of organic agriculture is industrial.