Discerning Omnivore Michael Pollan's 'Rules to Eat By'

by Alexa Weibel, Posted Oct 8th 2009 @ 4:00PM

Vibrant Swiss chard from the Torrance farmers' market. Photo: clayirving, Flickr.

In the "treacherous food landscape" of today's supermarkets, noted New York Times contributor and author Michael Pollan has culled a collection of "Rules to Eat By" to help readers navigate "through the minefields of the modern-food marketplace or restaurant menu."

He requested suggestions from New York Times readers in March as research for an upcoming book and received more than 2,500 in just a few days. With food policies ranging from the innate ("Don't eat egg salad from a vending machine"), to quirky ("Don't yuck someone's yum"), to moral ("Don't eat anything you aren't willing to kill yourself"), Pollan's 20 favorites provide a helpful guide to eating right.

As food takes a longer and longer path -- and transformation -- from its origins, and the food industry gains increasing influence over what is deemed "nutritious" according to federal standards, eating right has become more and more abstruse. With the constant rise of misguided or unsound food principles -- Paula Deen categorizing her strawberry cake as "fruit" on "The View," KFC's Double Down sandwich swapping its bun for two servings of fried chicken, a markedly "Supersized" culture -- Pollan stresses the importance of the elementary practice of trusting culture, and following our leaders -- mothers and fathers and friends -- rather than increasingly convoluted federal nutrition guidelines when making appropriate food choices.

Weary of the "era of dazzling food science, supersize portions and widespread dietary confusion," Pollan published "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" and "The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals," took the James Beard Award for best food writing and is currently the Knight Professor of Science and Environmental Journalism at UC Berkeley.

Filed Under: Newspapers, Food News
Tags: kfc double down sandwich, KfcDoubleDownSandwich, michael pollan, MichaelPollan, paula deen, PaulaDeen, rules to eat by, RulesToEatBy, supersize, the omnivores dilemma, TheOmnivoresDilemma

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

10-08-2009 @4:47PM Gobo said... The rule "don't eat food pretending to be something else" is a bit naive. Yes, margarine and artificial flavors are generally to be avoided. But "no veggie burgers"? Why? Does a healthy patty made of vegetables instead of ground beef somehow offend you?
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10-09-2009 @3:46AM Annoachi said... A lot of the veggie burgers aren't healthy patties made out of veggies though, and neither are a lot of the other meat subsitutes. Some of them are very high in fat, some of them are little more then processed soy protein and gluten. Some of course, are actually made from whole grains and vegtables, but it is hard to tell the difference for a lot of people.

Just because something is vegitarian doesn't mean its healthier.
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10-09-2009 @1:51PM Gobo said... That's absolutely true, Annoachi -- believe me, it's very, very easy to get fat and flabby eating vegetarian. But I firmly believe that eating a patty made from wheat gluten and soybeans is as valid a diet choice as eating a patty made from ground-up cow. The idea that it's bad because it's "fake" is foolish.
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