Crunching Pollan's logic

This criticism of Pollan's book is perhaps a straw man argument. I haven't read his book, but I heard Pollan interviewed on NPR, and he spent quite a bit of time talking about sham organic farming, free-range chiuckens that are not really free-range, and the like. Polan contrasted big-business "organic" farming with some examples of the real thing, and the differences were striking.>

I think Slate's book review was well off the mark - the review focused on the last chapter, which even Pollan referred to as being an unrealistic model to pursue every day. (He stated on NPR, I believe, that he sees no problem with using 'canned stock', as it were.)

The last chapter was about his effort to eat an entirely "debt free" meal - and how impossible a goal that can be.

Mostly, the book was about responsible eating, and how the "economy of eating" is at the root of many social and political issues. (Environmental, ag subsidy policy, etc.)

If I were to take lessons from Pollan's book, it would be:

1) Know where your food is coming from. Modern agribusiness is very good at disguising exactly that notion - hence, Starlink corn, E. Coli nationwide from a single source, etc.

2) Eat locally wherever you can. Being from a rural area (see my link), eating locally is a simply way to promote local economic development.

... and you know what? Locally grown/raised products just flat out taste better, since the product is selected on the basis of taste, not the basis of being able to withstand a 2000 mile journey in the back of a truck or the ability to mass-produce what in reallty defies the notion of mass production.

3) Be wary of how the different foods we eat has an impact on our personal health. Eating a largely corn-based diet might not be as good for us as we think it is.>