I've started (re)reading Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, which is one of the most revolutionary things I've ever put in my brain (not quite competing with the gospels, Romans 8 and the idea of grace, but still mind-boggling). I read this for the first time last fall, and am rereading it for my book club (!) that will meet the first Monday in November.
Some things I love about this book:
- Pollan urges readers to embrace FOOD, and be hesitant about manufactured food-like substances blasted with invisible nutrients. Adios, Doritos (I will miss you!) ... Butter, potatos, cream - hurrah!
- At the end of the book (and here I'm giving it away), Pollan gives some guidelines about how to shop for and eat food. My favorite is this: "Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food" (p 144). Think about it. Sorry, kiddos, but the gogurt has to go. It wasn't around when Great-Grandmother Dillingham was on the planet.
- Finally, Pollan has an easy-to-read style that is just ... easy to read. It doesn't read like a nutritionist textbook. If anything, it's the anti-nutritionist non-textbook. I like his style. I don't know how else to describe it. You should read it for yourself.
Book #2, in the list of Books That I Checked Out From The Library But Still Haven't Opened:
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It is in my possession. And highly recommended by numerous friends (I confess that I have actually recommended it as recently as this weekend to friends, even though I've not yet read it). I'm excited about it though, as it is about Kingsolver's move to a farm in southwest Virginia (!) where she and her family vow to only live on what they can grow or buy locally (as in eggs, meat, and cheese) for one year. Can't wait to read that one in connection with In Defense of Food.
I am reading Animal, Veg, Miracle and I love it! I'll have to check out this book, too. Sigh... it's making me want to refuse to shop at my neighborhood kroger, though :)
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