"Cooked" by Michael Pollan: FIRE

I have never been a fan of books about food. But for some reason this book, especially this section, appeals to me in a way that I would not have thought possible. I am a reader primarily of fiction, which is a domain of literature that has always engaged and fascinated me in a way that other forms of entertainment have historically failed to do. But the non-fiction that I do enjoy reading involves my interest in mythic history, which is exactly what Michael Pollan tapped into while I was reading about man's love affair with the cook-fire. It probably helped that he started out talking about the history of barbecue as an extension of the origin of man's fascination with animal sacrifice to God. From the Skylight Inn in Ayden, NC to a huge BBQ festival on the streets of Manhattan, to an odd little joint in Spain, Pollan engages by relating his personal experiences with these cook-fire artisans and, at the same time, provides context by relating the stories of these cooks and how their methods of cooking came about. I was surprised to learn that the secret behind good barbecue had less to do with the cooking flame itself than it does the flaming wood embers shoveled beneath the pigs. Perhaps I'll learn even more about this process during our field trip to Bridges' Barbecue on Wednesday. I'm not so sure I buy the idea, frequently revisited by Pollan, that the ability to cook with fire is the primary difference that separates us from the animals. That seems like a slightly dramatized viewpoint. I would think that the ability to behave in a moral fashion by suppressing our baser instincts is a far more important factor. But, overall, he did build a fascinating case for his idea. 

These seem like food to me! The rice is just rice, the dried fruit is just dried fruit and the granola only had a few all-natural ingredients!

In Defense of Food


This one was fairly easy to understand. Pollan talks a lot about this idea of nutrition-ism, the idea that the nutrients within food are actually more important to our health than the foods they come from. This myth is perpetrated by food industry, who would love to sell you more and more "nutrients" rather than have you subtract from their profits by cutting back on the foods they sell. Some of the principles found within this book are identical to Food Rules, which Pollan channels in several of the chapters within this book towards the end. He clearly drew from this book when writing food rules. One small thing that I did take issue with is his description of some kind of puritanical view of food that has gained traction in America, the idea that we should not enjoy our food. If that is the case, then why is that America has a love affair with highly-processed junk foods? I for one gain far more pleasure eating a brownie than I do from eating lettuce. If I ate with the goal of enjoying my food, I would be a far more rotund person. Pollan continues to espouse the philosophy of "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." Basically his entire approach in the book is to convince us of the evils of processed foods in favor of this very simple statement. I'm interested to see in the future whether or not he will continue to espouse this very sentiment, or if he has made any adjustments to his worldview over the course of a long career.

Shawn's Food Rules

1. Tea and Cornbread are always better sweet
2. Beans don't belong in brownies
3. Breakfast is the best meal of the day
4. Don't eat more calories at one sitting than you're willing to burn off exercising that day
5. Banana-flavored anything automatically sucks

Food Rules
by Michael Pollan


This was an interesting little book. I was surprised to find that I'd heard a lot of these common-sense food rules, and many of them are actually guidelines that my family tries to live by. My little brother, Brian, is autistic, and as such he is especially sensitive to certain kinds of foods. We've noticed that, without a more organic, holistic type of diet, Brian tends to regress in certain areas developmentally. My mom has said for years that we shouldn't be eating things with ingredients that we cannot pronounce, and she's made sure to try to buy from the farmer's market and whole foods stores rather than supermarkets, much to my chagrin at times. The book itself is well written and though I cannot pretend that I still remember each and every one of all of those little rules, the larger trends made evident in the book are remarkably easy to recall. It basically boils down to eat less in general, eat more plants and less meat, and avoid foods that are produced by corporations. And there's a lot of wisdom in that I think. I found especially interesting the comparisons being made to the diets of other countries. It's a sobering fact to think that a country as blessed and wealthy as ours is slowly killing itself with a knife and a fork. We're on the cutting edge in nearly every other facet of modern existence; why not with our diet?