| Michael Pollan | |
|---|---|
 Pollan speaking at Yale University |
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| Born | 6 February 1955
Long Island, New York, USA |
| Occupation | Author, Journalist, Professor |
| Spouse(s) | Judith Belzer (m. 1987–present) |
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Website www.michaelpollan.com |
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Michael Pollan (born February 6, 1955) is an American author, journalist, activist, and professor of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.[1]
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Pollan was born in Long Island, New York to author and financial consultant Stephen Pollan and columnist Corky Pollan.[2] Pollan received a B.A. from Bennington College in 1977 and an M.A. in English from Columbia University in 1981.
In The Omnivore's Dilemma, Pollan describes four basic ways in which human societies have obtained food: the current industrial system, the big organic operation, the local self-sufficient farm, and the hunter-gatherer. Pollan follows each of these processes from a group of plants photosynthesizing calories through a series of intermediate stages and ultimately to a meal. Along the way, he suggests that there is a fundamental tension between the logic of nature and the logic of human industry, that the way we eat represents our most profound engagement with the natural world, and that industrial eating obscures crucially important ecological relationships and connections. On December 10, 2006, The New York Times named The Omnivore's Dilemma one of the five best nonfiction books of the year. The book appears on NovelTracker.com's shortlist of non-fiction that reads as well as the best fiction. On May 8, 2007, the James Beard Foundation named The Omnivore's Dilemma its 2007 winner for the best food writing. It was the book of focus for the University of Pennsylvania's Reading Project 2007, and the book of choice for Washington State University's Common Reading Program in 2009-10. An excerpt of the book was published in Mother Jones.[3]
Pollan's discussion of the industrial food chain is in large part a critique of modern agribusiness. According to the book, agribusiness has lost touch with the natural cycles of farming, wherein livestock and crops intertwine in mutually beneficial circles. Pollan's critique of modern agribusiness focuses on what he describes as the overuse of corn for purposes ranging from fattening cattle to massive production of corn oil, high-fructose corn syrup, and other corn derivatives. He describes what he sees as the inefficiencies and other drawbacks of factory farming, assesses organic food production and what he thinks it is like to hunt and gather food. He blames those who set the rules – i.e., politicians in Washington, D.C., bureaucrats at the United States Department of Agriculture, Wall Street capitalists, and agricultural conglomerates like Archer Daniels Midland—for what he calls a destructive and precarious agricultural system that has wrought havoc upon the diet, nutrition, and well-being of Americans. Pollan finds hope in Joel Salatin's Polyface Farm in Virginia, which he sees as a model of sustainability in commercial farming. Pollan appears in the documentary film King Corn (2007).
In The Botany of Desire, Pollan explores the concept of co-evolution, specifically of humankind's evolutionary relationship with four plants — apples, tulips, marijuana, and potatoes — from the dual perspectives of humans and the plants. He uses case examples that fit the archetype of four basic human desires, demonstrating how each of these botanical species are selectively grown, bred, and genetically engineered. The apple reflects the desire for sweetness, the tulip beauty, marijuana intoxication, and the potato control. Pollan then unravels the narrative of his own experience with each of the plants, which he then intertwines with a well-researched exploration into their social history. Each section presents a unique element of human domestication, or the "human bumblebee" as Pollan calls it. These range from the true story of Johnny Appleseed to Pollan's first-hand research with sophisticated marijuana hybrids in Amsterdam, to the alarming and paradigm-shifting possibilities of genetically engineered potatoes.
Pollan's book, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, released on January 1, 2008, explores the relationship with what he terms nutritionism and the Western diet, with a focus on late 20th century food advice given by the science community. Pollan holds that consumption of fat and dietary cholesterol do not lead to a higher rate of coronary disease, and that the reductive analysis of food into nutrient components is a flawed paradigm. He questions the view that the point of eating is to promote health, pointing out that this attitude is not universal and that cultures that perceive food as having purposes of pleasure, identity, and sociality may end up with better health. He explains this seeming paradox by vetting then validating the notion that nutritionism and, therefore, the whole Western framework through which we intellectualize the value of food is more a religious and faddish devotion to the mythology of simple solutions than a convincing and reliable conclusion of incontrovertible scientific research. Pollan spends the rest of his book explicating his first three phrases: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." He contends that most of what Americans now buy in supermarkets, fast food stores, and restaurants is not in fact food, and that a good practical tip would be to eat only those things that people of his grandmother's generation would have recognized as food.
In 2009, his most recent book, "Food Rules" was published. This short work is a condensed version of his previous efforts, intended to provide a simple framework for healthy and sustainable diet. It is divided into three sections, further explicating the principles of "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." It includes rules such as "let others sample your food" and "the whiter the bread, the sooner you'll be dead."
Pollan has contributed to Greater Good, a social psychology magazine published by the Greater Good Science Center at University of California, Berkeley. His article "Edible Ethics" discusses the intersection of ethical eating and social psychology.
In his 1998 book A Place of My Own: The Education of an Amateur Builder, Pollan methodically traced the design and construction of the out-building where he writes. The 2008 re-release of this book was re-titled A Place of My Own: The Architecture of Daydreams.
Pollan is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine, a former executive editor for Harper's Magazine, and author of five books: In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto (2008) The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (2006), The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World (2001), A Place of My Own (1997), and Second Nature A Gardener's Education (1991).
His recent work has dealt with the practices of the meat industry, and he has written a number of articles on trends in American agriculture. He has received the Reuters World Conservation Union Global Awards in environmental journalism, the James Beard Foundation Awards for best magazine series in 2003, and the Genesis Award from the American Humane Association. His articles have been anthologized in Best American Science Writing (2004), Best American Essays (1990 and 2003), The Animals: Practicing Complexity (2006) and the Norton Book of Nature Writing (1990).
Pollan co-starred in the documentary, Food, Inc. (2008), for which he was also a consultant.
He is married to landscape painter Judith Belzer; the couple met while both attended Bennington College. They have a son, Isaac.[4][5] Pollan's sister is actress Tracy Pollan, the wife of Michael J. Fox.
Michael Pollan (born 1955-02-06) is an American writer and journalist, currently the Knight Professor of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. His essays have been published in numerous publications including Harper's Magazine and The New York Times Magazine; he is also the author of books on agriculture and ecology including The Botany of Desire and The Omnivore's Dilemma.
   | "A Plant's-Eye View Of The World" - Ketzel Levine's Talking Plants |
| | "The Cheapest Calories Make You the Fattest" - The Cheapest Calories Make You the Fattest - September/October 2004 - Sierra Magazine - Sierra Club |
| | MichaelPollan.com - ...........Michael Pollan........... |
| | "An Animal's Place" - Michael Pollan on Sustainable Meat Eating |
| | excerpt of the book - No Bar Code | Mother Jones |
| | "Unhappy Meals" - The New York Times > Log In |
| | "You Are What You Grow" - The New York Times > Log In |
| | "When a Crop Becomes King" - When a Crop Becomes King - The New York Times |
| | PBS.org - frontline: modern meat: interviews: michael pollan | PBS |
| | "Our Decrepit Food Factories" - The New York Times > Log In |
| | WashingtonPost.com - You Are What You Eat |
| | Salon.com - We are what we eat | Salon Books |
| | Grist.org - Michael Pollan digs into the mysteries of the U.S. diet in The Omnivore’s Dilemma | Grist |
| | NPR.org - How Food Finds its Way to Your Plate : NPR |
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