Michael Pollan Articles

[shel]

Michael Pollan - Writing

I've been reading Michael Pollan's articles lately, and have found them to be insightful, controversial, and always interesting and thought provoking. Mr. Pollan, if you don't already know, has written the very popular book, The Omnivore's Dilemma. He's a professor at UC Berkeley.

His articles deal with food, farming, and eating on many levels, including the politics of food, preparing food, farming and raising food.

shel

[shroomgirl]

Mr. Pollan has amazing knowledge. The Corn connection was a revelation. I've known about ethanol plants for 7+ years, and corn growers associations/subsidies etc but he took food corn research further than I'd seen it anywhere else.......even being on sustainable agriculture boards connected with U of MO, this was new shtuff.

BUT, his writing is dry....as in put it beside your bed as a sleep aide dry.....as in Gulag Archepeligo dry.....the content is interesting but the writing is rough to read. Wonder about his teaching technic.....

[shel]

Originally Posted by shroomgirl

Mr. Pollan has amazing knowledge. The Corn connection was a revelation. I've known about ethanol plants for 7+ years, and corn growers associations/subsidies etc but he took food corn research further than I'd seen it anywhere else.......even being on sustainable agriculture boards connected with U of MO, this was new shtuff.

BUT, his writing is dry....as in put it beside your bed as a sleep aide dry.....as in Gulag Archepeligo dry.....the content is interesting but the writing is rough to read. Wonder about his teaching technic.....

I've not read the corn connection article yet, although I heard Pollan in a radio interview on the subject last year, which did much to stimulate my interest in his work and to look further into the practices and politics surrounding food. I just finished reading "Supermarket Pastoral" which is one of the articles on his site, and which will be quite revealing to those who don't carefully read food labels or who have not researched the products they buy and the companies and sources these products come from.

We've discussed "industrial organic" here before, and although Pollan offers little in his article that is new (as it's an older article), it's still quite revealing to those who have not been paying attention to products and producers.

Pollan's experience with Cascadian Farm mirrors most everything I've learned about that brand over the last few years. The brand (and that's what it is - it's no longer a "farm") has drifted so far from the original - and arguably the truest - concept of organic that I no longer buy Cascadian Farm products. The last time I looked at some frozen veggies and fruit I saw that the product in the plastic bag came from several countries in Latin America as well as China. Pollan touches briefly on that, although when he wrote the article the problem - and, IMO, that's what global purchasing is, on several levels - was not quite as big.

Horizon Organic milk is another joke. I've seen some of the herds and the environmental mess created by Horizon's practices. I don't buy milk often, but any dairy product I do buy is from local dairys that pasture their cows and don't use the industrial techniques some of the larger dairys and supermarket brands use.

I better get off my soap box before people start throwing conventional out-of-season tomatoes at me

shel

[shroomgirl]

you know those red rocks would hurt.....

Pollan is a wonderful researcher, I've got the utmost respect for the work he's done.