Thursday, February 01, 2007

Food, not nutrients

Michael Pollan did it again in this past Sunday's New York Times Magazine. His in-depth essay shows the many ways our "food science" agribusiness-fueled industry has created a sick country with unhappy, food-obsessed, unhealthy people.

"Our personal health is inextricably bound up with the health of the entire food web," he writes. One cannot eat healthy, be healthy, in other words, without considering the health of the soil, the planet, the ecosystem.

And:

"Today, a mere four crops account for two-thirds of the calories humans eat. When you consider that humankind has historically consumed some 80,000 edible species, and that 3,000 of these have been in widespread use, this represents a radical simplification of the food web."

His recommendations? Eat real food, not polyhydrocarbonated high corn-fructose-crack. Eat more plants, less meat. Eat less food. And enjoy what you do eat.

1 comment:

Nosher said...

Argh--you're right, I can't access the original article anymore, either, using either my link or yours. I do know that folks with Lexis-Nexis connections can get it, though, which at Siena you should have access to.
Berries are good! I love putting them on my yogurt in the a.m.