After over 1,000 replies (so far) to Michael Pollan’s call for NY Times readers’ own guidelines for eating, I wonder who will be left to read his planned compendium of rules. It struck me after seeing the overwhelming amount of feedback that the volume and variety of responses sort of negates the purpose of such a project and also renders it impossible. His plan is to post the suggestions on his website and “to include the best in a collection of food rules I’m now compiling”.
How in the world is he going to determine which ones are “the best” for everyone? Are these individual rules really improving people’s lives & health or are they just maxims?
(Maybe it was just the latest interview with him in Mother Jones that rubbed me the wrong way in terms of following his approach to things. When asked about reactions to they pithy subtitle of his last book he mentions that “mostly plants” got a reaction from the Weston A. Price Foundation who he describes as “fierce in their love of animal fat. And with pastured animal fat, healthy animal fat, a lot of what they say is right. But they really don’t like plants.” Sally Fallon did write an open letter to Pollan about the necessity of non-plant foods in the human diet but there is considerable use of plants in the foods supported by her and the research of Dr. Price.)
Maybe this rules project is his attempt to flesh-out that subtitle. Attempts to distill a way of living into a few quick truths always leaves something out; that must be why we need so many of the quick fixes- to fill in the blanks and contradictions.
What I think is funny about this whole thing is that the amount of responses seems to indicate that enough people have their own rules about eating and don’t really need books or tv shows (or blogs) to guide them. But sort of paradoxically the consumption of information about what to eat is higher than ever.
It seems that with each piece of new information the greater the number of little contradictions and conflicting guidelines with existing information, thus people feel compelled to consume more information and opinions in hopes of finally getting it right.
I read a lot of this stuff, from books to blogs to comment sections of the NY Times. Conflicting information abound and conversations about diet (As Pollan points out in the MoJo interview) has reached a level nearing religion, with certain miracles of changes in health proving that one sect of one diet or another is the ultimate truth. Why is it that we want to consume as much information about food as they want to give? Will Americans ever form a cultural diet that is sustainable (ie healthy) so we can stop trying to figure out what to eat?
(Recent tip lists include this from The Cheeseslave, which I pretty much agree with, and an increasing number of “healthy food on a budget” lists and “eating green” that I think give minimum guidance (cooking with a microwave??!!) and maximum magaziney turns of phrase)
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