DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

Michael Pollan wrote the best 10,000 words I’ve read about food since Fast Food Nation. The article appeared in last weekend’s New York Times Magazine, and can be read online at Pollan’s site (no registration required): Unhappy Meals

It would be a ridiculous conceit to think that I could write a few more words anywhere near as eye-opening, foundation-shaking, or truthful about dietary science, nutrition, and food culture than Pollan has. I mean, I’m going to do it anyway, but please just go and read Pollan’s essay right now. This feeble tribute will still be here when you’re finished.

(But, do be sure to come back here afterwards because there’s a surprise gift below.)

Now, on with the conceit:

If you’ve been frustrated by conflicting recommendations about healthy food choices (Margarine! No, wait, butter! No, wait —!), you’ll appreciate Pollan’s explanation of “nutritionism” — an ideology that attempts to reduce the complexities of healthy eating to a few slightly mysterious compounds that can be avoided (trans fats!) or embraced (omega 3 fatty acids!).

If you’re a student of history, you’ll love hearing the origin of so much bad nutritional advice — a 1977 report from a Senate committee on nutrition, whose clear recommendation “reduce consumption of meat” was quickly replaced, following a “firestorm” of pressure from the beef and dairy industries, by a misleading and arguably fatal compromise: “choose meats, poultry and fish that will reduce saturated-fat intake.” Pollan points out the gulf between the simple directive “eat less” and the gutless “reduce saturated-fat intake.” Consider which one leads to better health, and which leads to a supermarket full of superlative health claims in boldface type on the labels of processed food (or, more accurately, food-like substances).

A couple more examples of literary double-takes from Unhappy Meals:

It was in the 1980s that food began disappearing from the American supermarket, gradually to be replaced by “nutrients,” which are not the same thing.
…
You might think that a national fixation on nutrients would lead to measurable improvements in the public health. But for that to happen, the underlying nutritional science … would have to be sound. This has seldom been the case.
…
No one likes to admit that his or her best efforts at understanding and solving a problem have actually made the problem worse, but that’s exactly what has happened in the case of nutritionism.

Maybe the most quotable line is the first sentence of the essay, which I won’t repeat because you’ve surely gone and read it by now. It is a phenomenal achievement to summarize a life- and planet-saving dietary plan in seven words, and it is illustrative of my point that Pollan spent about 9993 more words explaining the first seven. But it’s surely the best dietary advice you’ve seen in years.

I’ve commemorated Pollan’s advice in a poster. Hang it in your kitchen where you will be sure to see it often, hopefully as you’re reaching past the all-natural whole-grain low-fat anti-oxidant energy bar for an apple, ideally one that grew up within 100 miles of your home. Click the image to download a print-at-home poster [PDF, ~140k] or click here for the high-res version [PDF, ~1016k].