Food Rules: An Eater's Manual
Michael Pollan
Penguin Books, 2009
Today, I'll review another kind of book:
Food Rules by
Michael Pollan who wrote earlier several books about food, like
The Omnivore's Dilemma (see
my review) and
In Defense of Food.
The author establishes, eating has gotten complicated these days. We rely on (self appointed?) experts, like doctors, scientists, government advisors and - worst of all - food marketeers, to compose our diet. Their advices are based on conceptions like carbohydrates, saturated fats and calories. Despite all their (pseudo) scientific claims, we still don't know, what to eat to become or stay healthy. Therefore Pollan did some investigation. His conclusion?
"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
Simple, isn't it? The Western diet consists of many heavily processed foods;
edible foodlike substances as Pollan calls them. In this book, he lists 64
rules about
what and
how to eat. Some examples are Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognice as food (# 2), If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don't (# 19) and Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper (# 54). Every
rule is shortly explained.
Being interested in a healthy diet, I like
Food Rules. Pollan clarifies his choices for
real and healthy food. No strange diets, no complex jargon, just some suggestion for a tasty meal (including a glass of wine; # 43). He does so in an entertaining way.
What do you eat? And how?
Bon appetit!
