Michael Pollan

Conscientious omnivores of the Michael Pollan variety champion grass-fed beef. It is claimed to be better for the cattle themselves than grain-finishing, since they eat what their rumens are evolved to digest (grass and legumes) instead of what fattens them quickest. Plus, they get to graze open pasture instead of being confined to a feedlot for the final four to six months of their lives. Grass-fed enthusiasts also claim it’s better for people because grass-fed meat is leaner and has a higher proportion of omega-3 fats than grain-finished meat. Some even argue that it’s better for the environment, since you don’t have huge piles of feedlot manure to manage; the cattle deposit their manure on grass, as they naturally would, and it ultimately nourishes the soil.

Michael Pollan’s new book, Food Rules: An Eater's Manual, is a breeze to read. The author himself says it will take you about an hour to, ahem, digest his 64 practical, even folksy rules – gleaned from doctors, scientists, chefs and readers – to eat better. Here are a few samples:

#11 – Avoid foods you see advertised on television.

#19 – If it came from a plant, eat it. If it was made in a plant, don’t.

#36 – Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of your milk.

Are you a talented writer with a passion for local food? Spend your time hanging out with local food chefs, organic food organizations, fair trade coffee makers, co-ops, and/or farmers markets? Read books by Michael Pollan and Mark Bittman in your spare time? Anxiously await the next film from the folks who brought us "King Corn" and "Big River"? Have you been admiring this site from afar?

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Dear Santa:

Safe-food advocate and attorney,
Bill Marler, in his Seattle law office.
                       

Forget the politically correct notions about what constitutes healthy eating. Foods devoid of fat, salt, and/or healthy microorganisms are not fit for human consumption, according to the Weston A. Price Foundation.

Photo by Tim Morris, Wired MagazineSeptember's Wired Magazine features one of the scariest technology articles I've ever read. It's not a look at how our government plans to train digital video cameras on our every move. It's not a piece on robots that are smarter than us, or small kids who can see into the future. It's not about aliens or even Silicon Valley VCs. The article I'm referring to, written, by Patrick di Justo, is much scarier than any of those things. It's called:

Michael Pollan, Mark Bittman, and many others have given sustainable foodies reason after reason to advocate for reform of the food system and local food in the US. Their work is incredibly well-researched and poignantly written. I stumbled upon another good reason to support food system reform from a lesser known source a few weekends ago. I was at the Bancroft, Wisconsin, VFW for a family reunion listening to my dad and his cousins reminisce about their Uncle Ralph. Ralph was a dairy farmer in central Wisconsin who was rather fond of asking, “If a fly won’t land on it, why would I want to eat it?” Good question! The fact that I don’t have a good answer means that the effort it takes to eat real, local, and sustainable food is well worth it.