In Defense of Food or Humble Pie

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto

Author: Michael Pollan

What to eat, what not to eat, and how to think about health: a manifesto for our times.

The New York Times - Janet Maslin

…a tough, witty, cogent rebuttal to the proposition that food can be reduced to its nutritional components without the loss of something essential…In this lively, invaluable book—which grew out of an essay Mr. Pollan wrote for The New York Times Magazine, for which he is a contributing writer—he assails some of the most fundamental tenets of nutritionism: that food is simply the sum of its parts, that the effects of individual nutrients can be scientifically measured, that the primary purpose of eating is to maintain health, and that eating requires expert advice…Some of this reasoning turned up in Mr. Pollan's best-selling Omnivore's Dilemma. But In Defense of Food is a simpler, blunter and more pragmatic book, one that really lives up to the "manifesto" in its subtitle.

The Washington Post - Jane Black

…in this slim, remarkable volume, Pollan builds a convincing case not only against that steak dinner but against the entire Western diet. Over the last half-century, Pollan argues, real food has started to disappear, replaced by processed foods designed to include nutrients. Those component parts, he says, are understood only by scientists and exploited by food marketers who thrive on introducing new products that hawk fiber, omega-3 fatty acids or whatever else happens to be in vogue…what makes Pollan's latest so engrossing is his tone: curious and patient as he explains the flaws in epidemiological studies that have buttressed nutritionism for 30 years, and entirely without condescension as he offers those prescriptions Americans so desperately crave. That's no easy feat in a book of this kind.

Publishers Weekly

In his hugely influential treatise The Omnivore's Dilemma, Pollan traced a direct line between the industrialization of our food supply and the degradation of the environment. His new book takes up where the previous work left off. Examining the question of what to eat from the perspective of health, this powerfully argued, thoroughly researched and elegant manifesto cuts straight to the chase with a maxim that is deceptively simple: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." But as Pollan explains, "food" in a country that is driven by "a thirty-two billion-dollar marketing machine" is both a loaded term and, in its purest sense, a holy grail. The first section of his three-part essay refutes the authority of the diet bullies, pointing up the confluence of interests among manufacturers of processed foods, marketers and nutritional scientists-a cabal whose nutritional advice has given rise to "a notably unhealthy preoccupation with nutrition and diet and the idea of eating healthily." The second portion vivisects the Western diet, questioning, among other sacred cows, the idea that dietary fat leads to chronic illness. A writer of great subtlety, Pollan doesn't preach to the choir; in fact, rarely does he preach at all, preferring to lets the facts speak for themselves. (Jan.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Publishers Weekly

Pollan provides another shocking yet essential treatise on the industrialized "Western diet" and its detrimental effects on our bodies and culture. Here he lays siege to the food industry and scientists' attempts to reduce food and the cultural practices of eating into bite-size concepts known as nutrients, and contemplates the follies of doing so. As an increasing number of Americans are overfed and undernourished, Pollan makes a strong argument for serious reconsideration of our eating habits and casts a suspicious eye on the food industry and its more pernicious and misleading practices. Listeners will undoubtedly find themselves reconsidering their own eating habits. Scott Brick, who narrated Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, carries forward the same tone and consistency, thus creating a narrative continuity between the two books. Brick renders the text with an expert's skill, delivering well-timed pauses and accurate emphasis. He executes Pollan's asides and sarcasm with an uncanny ability that makes listening infinitely better than reading. So compelling is his tone, listeners may have trouble discerning whether Brick's conviction or talent drives his powerful performance. Simultaneous release with the Penguin Press hardcover (Reviews, Nov. 26). (Dec.)

Copyright 2007Reed Business Information

New interesting textbook: Wheres Mom Now That I Need Her or Betty Crocker Cookbook

Humble Pie: Musings on What Lies beneath the Crust

Author: Anne Dimock

Anne Dimock grew up in a household where, she notes, "A dearth of good pie was a hardship I never encountered, never knew must be borne up by most folk." When she realized that the decline of the American pie civilization might be a harbinger of even deeper cultural problems, Anne became a woman on a mission to save pie from extinction.

Dimock shares her thoughts on the Zen of making pie crust, the politics of pie, judging a man's character according to his pie protocol, state fair pie competitions, the kinship between pie and baseball, and the search for edible pie at roadside diners.

Folksy and full of humor, Humble Pie is more than just an evocative journey through a life lived in pie. It is a culinary manifesto for a pie renaissance, inviting readers to take up their rolling pins and revive an endangered slice of American culture. Dimock advises us all to "Roll back the apprehension, the doubt, and enter the childlike state of grace where all things are possible and anything lost can be found again. The pie you seek resides not only in memory and imagination-your next piece of pie begins right here."

(Sylvia Carter) - Newsday

Dimock, who came from a line of Pie Queens, knows of what she speaks. She as good as takes you by the hand.

(Craig Wilson) - USA Today

I have never met Anne Dimock, but I am in love with her .... I kept reading the pie-making treatise, thinking sooner or later that she would go off on some wacko tangent, forcing me to lay down the book and shake my head in dismay. She never does. She is pure.

What People Are Saying

Garrison Keillor
Anne Dimock is the Proust of pie and her remembrance of pies past is meant to inspire the pies to come. This is a lovely and elegant memoir.
—(Garrison Keillor, best-selling author and host of A Prairie Home Companion)

Ed Levine
Anne Dimock's passion is so contagious she even has me, who has never baked a pie, thinking about taking the pie-making plunge.
—(Ed Levine, author of Pizza: A Slice of Heaven and New York Eats More, and frequent contributor to the New York Times Dining Section)