My Food Life

It just so happens that a personal interest of mine is knowing exactly what I put into my body. I have close relatives in poor health, and as a young person I see this and think "I want to do what I can to prevent this from happening to myself." Important aspects of this goal are knowing what I eat, and making good choices about what I eat. This is why lately I have been so captivated by authors and documentaries that take an interest in this as well.

One such author is Michael Pollan, who's film Food, Inc. helped to springboard my interest in food and its consequences, its identity and roles in civilization. Food, Inc. can be graphic at times (I admit to skipping through the bits where animals were being made into food), but I found it to also be well-informed, informative, and fascinating. I think anyone who eats meat should watch it, not as a case for vegetarianism, but a case for eating meat in a better, healthier, safer way if you want to continue to eat meat.

I recently watched his PBS documentary called The Botany of Desire, which is also quite captivating for something that is about the history of four different plants, their effect on us, and in turn our effect on them. I don't think this documentary has such a sense of immediacy as Food, Inc., in that it's not going to change your way of thought about your entire sense of food as you know it, but the facts it presents are certainly worth knowing if you already have an interest.

The first book I have read by Pollan is called Food Rules: An Eater's Manual, and presents basic guidelines to eating well and making good decisions about food. By the time I got my hands on this one I was well aware of the rules being laid out. I tend to think he didn't give enough disclaimer in certain parts, and perhaps waters down things just a little too much at times, but in general what he makes are good points and the book itself can be quickly "digested."

I plan to continue to read more by Pollan, and in fact I would like to read all of his books because I think he presents good information and makes points that should be more publicized. I've learned a great deal of information from his documentaries especially, and he has a talent in making facts feel accessible and not too laden with scientific terminology. His works have made me realize the importance of what's going on with food in America (and globally), and have inspired me to read more by other authors and make more efforts myself in getting away from main-stream food.

And let me just note that eating well is not about being a snob, it's not about being able to have the pretentious "Oh I'm a vegetarian" attitude that can be, purposefully or accidentally, projected. My interest in eating well lies in my own health, and the health of this country and this earth because what we're doing to it in the name of cheaper, bigger food is going to affect us negatively in the long run. It's not about being a hippie or a liberal, as those sometimes have negative connotations, it's about being wise to your own health and the health of our future generations. We, as Americans especially, tend to ignore good sense and make ourselves blind for the sake of saving a dime in the present. I think this is going to come back to bite us in so many ways. And I admit, I know I don't always do what I should to eat well. It's hard sometimes. I just graduated from college and my paycheck is, well, lackluster. But all I can do is make as much of an effort as I can. Eating well doesn't mean you have to be paranoid always, it just requires some honesty and effort from producer and consumer.

I'll take a step down from my soap box now and bury my nose back into books. Currently I'm reading one called Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, so you can expect a report (and probably a rant) on that as well!