Michael Pollan gives British readers a taste of his latest book Food Rules (Penguin, paperback) with Michael Pollan's food manifesto (Independent, May 18).
I picked just one paragraph from the piece which describes quite clearly our crazy state of affair:
"But, for all the scientific and pseudo-scientific food baggage we've taken on in recent years, we still don't know what we should be eating. Should we worry more about the fats or the carbohydrates? Then what about the "good" fats? Is it really true that this breakfast cereal will improve my son's focus at school or that other cereal will protect me from a heart attack? And when did eating a bowl of breakfast cereal become a therapeutic procedure? A few years ago, feeling as confused as everyone else, I set out to get to the bottom of a simple question: what should I eat? I'm not a nutrition expert or a scientist, just a curious journalist hoping to answer a straightforward question for myself and my family."
One simple principle he offers is that we should 'eat only food that will eventually rot'.
Not sure how this prescription will go down with some sensitive souls, especially in the USA where many people forgot that what we eat comes from living things and animals.