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In Defense of Food

An Eater's Manifesto

Author Michael Pollan
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Paperback
$18.00 US
Penguin Adult HC/TR | Penguin Books
5.5"W x 8.4"H x 0.67"D   | 8 oz | 24 per carton
On sale Apr 28, 2009 | 256 Pages | 978-0-14-311496-3
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#1 New York Times Bestseller from the author of This is Your Mind on Plants, How to Change Your Mind, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and Food Rules

Food. There's plenty of it around, and we all love to eat it. So why should anyone need to defend it?

Because in the so-called Western diet, food has been replaced by nutrients, and common sense by confusion--most of what we’re consuming today is longer the product of nature but of food science. The result is what Michael Pollan calls the American Paradox: The more we worry about nutrition, the less healthy we see to become. With In Defense of Food, Pollan proposes a new (and very old) answer to the question of what we should eat that comes down to seven simple but liberating words: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Pollan’s bracing and eloquent manifesto shows us how we can start making thoughtful food choices that will enrich our lives, enlarge our sense of what it means to be healthy, and bring pleasure back to eating.
  • WINNER
    CODES Notable Books Council Award
  • WINNER
    James Beard Award
"Michael Pollan [is the] designated repository for the nation's food conscience." —Frank Bruni, The New York Times

"In this slim, remarkable volume, Pollan builds a convincing case not only against that steak dinner but against the entire Western diet." —The Washington Post

"A tough, witty, cogent rebuttal to the proposition that food can be reduced to its nutritional components without the loss of something essential . . . [a] lively, invaluable book." —Janet Maslin, The New York Times

"What should I eat for dinner tonight? Here is Pollan's brilliant, succinct and nuanced answer to this question: 'Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.'" —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"In Defense of Food is written with Pollan's customary bite, ringing clarity and brilliance at connecting the dots." —The Seattle Times

"This is an important book, short but pithy, and, like the word 'food,' not simple at all." —New York Post

"With his lucid style and innovative research, Pollan deserves his reputation as one of the most respectable voices in the modern debate about food." —The Financial Times
© Tabitha Soren
Michael Pollan is the author of nine books, including This Is Your Mind on Plants, How to Change Your Mind, Cooked, Food Rules, In Defense of Food, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and The Botany of Desire, all of which were New York Times bestsellers. He is also the author of the audiobook Caffeine: How Coffee and Tea Made the Modern World. A longtime contributor to The New York Times Magazine, Pollan teaches writing at Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley. In 2010, Time magazine named him one of the one hundred most influential people in the world. 

www.michaelpollan.com View titles by Michael Pollan
In Defense Of FoodIntroduction: An Eater's Manifesto

I. The Age Of Nutritionism

One: From Foods to Nutrients
Two: Nutritionism Defined
Three: Nutritionism Comes to Market
Four: Food Science's Golden Age
Five: The Melting of the Lipid Hypothesis
Six: Eat Right, Get Fatter
Seven: Beyond the Pleasure Principle
Eight: The Proof in the Low-Fat Pudding
Nine: Bad Science
Ten: Nutritionism's Children

II. The Western Diet And The Diseases of Civilization

One: The Aborigine in All of Us
Two: The Elephant in the Room
Three: The Industrialization of Eating: What We Do Know
1. From Whole Foods to Refined
2. From Complexity to Simplicity
3. From Quality to Quantity
4. From Leaves to Seeds
5. From Food Culture to Food Science

III. Getting Over Nutritionism

One: Escape from the Western Diet
Two: Eat Food: Food Defined
Three: Mostly Plants: What to Eat
Four: Not Too Much: How to Eat

Acknowledgments
Sources
Resources
Index

About

#1 New York Times Bestseller from the author of This is Your Mind on Plants, How to Change Your Mind, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and Food Rules

Food. There's plenty of it around, and we all love to eat it. So why should anyone need to defend it?

Because in the so-called Western diet, food has been replaced by nutrients, and common sense by confusion--most of what we’re consuming today is longer the product of nature but of food science. The result is what Michael Pollan calls the American Paradox: The more we worry about nutrition, the less healthy we see to become. With In Defense of Food, Pollan proposes a new (and very old) answer to the question of what we should eat that comes down to seven simple but liberating words: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Pollan’s bracing and eloquent manifesto shows us how we can start making thoughtful food choices that will enrich our lives, enlarge our sense of what it means to be healthy, and bring pleasure back to eating.

Awards

  • WINNER
    CODES Notable Books Council Award
  • WINNER
    James Beard Award

Praise

"Michael Pollan [is the] designated repository for the nation's food conscience." —Frank Bruni, The New York Times

"In this slim, remarkable volume, Pollan builds a convincing case not only against that steak dinner but against the entire Western diet." —The Washington Post

"A tough, witty, cogent rebuttal to the proposition that food can be reduced to its nutritional components without the loss of something essential . . . [a] lively, invaluable book." —Janet Maslin, The New York Times

"What should I eat for dinner tonight? Here is Pollan's brilliant, succinct and nuanced answer to this question: 'Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.'" —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"In Defense of Food is written with Pollan's customary bite, ringing clarity and brilliance at connecting the dots." —The Seattle Times

"This is an important book, short but pithy, and, like the word 'food,' not simple at all." —New York Post

"With his lucid style and innovative research, Pollan deserves his reputation as one of the most respectable voices in the modern debate about food." —The Financial Times

Author

© Tabitha Soren
Michael Pollan is the author of nine books, including This Is Your Mind on Plants, How to Change Your Mind, Cooked, Food Rules, In Defense of Food, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and The Botany of Desire, all of which were New York Times bestsellers. He is also the author of the audiobook Caffeine: How Coffee and Tea Made the Modern World. A longtime contributor to The New York Times Magazine, Pollan teaches writing at Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley. In 2010, Time magazine named him one of the one hundred most influential people in the world. 

www.michaelpollan.com View titles by Michael Pollan

Table of Contents

In Defense Of FoodIntroduction: An Eater's Manifesto

I. The Age Of Nutritionism

One: From Foods to Nutrients
Two: Nutritionism Defined
Three: Nutritionism Comes to Market
Four: Food Science's Golden Age
Five: The Melting of the Lipid Hypothesis
Six: Eat Right, Get Fatter
Seven: Beyond the Pleasure Principle
Eight: The Proof in the Low-Fat Pudding
Nine: Bad Science
Ten: Nutritionism's Children

II. The Western Diet And The Diseases of Civilization

One: The Aborigine in All of Us
Two: The Elephant in the Room
Three: The Industrialization of Eating: What We Do Know
1. From Whole Foods to Refined
2. From Complexity to Simplicity
3. From Quality to Quantity
4. From Leaves to Seeds
5. From Food Culture to Food Science

III. Getting Over Nutritionism

One: Escape from the Western Diet
Two: Eat Food: Food Defined
Three: Mostly Plants: What to Eat
Four: Not Too Much: How to Eat

Acknowledgments
Sources
Resources
Index

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