In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
Most of what you eat today isn't actually food.
In this provocative and essential book, Michael Pollan argues that the American diet has been hijacked by "edible foodlike substances," products of food science rather than nature. The more we obsess over nutrients, the less healthy we become. It's a paradox that has left us confused, overfed, and undernourished.
Pollan cuts through decades of dietary confusion with a simple, liberating mantra: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." These seven words challenge everything the food industry and nutrition science have told us.
Real food, the kind your great-grandmother would recognize, is under attack from two fronts: the food industry pushing processed products and nutritional science reducing meals to a collection of vitamins and minerals. Both profit from our bewilderment about what should be the most natural human act.
This #1 New York Times bestseller offers practical wisdom for reclaiming your plate. Shop the perimeter of the supermarket. Avoid anything with more than five ingredients. Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot. Pay more for better quality, and eat less of it.
Forget counting calories or memorizing nutrition labels. Instead, rediscover the joy of eating real food.
Interesting Facts
A Seven Word Manifesto: The book's entire philosophy boils down to just seven words: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." This deceptively simple mantra became the foundation for a new way of thinking about eating.
Born From Reader Questions: Pollan wrote this book as a direct response to the most common question readers asked after The Omnivore's Dilemma: "What should I eat?" He started researching immediately after publishing that previous bestseller.
Six Weeks At Number One: The book hit number one on the New York Times Non-Fiction Best Seller List and stayed there for six full weeks in 2008.
Edible Foodlike Substances: The book distinguishes between real food and what Pollan calls "edible foodlike substances," which are products of food science rather than nature. If your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize it as food, you probably shouldn't eat it.
The American Paradox: Pollan identifies what he calls the American Paradox: the more Americans worry about nutrition and health, the less healthy they actually become. Thirty years of official nutritional advice has only made us sicker and fatter.
Started As A Magazine Essay: The entire book grew out of Pollan's 2007 essay titled "Unhappy Meals" that was published in the New York Times Magazine.
Okinawa's Secret Wisdom: The book highlights the Japanese concept of "Hara Hachi Bu," a practice in Okinawa where people eat until they are only 80 percent full. This cultural tradition helps explain the region's exceptional longevity.
Culture Trumps Science: Pollan discovered while researching that traditional food cultures have more to teach us about healthy eating than nutrition science does. These cultures represent hundreds or thousands of years of trial and error.
Became A PBS Documentary: In 2015, the book was adapted into a television documentary for PBS, bringing Pollan's message to an even wider audience.
Just 200 Pages: Despite tackling massive topics like the industrialization of food and chronic disease epidemics, Pollan delivers his manifesto in a remarkably concise 200 pages.
Quotes
"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." - Michael Pollan
"Try not to eat alone." - Michael Pollan
"Don't eat anything incapable of rotting." - Michael Pollan
"Eat slowly." - Michael Pollan
"You are what what you eat eats." - Michael Pollan
"EAT MOSTLY PLANTS, ESPECIALLY LEAVES." - Michael Pollan
"GET OUT OF THE SUPERMARKET WHENEVER POSSIBLE." - Michael Pollan
"DO ALL YOUR EATING AT A TABLE." - Michael Pollan
"The shared meal elevates eating from a mechanical process of fueling the body to a ritual of family and community, from the mere animal biology to an act of culture." - Michael Pollan
"HAVE A GLASS OF WINE WITH DINNER." - Michael Pollan
"EAT WILD FOODS WHEN YOU CAN." - Michael Pollan
"Don’t look for the magic bullet in the traditional diet." - Michael Pollan
"Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food." - Michael Pollan
"EAT MEALS." - Michael Pollan
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