Michael Pollan
(born February 6, 1955) is an American author, columnist, activist, and professor of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. [1]
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Biography
Early years
Pollan was born in
Long Island, New York to author and financial consultant Stephen Pollan and columnist Corky Pollan.
[2] Pollan went on to attend
Mansfield College, Oxford and received a B.A. from
Bennington College in 1977. He continued his studies at
Columbia University, where he earned his master's degree in English in 1981.
Career
Books
In
The Omnivore's Dilemma
, Pollan describes four basic ways in which human societies have obtained food: the current industrial system, the big organic operation, the local self-sufficient farm, and the
hunter-gatherer. Pollan follows each of these processes from a group of plants
photosynthesizing calories through a series of intermediate stages and ultimately to a meal. Along the way, he suggests that there is a fundamental tension between the logic of nature and the logic of human industry, that the way we eat represents our most profound engagement with the natural world, and that industrial eating obscures crucially important ecological relationships and connections. On December 10, 2006,
The New York Times
named
The Omnivore's Dilemma
one of the five best nonfiction books of the year. The book appears on NovelTracker.com's shortlist of non-fiction that reads as well as the best fiction. On May 8, 2007, the
James Beard Foundation named
The Omnivore's Dilemma
its 2007 winner for the best food writing. It was the book of focus for the
University of Pennsylvania's Reading Project 2007. An excerpt of the book was published in
Mother Jones
.
[3]
Pollan's discussion of the industrial food chain is in large part a critique of modern
agribusiness. According to the book, agribusiness has lost touch with the natural cycles of farming, wherein livestock and crops intertwine in mutually beneficial circles. Pollan's critique of modern agribusiness focuses on what he calls the overuse of corn, for purposes ranging from fattening cattle to massive production of
corn oil,
high-fructose corn syrup, and other corn derivatives. He describes what he sees as the inefficiencies and other drawbacks of
factory farming, assesses
organic food production and what he thinks it is like to hunt and gather food. He blames those who set the rules β i.e., politicians in Washington, D.C., bureaucrats at the
United States Department of Agriculture,
Wall Street capitalists, and agricultural
conglomerates like
Archer Daniels Midlandβfor what he calls a destructive and precarious agricultural system that has wrought havoc upon the diet, nutrition, and well-being of Americans. Pollan finds hope in
Joel Salatin's
Polyface Farm in Virginia, which he sees as a model of
sustainability in commercial farming. Pollan appears in the
documentary film King Corn
(2007).
In
The Botany of Desire
, Pollan explores the concept of
co-evolution, specifically of humankind's evolutionary relationship with four plants β
apples,
tulips,
marijuana, and
potatoes β from the dual perspectives of humans and the plants. He uses case examples that fit the
archetype of four basic human desires, demonstrating how each of these
botanical species are selectively grown, bred, and
genetically engineered. The apple reflects the desire for sweetness, the tulip beauty, marijuana intoxication, and the potato control. Pollan then unravels the narrative of his own experience with each of the plants, which he then intertwines with a well-researched exploration into their social history. Each section presents a unique element of human domestication, or the "human bumblebee" as Pollan calls it. These range from the true story of
Johnny Appleseed to Pollan's first-hand research with sophisticated marijuana
hybrids in
Amsterdam, to the alarming and
paradigm-shifting possibilities of genetically engineered potatoes.
Pollan's latest book,
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
, released on January 1, 2008, explores the relationship with what he terms
nutritionism
and the Western diet, with a focus on late 20th century food advice given by the science community. Pollan holds that consumption of fat and dietary cholesterol do not lead to a higher rate of coronary disease, and that the reductive analysis of food into nutrient components is a flawed paradigm. He questions the view that the point of eating is to promote health, pointing out that this attitude is not universal and that cultures that perceive food as having purposes of pleasure, identity, and sociality may end up with better health. He explains this seeming paradox by vetting then validating the notion that nutritionism and, therefore, the whole Western framework through which we intellectualize the value of food is more a religious and faddish devotion to the mythology of simple solutions than a convincing and reliable conclusion of incontrovertible scientific research. Pollan spends the rest of his book explicating his first three phrases: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." He contends that most of what Americans now buy in supermarkets, fast food stores, and restaurants is not in fact food, and that a good practical tip would be to eat only those things that people of his grandmother's generation would have recognized as food.
Pollan has contributed to
Greater Good
, a social psychology magazine published by the
Greater Good Science Center at
University of California, Berkeley. His article "Edible Ethics" discusses the intersection of ethical eating and
social psychology.
In his 1998 book
A Place of My Own: The Education of an Amateur Builder
, Pollan methodically traced the design and construction of the out-building where he writes. The 2008 re-release of this book was re-titled
A Place of My Own: The Architecture of Daydreams.
Other work
Pollan is a contributing writer for the
New York Times Magazine
, a former executive editor for
Harper's Magazine
, and author of five books:
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
(2008)
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
(2006),
The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World
(2001),
A Place of My Own
(1997), and
Second Nature A Gardener's Education
(1991).
His recent work has dealt with the practices of the
meat industry, and he has written a number of articles on trends in American agriculture. He has received the
Reuters World Conservation Union Global Awards in environmental journalism, the
James Beard Foundation Awards for best magazine series in 2003, and the
Genesis Award from the
American Humane Association. His articles have been anthologized in
Best American Science Writing
(2004),
Best American Essays
(1990 and 2003),
The Animals: Practicing Complexity
(2006) and the
Norton Book of Nature Writing
(1990).
Personal life
Pollan's sister is actress
Tracy Pollan, the wife of
Michael J. Fox. He is married to landscape painter Judith Belzer; the couple met while both attended
Bennington College. They have a son, Isaac.
[4] [5]
See also
Bibliography
; Books
; Essays
; Interviews
References
- Faculty: Michael Pollan
- The High Price of Cheap Food
- No Bar Code
- How Michael Pollan Ruined My Life
- Slow down, you're eating too fast