Lynness: You are what you eat...

Just before Christmas I read a short book called "In Defense of Food:
An Eater's Manifesto" by Michael Pollen. I really enjoyed it- it
discusses the reasons why Americans are the most health-obsessed county
and the least healthy, how 'food science' has failed us, and gives some
rules for eating. (No prohibitions or 'bad' and 'good' labels, but some
good ideas for judging what you're really getting.) I found it highly
relevant, good advice, and well-written (and easily read).
After Christmas I reserved his previous book "The Omnivore's Dilemma"
which is much longer, though still well-written and very readable. I
took a hiatus during January during which I read the Mary Roach books
and "The Egg and I" and browsed several books on beans (I taught a food
storage class this month, not because I 'know beans' about beans, but
b/c it was a sure-fire way to learn). I recently returned to "The
Omnivore's Dilemma" and finished it. I recommend it to you and pretty
much anyone: it is a thought-provoking exploration about where our food
comes from and how society and food shape one another. This book
provides the underpinning knowledge for "In Defense of Food" and in it
the author pursues the 'histories' of four meals he eats in four
different food-chains: the industrial, the organic (which is often not
as far from industrial as they want us to believe), the local
sustainable farm-grown, and the hunted/gathered. He does this in depth,
with personality, and (I think) pretty evenhandedly. He does not judge
the reader for eating selections, but offers a good long look at things
connected with those eating decisions that most have never even thought
of before.