2012 Puddly Awards
 
 
Follow us on TwitterFollow us on FacebookFollow us on TumblrSubscribe to RSS


Recently Viewed clear list


Guests | January 18, 2012

Alexis Smith: IMG In the Kitchen with a Deadline



When I have a writing deadline approaching, you'll probably find me in the kitchen. It's horrible, I know, but when I work with a deadline, I tend... Continue »
  1. $7.67 Sale Trade Paper add to wish list

    Glaciers (Tin House New Voice)

    Alexis Smith 9781935639206

spacer
Free Shipping!

Ships free on qualified orders.
$16.00
New Trade Paper
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Wishlist
Qty Store Section
1 Airport Self Help- General
1 Beaverton Cooking and Food- Gastronomic Literature
8 Burnside Sustainable Living- Food
1 Home & Garden Cooking and Food- Gastronomic Literature
25 Local Warehouse Sports and Fitness- Medicine Nutrition and Psychology
25 Remote Warehouse Sports and Fitness- Medicine Nutrition and Psychology

eBook editions

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto

by Michael Pollan

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto Cover

ISBN13: 9780143114963
ISBN10: 0143114964
All Product Details

 

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

What to eat, what not to eat, and how to think about health: a manifesto for our times Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. These simple words go to the heart of Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, the well-considered answers he provides to the questions posed in the bestselling The Omnivore's Dilemma, Humans used to know how to eat well, Pollan argues. But the balanced dietary lessons that were once passed down through generations have been confused, complicated, and distorted by food industry marketers, nutritional scientists, and journalists-all of whom have much to gain from our dietary confusion. As a result, we face today a complex culinary landscape dense with bad advice and foods that are not real. These edible foodlike substances are often packaged with labels bearing health claims that are typically false or misleading. Indeed, real food is fast disappearing from the marketplace, to be replaced by nutrients, and plain old eating by an obsession with nutrition that is, paradoxically, ruining our health, not to mention our meals. Michael Pollan's sensible and decidedly counterintuitive advice is: Don't eat anything that your great-great grandmother would not recognize as food. Writing In Defense of Food, and affirming the joy of eating, Pollan suggests that if we would pay more for better, well-grown food, but buy less of it, we'll benefit ourselves, our communities, and the environment at large. Taking a clear-eyed look at what science does and does not know about the links between diet and health, he proposes a new way to think about the question of what to eat that is informed by ecology and tradition rather than by the prevailing nutrient-by-nutrientapproach. In Defense of Food reminds us that, despite the daunting dietary landscape Americans confront in the modern supermarket, the solutions to the current omnivore's dilemma can be found all around us. In looking toward traditional diets the world over, as well as the foods our families-and regions-historically enjoyed, we can recover a more balanced, reasonable, and pleasurable approach to food. Michael Pollan's bracing and eloquent manifesto shows us how we might start making thoughtful food choices that will enrich our lives and enlarge our sense of what it means to be healthy.

Synopsis:

From the author of the bestselling "The Omnivore's Dilemma" comes this bracing and eloquent manifesto that shows readers how they might start making thoughtful food choices that can enrich their lives and enlarge their sense of what it means to be healthy. (Consumer Health)

Synopsis:

#LINK<>#
Michael Pollan's lastbook , The Omnivore's Dilemma, launched a national conversation about the American way of eating; now In Defense of Food shows us how to change it, one meal at a time. Pollan proposes a new 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.

About the Author

Michael Pollan is the author of four previous books, including The Omnivore's Dilemma and The Botany of Desire, both New York Times bestsellers. A longtime contributor to The New York Times, he is also the Knight Professor of Journalism at Berkeley.

Table of Contents

In Defense Of Food Introduction: 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

What Our Readers Are Saying

Add a comment for a chance to win!
Average customer rating based on 3 comments:

Jordi, January 3, 2012 (view all comments by Jordi)
Brilliant yet simple. This is the best book I have read so far about food and your diet. A must read!
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
emmakaye, January 30, 2010 (view all comments by emmakaye)
This is such a fantastic book. Everyone who shops for groceries should read it. I would even make it required reading in high schoolers' English classes. Pollan makes so much sense about what is food and the other stuff brought to us by corporations. It taught me to take the time to read labels--and put back on the shelf those items whose ingredients I couldn't pronounce. A good companion to this book are the Mad Men DVDs whose underlying message is 'Watch out for the stories that advertising agency people and their clients, again corporations, are selling.'
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
grevillea, May 13, 2009 (view all comments by grevillea)
Michael Pollan has written an "Eater's Manifesto" that it well-researched and a pleasure to read. His advice - "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." - is simple and easy to follow. It has changed the way I think about food choices, shopping, and consumption. It's written with an American audience in mind, but I think that anyone eating a "western" diet can take away something important from this book.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(8 of 12 readers found this comment helpful)
View all 3 comments

Product Details

ISBN:
9780143114963
Subtitle:
An Eater's Manifesto
Author:
Pollan, Michael
Publisher:
Penguin (Non-Classics)
Subject:
Nutrition
Subject:
Diets - General
Subject:
Food habits
Subject:
Sports and Fitness-Medicine Nutrition and Psychology
Copyright:
Edition Description:
Mass Market
Publication Date:
20090428
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
from 12
Language:
English
Pages:
256
Dimensions:
7.94x5.48x.68 in. .48 lbs.
Age Level:
17-17

Other books you might like

  1. $9.99 Google eBooks add to wish list
  2. $9.50 Used Trade Paper add to wish list

    Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (P.S.)

    Barbara Kingsolver and Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver 9780060852566
  3. $4.50 Used Trade Paper add to wish list
  4. $9.50 Used Trade Paper add to wish list
  5. $12.99 Google eBooks add to wish list

    People of the Book

    Geraldine Brooks 9781101158197
  6. $8.50 Used Hardcover add to wish list

Related Aisles

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto New Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$16.00 In Stock
Product details 256 pages Penguin Books - English 9780143114963 Reviews:
"Synopsis" by , From the author of the bestselling "The Omnivore's Dilemma" comes this bracing and eloquent manifesto that shows readers how they might start making thoughtful food choices that can enrich their lives and enlarge their sense of what it means to be healthy. (Consumer Health)
"Synopsis" by ,
#LINK<>#
Michael Pollan's lastbook , The Omnivore's Dilemma, launched a national conversation about the American way of eating; now In Defense of Food shows us how to change it, one meal at a time. Pollan proposes a new 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.

spacer
spacer
  • back to top
Follow us on...


Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.