MT Lebanon – Michael Pollan says we may often feel like we don't have much power, but when we eat, we can wield enormous power.
“We have the ability to choose when it comes to food,” Pollan says. “And this is important.”
And when it comes to food and how it's consumed, Pollan is one of the most high-profile proponents of eating locally grown, organic food, and one of the most persistent critics of the food system he says is at its root. It becomes. About health issues in the United States.
“I think it’s very harmful to Americans,” Pollan explained Wednesday in the Mount Lebanon Middle School auditorium.
The 69-year-old professor of science and environmental journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, is a guest of the Mount Lebanon Public Library Speaker Series, which each year introduces a major bestselling author to the community. Pollan has gained wide public support over the past two decades or so, thanks to books such as “In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto,” “The Omnivore's Dilemma,” and “Rules for Food.”
His advocacy for so-called “slow food,” which focuses on foods bought at farmers' markets, grown in gardens and prepared at home, has won him many fans and some detractors as well. . Mr. Pollan's critics say that he and other slow food advocates have little understanding of the demands Americans have on their time and money, and that living solely on locally grown, organic food is not an option for most Americans. states that it is actually not realistic.
Nevertheless, Mr Pollan suggested that school meals should be made with locally sourced ingredients and that consumers could boycott restaurants and brands that engage in exploitative practices.
“These companies are so powerful that they no longer fear the government, but they fear the consumer,” Pollan said.
He also said the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the “fragility” of the food system, with grocery store shelves empty from the start and meat packers forced back to work by the Defense Production Act. said that it was done.
“When things go well, we’re very focused and very efficient,” Pollan says. “Our food system is far too concentrated and something like that shouldn't be able to wield that much power.”
Pollan also believes that the proliferation of cooking shows on cable networks and streaming services is actually doing more harm than good.
“I think these shows are destroying cooking because they make it look really difficult,” Pollan said. “It just makes it look scarier than it needs to be.”
Most widely known as a food guru, Pollan has recently turned his attention to psychedelic drugs. In his 2019 book How to Change Your Mind, Pollan argues that long-feared and derided drugs such as LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin have proven beneficial in treating depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other conditions. They claim that it can be effective. Research has been hindered by anti-drug efforts that began in the 1970s under President Richard Nixon.
Pollan recalled listening to a recording of cellist Yo-Yo Ma after taking LSD, calling it “the most profound experience I've ever had listening to music.”
He added that his next book will be about consciousness.
“I'm worried that by the end it's going to be a book that doesn't make any sense,” Pollan said.