Earlier this summer Michael Pollan was interviewed by one of our best national journalists, Amy Goodman at Democracy Now. They touched on numerous highlights from Pollan’s latest book In Defense of Food and also about the crisis nature of food within our planetary economy and society.
Here are the clips from the broadcast. In this first clip Pollan discusses the aggressive posture of Monsanto, and at minute 6:00 mentions that if in fact we’re trying to increase the productivity of our fields, genetically modified crops are NOT the way to go.
At minute 9:00 Pollan discusses the “ingenuity” of the food industry in taking every latest criticism aimed at it and turning the critique into the next marketing campaign.
In the second clip Pollan talks approvingly of the Obama administration and new Ag Secretary Tom Vilsek, as well as Deputy Secretary Merrigan – both committed to sustainable and local food systems.
Pollan touches on school lunches at minute 2:00, and around 4:50 notes how our food system is embedded into our health care crisis as a root cause. Talk from here touches on climate change and the global situation, with Food constituting a prime element of our planetary predicament.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post. I really like what Pollan said about high fructose corn syrup being a “marker” for processed foods. He is correct, it’s remarkable how the processed food industry has now made sugar sound healthy. He points out that high fructose corn syrup and sugar are biologically exactly the same.
What I’ve found is that eating a balanced diet of brown rice, vegetables and other unprocessed foods stops cravings for anything sweet.
Hi Allan, thanks for stopping by.
I’ve found the same thing, as I eat more healthy and sustainably grown foods, my cravings for junk seem to be falling away without my doing anything.
When a craving just DISAPPEARS, it’s amazing how content you can feel without the thing you used to crave