Michael Pollan On Food, Gardening, and Helping America

November 28, 2008

"My path was through the garden." Michael Pollan

Few people reflect and report more astutely on the state of American food production and consumption than Michael Pollan. Beginning with his fascination in plant cultivation, THE BOTANY OF DESIRE, Pollan has become a mixture of reporter and prophet, documenting the state of American food and warning of the consequences if we don't change our ways.

An Open Letter to the Farmer in Chief

In October 2008, Pollan wrote to the prospective presidents about just how far food policy reaches into our world — from national security to the rise of diabetes. In his ""An Open Letter to the Farmer in Chief,"Pollan gave the next occupant a "heads up" about an issue that hadn't made any noise on the very noisy campaign trail:

[Y]ou will find yourself confronting the fact — so easy to overlook these past few years — that the health of a nation's food system is a critical issue of national security. Food is about to demand your attention...[Y]ou will need not simply to address food prices but to make the reform of the entire food system one of the highest priorities of your administration: unless you do, you will not be able to make significant progress on the health care crisis, energy independence or climate change. Unlike food, these are issues you did campaign on — but as you try to address them you will quickly discover that the way we currently grow, process and eat food in America goes to the heart of all three problems and will have to change if we hope to solve them.

Biography

Michael Pollan is the author, most recently, of IN DEFENSE OF FOOD: AN EATER'S MANIFESTO. His previous book, THE OMNIVORE'S DILEMMA: A NATURAL HISTORY OF FOUR MEALS (2006), was named one of the ten best books of 2006 by the NEW YORK TIMES and the Washington Post. It also won the California Book Award, the Northern California Book Award, the James Beard Award for best food writing, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. He is also the author of THE BOTANY OF DESIRE: A PLANT'S-EYE VIEW OF THE WORLD (2001); A PLACE OF MY OWN (1997); and SECOND NATURE (1991). A contributing writer to the NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE, Pollan is the recipient of numerous journalistic awards, including the James Beard Award for best magazine series in 2003 and the Reuters-I.U.C.N. 2000 Global Award for Environmental Journalism.

Pollan served for many years as executive editor of HARPER'S Magazine and is now the Knight Professor of Science and Environmental Journalism at UC Berkeley. His articles have been anthologized in BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE WRITING (2004); BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS (1990 and 2003) and the NORTON BOOK OF NATURE WRITING. Published November 28, 2008.

Guest photo by Robin Holland

Go To http://Change.Gov  and urge President-Elect Obama to choose Michael Pollan for Secretary of Agriculture... now that would be Change!!