|
Solving the Omnivore's Dilemma
Professor Michael Pollan gives talk about his new book
Ioana Patringenaru | June 4, 2007
What’s for dinner? According to New York Times Magazine contributor and UC Berkeley professor Michael Pollan, our very survival as a species depends on how we answer this seemingly simple question. He will explain why during the latest installment of UCSD’s Revelle Forum Series June 12 at The Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla.
In his most recent book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Pollan argues that Americans are suffering from a national eating disorder. He describes an “American paradox – that is, a notably unhealthy people obsessed by the idea of eating healthily.”
|
| Michael Pollan's new book. |
|
For starters, it’s hard to figure out what’s healthy when you don’t know where most of your food comes from. So Pollan sets out to track the origin of four meals: one from McDonald’s, another from Whole Foods, yet another from a small organic farm in Virginia, and one for which Pollan himself killed or foraged most ingredients.
In the process, he finds an unexpected culprit for America’s nutritional ills: corn. More than a quarter of products in the average American supermarket now contain corn or its derivatives, Pollan points out. It can be found in everything from coffee whitener, to candy, toothpaste, and even charcoal briquettes.
But really, what’s wrong with that? Well, for one, relying on a single plant to feed cattle, sweeten drinks, and flavor food makes the American food supply remarkably fragile, Pollan says. But there’s more. Americans’ average daily intake of calories has gone up by more than ten percent since 1977, triggering a nationwide epidemic of obesity and diabetes. Where do most of these calories come from? You’ve guessed it: corn. It is the cheapest, and most unhealthy, source of calories in our diet, Pollan writes. He particularly reserves his scorn for one of the plant’s derivatives: high fructose corn syrup, the source of much of the added sugar in our diet.
Pollan’s book has received accolades from many critics. “His cause is just, his thinking is clear, and his writing is compelling,” The Washington Post wrote. A “thoughtful, engrossing new book,” The New York Times chimed in.
Revelle Forum organizers agree. Pollan asks some essential questions about the choices that we make as individuals and as a society, choices that have profound consequences for both our health and the preservation of the environment, said UCSD Extension Director Dan Atkinson. “His approach is fascinating in the way he brings home the relevance of our personal actions to global issues like climate change, hunger, the healthcare system, and economic development.”
| Additional Information |
Who: Michael Pollan
When: 7:00 p.m. Tuesday June 12
Where: The Neurosciences Institute, 10640 John Jay Hopkins Dr. La Jolla |
| For tickets/information: (858) 534-3400 or (858) 882-8000, http://revelleforum.ucsd.edu |
|
|
