Thoughts from "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan

Jo Hunter Adams

Rather than go through what In Defense of Food says chapter by chapter (and make it no fun for you to read in the future), I'm going to be mentioning thoughts that the book had that it might be easy for readers to remember.

Calories and feeling full
We may feel hungry way after we've already consumed enough calories for the day, because the calories we consumed did not give us all the nutrients we needed. We may not sense our own bodies needs very completely, because we may feel generalized hunger when, in fact, what we need is a particular mineral or vitamin, and we're already "caloried out".

Pollan describes this (U.S.) experiment where people were given bowls of soup, and unbeknown to them, the bowl was being filled from underneath the table as they ate. The people who had their bowls filled more tended to just keep on eating. And they ate massive amounts. This experiment revealed that many people, particularly in the English-speaking West, are out of touch with their nutritional needs. We feel full based on external, rather than internal, cues.

Other Book-related Posts
(1) Collapse: Haiti and the Dominican Republic
(2) Collapse: The Rwandan Genocide
(3) Collapse: Introduction
(4) Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: Huh, what's a Locavore?
(5) Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: How Much Energy was used for that Carrot: Vegetarianism and Energy
(6) Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: Local Abundance and Variety
(7) Botany of Desire: Stories of Potatoes

Why Make Food from Scratch

Jo Hunter Adams

People in the U.S. spend much less on groceries than people in other countries. That said, we can't spend more without trimming expenses elsewhere, because many, many people in the U.S. are also living way beyond their means. This presents many challenges.

I am convinced that buying food as locally and seasonally as possible, and buying food as fresh as possible, is far better for the environment and far better for me and my family. Apart from the time commitment, there's no downside here, because we do not need to spend more money by transitioning towards less processed foods. The process of spending time cooking from scratch and eating is, as proposed by Slow Food, vital for connecting us to the producers of our food.

I'm torn when it comes to organic food. It's expensive, and my taste buds just aren't the most well-developed things on the planet. The challenge presented by some writers is the idea that I could eat less organic food because the food would satisfy me more. Slowly and steadily I'll try it out.

But poor Americans (which we are not) are malnourished because real food is so expensive. The question is whether to make from-scratch food gradually more widely available by being willing to buy very expensive produce that tastes better, or whether it's more important to live as simply as possible (maybe by keeping Whole Foods at a distance) to free up our finances and become more generous. There is a third option-- to buy organic or close to organic by joining CSAs (Community-Based Agriculture) -- for the summer season.

I am attracted to the second and third options, because we're just starting to get out of the restaurant eating mindset, because buying produce from the regular supermarket (Market Basket is the cheapest supermarket in our area) is affordable for us, and because I think if supermarkets become the store of the poorest only, the food there will get even worse. CSAs are valuable for a few months, and because you can plan for the cost ahead of time. Trader Joe's is a great middle ground for a few foods-- they're affordable and fresher than other chains-- so I go there for just a few luxuries, and am planning to start to buy meat there.

How to Choose your Yogurt

Jo Hunter Adams


I like yoghurt, especially yoghurt with small pieces of chocolate. Yoghurt has been credited with all types of things-- boosting immunity, providing protein and calcium, repopulating your intestines with good bacteria, amongst other things.

Recently, however, I've been realizing the yoghurt I eat contains a whole lot of ingredients. The ideal yoghurt only has milk and live cultures. Since I've been trying to reduce the number of ingredients that I eat but don't recognize, and also reduce the number of processed foods I regularly consume.

Dannon has a marketing page where it describes the ingredients used regularly in their yogurt. These include (in addition to milk, bacterial culture, and fruit) sucralose, aspartame, corn starch, fructose, gelatin, malic acid, maltodextrin, pectin, phosphates and sodium citrate. Quite a mouthful, right? There's nothing necessarily wrong with any of these ingredients in tiny amounts, or when they occur in nature. The question is, if I am eating them every day in my yoghurt, do they act in consonance or dissonance with my yoghurt's healthy properties? I'm not sure anyone really knows.

It is clear that yoghurt that's been heat treated after culturing is not as good for you, because some of the live cultures will have been killed.

The conclusion? Look out for yoghurt that only has milk and live and active cultures (Eg, Stonyfield, Ronnybrook)

Looking Back
(1) Making Gnocchi from Scratch
(2) Making Berry Crisp from Frozen Berries
(3) Stuffed Mushrooms
(4) The Greatness of Pure Cranberry Juice
(5) Simple Natural Pesto
(6) How to Make Dumplings

Looking forward
(1) Thoughts from "In defense of Food" By Michael Pollan
(2) How to make pizza from scratch
(3) Thoughts from "How to Pick a Peach" By Russ Parsons