Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Michael Pollan and First Blogger Meet Up

Did you catch Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food, and Food Rules, on Oprah earlier today (Wednesday)? I did, and I really enjoyed hearing him speak, especially because I knew I would hear him again, in person, later in the evening! And I was even more excited because I was going to meet two bloggers, Michelle (who used to blog but isn’t currently, but we may have convinced her to start again!), and Lara from Thinspired! It was great to meet both of them! Thank you Michelle for bringing us together and for alerting us to this great, free event! Also, thank you for the super cute bag and towel!



Michael Pollan (on the right) was interviewed by San Jose Mercury News Columnist Mike Cassidy.



I really enjoyed the Q & A. I find Michael Pollan’s approach to food and what’s wrong with the food industry and what should and can be done to change the status quo commonsensical and realistic. Eating whole, unprocessed, real foods is what I try to do in my own life (although there is certainly room for improvement).

I also like that he stresses that people should invest more time into preparing food and into learning how to cook. While he acknowledges that fast food and highly processed foods are very cheap, partly because they are heavily subsidized, he also points out that people should get back to cooking and that it’s really not that expensive to cook a big pot of vegetable soup and that beans, for example, are a great, cheap source of protein.

He advocates eating less meat and states that reducing ones meat consumption makes the biggest difference in reducing one’s carbon footprint. He points out that the average American eats over 200 pounds of meat per year, which accounts for 1/4 of his/her carbon footprint. If the average American reduces his/her meat consumption by only 20%, the impact is the same as switching from a gas guzzler to a Prius!

I also loved that he finished on a positive note and said that he was optimistic that change is possible. While he doesn’t think that fast food and processed foods will go away, he believes that there will be more, better options for people to choose from and that more people becoming aware of what’s wrong is a step in the right direction.

After the talk, we got our books signed!



We then headed to Whole Foods to chat some more. We stayed until they closed at 10:00!

It was a great evening, and it was so nice to get out, meet two great fellow bloggers in the area, and hear a great, free talk! It’s just what I needed…

Questions: Did you see Michael Pollan on Oprah? If so, what did you think? Have you read any of Michael Pollan’s books? If so, what is one thing that really stuck out for you? Finally, any fun blogger meet ups to report on?
 
Be well,
Andrea