Michael Pollan

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We're in a Perpetual 'Altered State,' Thanks to Caffeine
We're in a Perpetual 'Altered
State,' Thanks to Caffeine
in case you missed it

We're in a Perpetual 'Altered State,' Thanks to Caffeine

Author Michael Pollan explores our history and relationship with this 'invisible addiction'

(Newser) - When author Michael Pollan decided to tackle the subject of psychoactive drugs—specifically, opium, mescaline, and caffeine—for his new book, This Is Your Mind On Plants , he consumed the first two in the name of experimental journalism. But he actually stopped using caffeine, just to see what would happen,...

Big Names Say It's Time for 'National Food Policy'

Michael Pollan, Mark Bittman say health of people and environment depend on it

(Newser) - Two of the biggest names in the world of healthful eating team up today for a Washington Post op-ed calling for a "national food policy." Michael Pollan and Mark Bittman, along with two other experts, say that our current food-production system has caused so much damage to our...

Beef Industry Fights Back Against Michael Pollan

Agriculture students getting lesson in PR warfare

(Newser) - The beef industry realizes it's taken a beating in the public relations department from the likes of Michael Pollan, and it's attempting to lay the groundwork for a comeback. An industry-funded online program called the Masters of Beef Advocacy has trained 3,000 students and farmers in the art of...

$8 for Dozen Eggs? Why It's a Good Deal

Food is too artificially cheap, argues Michael Pollan

(Newser) - Foodie reformer Michael Pollan continues his "pay more, eat less" crusade in an interview with the Wall Street Journal , arguing that $8 for a dozen eggs should be standard fare. It sounds absurd, "but when you think that you can make a delicious meal from two eggs, that'...

Michael Pollan's Latest Is Best Nutrition Book in 40 Years

Food Rules deserves raves: Jane Brody

(Newser) - Out for just over a month, Michael Pollan's Food Rules is the No. 1 book on Amazon—and the best nutrition book of Jane E. Brody's career. "In the more than four decades that I have been reading and writing about the findings of nutritional science," the New ...

Pollan's 'Rules to Eat By' Hard to Swallow
Pollan's 'Rules to Eat By' Hard to Swallow
OPINION

Pollan's 'Rules to Eat By' Hard to Swallow

'Wise ancestors' Pollan advises emulating would have loved a Whopper

(Newser) - Food industry critic Michael Pollan is compiling a book of "Rules to Eat By"—like "If you're not hungry enough to eat an apple, you're not hungry"—but his advice that you rely on your ancestors' wisdom for your eating decisions tastes a little off to...

To Cut Health Costs, Fix the Food Industry

Obesity 'accounts for nearly a tenth' of health-care spending

(Newser) - There’s an “elephant in the room” when it comes to health care reform: American health care costs a bundle in large part because we’re so fat, writes Michael Pollan for the New York Times. President Obama has touched on the issue, but the country hasn’t, and...

Food, Inc. Feeds the Brain
  Food, Inc. Feeds the Brain 
MOVIE REVIEW

Food, Inc. Feeds the Brain

Documentary explores US food production

(Newser) - Food, Inc., which opens today in limited release, is a super documentary that's good for you—unlike the profit-driven food-production practices it exposes. Director Robert Kenner highlights and expands on work by authors Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma) and Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation).
  • David Edelstein, New York: "The
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College Students Dig Farm Internships

(Newser) - Liberal arts students are ditching traditional summer internships of office coffee-fetching for life on the land, reports the New York Times. As part of a generation well-versed in Michael Pollan's attack on industrial agriculture and interested in social change, these students see organic farm work as a political statement. "...

Picky Eater Decodes the Beef Scare
Picky Eater Decodes the Beef Scare

Picky Eater Decodes the Beef Scare

What goes into a 99¢ burger can be pretty unpleasant, author Pollan says

(Newser) - Don't fault slaughterhouse workers for this week's enormous beef recall, author and foodie Michael Pollan tells Newsweek—it's the system. Blinding-fast production lines that expect workers to slaughter up to seven cows per minute do not a safe or ethical steak make. "It's one of those episodes that peels...

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