Michael Pollen, In Defense of Food

Stooge · September 24, 2009, 10:39am

This looks great. Kudo’s to Chancellor Martin and Faculty for kick starting what appears to be a stimulating event!

[Scientists</a>, foodies and farmers join University of Wisconsin debate over Pollan’s ‘Food’ book – latimes.com](<a href=“http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-food-book-university,0,5494003.story]Scientists”>http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-food-book-university,0,5494003.story)

Stooge · September 24, 2009, 10:42am

Oops, Pollan that is.

barrons · September 24, 2009, 11:24am

Martin knows how to raise the profile. Even getting the state farmers really engaged in the UW is a good idea for the long run.

Cryto · September 24, 2009, 7:21pm

Ya it’s an interesting little experiment the University is doing, perhaps trying to increase pleasure reading or intellectual debate.

You mentioned it gets the farmers involved Barrons and I don’t know if you read the book, but it basically puts what the farmers do in a negative light. I mean it commends small time farming and local agriculture, but even in my ignorance on Wisconsin agriculture I’m willing to bet most of it is industrialized in one sense or another.

Bill Bruins | Posted: Friday, September 18, 2009 10:50 am | No Comments Posted

Average Americans are disconnected from the food they eat every day. That is one of the few statements from Michael Pollan that doesn’t give me heartburn.

UW-Madison has served up Pollan’s recent book, “In Defense of Food,” as the main course for its Go Big Read campus-wide book discussion this year. Chancellor Biddy Martin says its selection was meant to generate discussion about an important topic, and not an endorsement of the book, Pollan or his adopted food system ideology.

The farm organization I lead works hard to inform consumers about the realities of what it takes to bring America’s safe, nutritious and abundant food supply from our farm gates to your food plates. We teach young people that milk comes from cows on farms like mine.

Pollan has narrow and elitist ideas about how you should eat and how farmers should (or shouldn’t) feed a hungry and growing world. To make these claims you would think he’s a food scientist instead of a creative writer with an agenda.

I hope readers will realize that Wisconsin’s diversity of farms looks nothing like the picture Pollan paints of modern agriculture.

Things like cattle, cranberries, cabbage and cheese helped generate $59 billion for Wisconsin in 2007. Agriculture and food production employs one out of 12 Wisconsinites - a fact not to be discounted during a recession.

A nostalgic part of Pollan’s message is he wishes life would slow down - that we’d all grow a garden and cook meals like his great-grandmother. Fine, but I’m not going to farm the same way my great-grandfather did. Technology has improved many aspects of the way we live, including how we farm.

I wonder if he’d ask the medical profession to go back in time, or if he’s coming to Madison in a horse and buggy?

Today’s farmer feeds 143 other people, while caring for animals and being a good steward of the land, water and air. Despite providing affordable, nutritious food, farmers face attacks from the media, courts and government. To defend themselves they must explain not just what they do, but why they do it. That gets harder when the Pollans of the world see an evil empire behind every item in your refrigerator.

Not to be a spoiler, but the big lie in Pollan’s book is exposed near its end. If we all just ate and grew food as he advocates, then eating would be a more enjoyable experience. It’s a simplistic, preachy and unscientific answer to an issue that is immensely complex.

Simply put, Pollan’s plan would starve much of the world and require the rest to spend more time and money in pursuit of food. In a book littered with unsupportable claims, its conclusion is downright disturbing and immoral.

As Pollan grabs the bully pulpit on the Madison campus to promote his book, will researchers and food scientists stand with us in defense of modern agriculture or stand mute while Pollan attempts to tear down the food system UW-Madison helped build?

“In Defense of Food” is indefensible and certainly leaves a bad aftertaste.

Bruins, a dairy farmer from Waupun, is president of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation.

For details on the Go Big Read program and events, visit [Go</a> Big Read](<a href=“http://www.gobigread.wisc.edu%5DGo”>http://www.gobigread.wisc.edu).

Here is some farmer bashing the book, but I guess if it sparks debate and has two different sides that’s really what the Chancellor was going for. I read the book, but have decided not to attend the talk by the author. Perhaps others will though… It will be hard to gauge whether or not the program is a success in its first year, but it got me to read at least.

Stooge · September 25, 2009, 8:14pm

Cryto, thanks so much for the thoughtful response. These issues are wide and interdisciplinary - healthcare, nutrition, obesity, food policy, agriculture and various sciences to name a few - and busting them open at UW-Madison is like opening the belly of the beast! The Univ. basically invented Food Science years ago and is closely connected to “Agribusiness.” Throw in a tradition of open inquiry = exciting.

I suspect there are more than 2 sides to these discussions and frankly am dissapointed in the official Farm Bureau response. Some facts interspersed with name calling doesn’t help. I did find a video interview hosted by Prof Goldstein in Poli Sci with Prof’s in Nutritian and Horticulture pretty good. Check it out:

[Office</a> Hours: Are you what you eat? (Sept. 17, 2009)](<a href=“http://www.news.wisc.edu/17092]Office”>Office Hours: Are you what you eat?)

Michael Pollen, In Defense of Food

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