27 August 2008
Applying Rules from An Eater’s Manifesto
I’ve been reading Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
Avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable, c) more than five in number, or that include d) high-fructose corn syrup.
That sounds like good advice. High-fructose corn syrup isn’t such a problem here as it is in Pollan’s native US, but it’s still worth avoiding where it shows up - it rarely adds anything worthwhile to a product. The “unfamiliar” caveat I’d have more difficulty, since the what-the-hell-is-that-and-how-do-I-cook-it impulse is strong. But I reckon that familiarity can be expanded gradually. More than five in number… well, there goes the humble sliced pan, but I have intentions of learning to make bread anyway, so maybe I won’t miss it. And my Crunchy Nut Cornflakes may have to go by the wayside.
Avoid food products that make health claims.
For once, I can say that this won’t be a problem; I’ve always found health claims on food to be deeply suspect. Pollan’s point is that if a food needs a health claim to get you to buy it, then you probably didn’t need it in the first place.
Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.
I don’t know how applicable this is to Irish supermarkets. The layout principles seem to be different here, although certainly, in most places, you find the un-packaged food at the sides. It’s definitely no use for the Finnish supermarkets I’ve been in, where the produce and good breads have tended to be right in the middle.
Get out of the supermarket whenever possible.
I’d like to shop in farmer’s markets more than I do. Sadly, I work nine to five, and am away from the house from seven to seven on weekdays. It makes getting to markets on Thursdays and Fridays hard. However, I’m planning to find some weekend market within a short drive of the house soon - and if not, at least more shopping in greengrocers and butchers, rather than supermarkets.
Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.
That will be awkward. I like my bread, rice, and pasta - which I suppose is largely plant matter, when it comes down to it, but not leaf. And I’m not keen on many leaf plants beyond spinach and rocket, which do not subsistence make. And I like my meat. So this could be difficult. But as I start to garden, eating what comes up may well help with this.
You are what you eat eats too.
It’s no use eating fish or meat that’s been fed poor food; it carries on through and makes poor fish and meat. Knowing where the meat comes from is important here, and the whole “organic” label is a big help. Especially if it’s organic and Irish as well, which is unfortunately rarer than it might be. We can do that.
If you have the space, buy a freezer.
Already have one. It could be bigger, but it’s not full yet. Freezing, he says, is better for food than other forms of preservation. I’m fine with that; I just need to remember what’s in there.
Eat like an omnivore.
That is, eat lots of different things. This helps get all kinds of trace elements, anti-oxidants, and whatever else the good stuff is into your system, and cuts down on the possibility that any one harmful element that creeps in might hurt. This shouldn’t be a problem for us; we already have a pretty varied diet.
Eat well-grown food from healthy soils.
Pollan points out that this isn’t just organic; there’s food grown that’s good and healthy, but fails on some minor point of organic standards. I like the shortcut represented by the organic label, now that I know what it’s a shortcut to, but I’m willing to look outside that too.
Eat wild foods when you can.
I love wild foods, and I have a whole new website coming up on just that topic. The only problem is getting enough time to harvest the stuff.
Be the kind of person who takes supplements.
This hinges on a theory that the correlation between mineral and vitamin supplements and better health is that the kind of people who take the supplements take better care of themselves in general. I don’t much like supplements, but I can see his point, and should try to pay a little more attention to what I’m doing in general, healthwise.
Eat more like the French. Or the Italians. Or the Japanese. Or the Indians. Or the Greeks.
Or any cuisine that has set ingredients that have worked for a few hundred years. Unfortunately, this doesn’t really include the Irish diet, which has always been the leftovers of the British diet. Then again, the Irish diet is in the process of absorbing all the above, so maybe that’s not a problem for us.
Regard nontraditional foods with skepticism.
As above with health claims, this is fine with me. I already avoid buying most over-processed goods.
Don’t look for the magic bullet in the traditional diet.
Trying to isolate particular elements of any diet as “the good bit” is doomed to failure. And that’s fine with me; I’ve never been one for the new superfoods. If goji berries were all that, they’d be a lot better known already.
Have a glass of wine with dinner.
No problem! I like wine. Does beer count? Probably not, unfortunately; the links between wine-drinking cultures and good health are clear, and there aren’t any such links for beer.
Pay more, eat less.
Buy better food. We’ve been working on this since we moved house, in any case. The greengrocer and butcher resolutions from above should make the difference.
Eat meals.
As in, don’t snack. My new workplace does not provide biscuits. This is a glorious mercy, it turns out, because I don’t otherwise snack much, but if you put stuff near me, chances are I’ll eat it.
Do all your eating at a table.
Do I have to? There are only so many hours in the evening, and sometimes I need to combine eating with something else. But the something else distracts from the food, and paying attention to what you’re eating is at the core of this whole raft of concepts. So I can give that a try, anyway. As long as I can read and eat.
Don’t get your fuel from the same place your car does.
Not a problem for us. I can’t remember the last time we got food from a petrol station shop.
Try not to eat alone.
This isn’t usually a problem either - we cook and eat together most evenings, except when one of us is away. I have to admit that my tendency to eat what might charitably be called bad food is much greater when I’m on my own, mainly because investing the effort for good food seems like too much hassle.
Consult your gut.
In other words, don’t eat beyond full. Apparently, in the West, we tend to eat until the plate is empty, rather than stopping when we’re full. Small servings also help, and that’s a point I’m guilty on - I’ll ladle huge piles of food onto a plate if I get the chance. I’ll have to try to cut down on that.
Eat slowly.
Good advice in general, and Pollan also draws in the Slow Food movement here, something I know exists in Ireland, but which I haven’t yet made contact. I tend to wolf my food, and go for seconds. The notion is that eating slowly gives your body time to decide that it is indeed full, before you get the chance to pile more in. This may be the most difficult point of all for me.
Cook and if you can, plant a garden.
I already cook, as evidenced by lots of other posts here. And since we moved house, I’ve been working on gardening.
Overall, these don’t look too difficult to keep to. I just need to remember to actually do so, rather than give in to convenience and colourful labels.