Food or Non-Food?

The last week of January, 2007, my husband brought home an article from the New York Times, plunked it down in front of me, and urged me to “Read this.” The article was called “Unhappy Meals,” by Michael Pollen, and in it, Mr. Pollen made a brilliant argument for avoiding processed “non-foods.” “Non-foods” are basically all of the many, many things we eat, often with tremendous health claims, that are extremely far from any kind of food found in nature. He makes a suggestion that sounds fairly easy and common-sensical but, in retrospect, is quite difficult to practice: Don’t eat anything your great-great grandmother wouldn’t recognize. (Go-gurt?) His arguments and ideas stuck with me and when I saw his book, a much-expanded version of the article called In Defense of Food, I promptly purchased it. I bought it, read it, and am now thoroughly depressed about the state of food in America, in my grocery store, and in my cupboard.

So first of all, I recommend this book. Just go out & buy it. Hands-down, you’ve got to read it – even if, in the end, you somehow disagree with him, it is absolutely worth the time and energy just to get yourself thinking about these things.

Second, I have decided to try to follow many of his recommendations, and by FAR the most difficult idea is avoiding the middle of the grocery store – you know, the cracker-chip-snack area. I mean, what else will I feed my kids when they arrive home from school. No goldfish? Come on! How will I entice the other children to play here without Doritos and Oreos? Do they really want to eat organic yogurt? (The answer, we’ve already discovered, is a resounding, “no!”)

Harder still is when I approach the “real food” area of the grocery store – the cheese and yogurt section, for example -- and am inundated with even more “non-food” items. Try it yourself: Skip the nutrition label and take a peek at the ingredients. Do you even know what that crap is? I’m sorry, but is it really what you want to feed your family? What I’m thinking is “no way.” And after the recent beef recall, aren’t we all feeling a bit wary about that meat we buy at the store?

That said, if you see me out and about, I know darn well that one of these days you’ll catch me pouring the toxin of diet pepsi straight down my gullet. I’m trying, but there’s just no way I can give it up all the way. These things take time. If I’m giving up Triscuits, I’ve got to hang on to diet pepsi a little longer.

I’m also hoping that Michael Pollen writes the follow-up book called, How to Cope When Your Child Leaves Home and Binges on Doritos and Sprite. Not to mention all of the mental trauma my kids will endure and the everlasting grudge they may hold against their “crazy” mother... Couldn’t Mr. Pollen have just kept all of this to himself??

But read it. I promise – it’s worth it.