So says Michael Pollan, in a fascinating interview with farmer and Gristian food journalist Tom Philpott. That’s the starting point, with much more insight to follow, including:
I spent a lot of time looking at the science of nutrition, and learned
pretty quickly there’s less there than meets the eye, and that the
scientists really haven’t figured out that much about food. Letting
them tell us how to eat is probably not a very good idea, and indeed
the culture — which is to say tradition and our ancestors — has more
to teach us about how to eat well than science does. That was kind of
surprising to me.
A couple of years ago my daughter Anna said much the same thing about our sustenance, a little more forcefully, one time when the family had had to stop for lunch in a McDonalds in New Jersey.
Keep in mind, this was after she had been living in Paris for a few months.
"I hate our food," she said. (Or, I think that’s what she said.)
Now she’s in Turkey, where the politics are complicated, but the food sounds great. Take a look at her site — Turkish Delight — and you’ll see what I mean.
Kit Stolz 