Michael Pollan’s name has become nearly synonymous with the provenance of food, what we should eat and why.
Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual contains 83 suggestions about not just how to eat, but how to live. Pollan isn’t authoritarian in his views; his tactics are gentle and well-intentioned. People don’t like being told what to do, and Pollan rarely dictates from on-high. Instead, he coaxes you into his world. We are all eaters; we can all eat better; let me show you how.
The book is smugly titled. After all, one of the rules reads, “When you eat real food, you don’t need rules.” The compilation (culled from scientists to Nonnas to the Romans) goes down easy, thanks to Maira Kalman’s technicolor, sardonic companion illustrations, and, of course, the rules themselves. “Set your table with flowers and everything will taste twice as good.” “If you’re not hungry enough to eat an apple, you’re probably not hungry.” “Eat close to the Earth.” In other words, the types of rules we can get down with.