Subject: Michael Pollan

• Avoid low-fat peanut butter, pizza, soda, pretty much every food ever invented

  Among Michael Pollan's food rules is the one that says if your grandma wouldn't recognize the food, avoid it. Grandma knows fruits such as apples, oranges and pears but not say, fruit-by-the-foot. Also, if Grandma wouldn't recognize many of the words in the health claim on the package, the health claim is probably bogus. Men's Health (yes, the same magazine that declared Oklahoma Joe's the best barbecue joint in the world) has released an article showing eight foods with health claims that are d

  June 5, 2009

• Best Author Reading

  October 17, 2002

• Diana Endicott so close yet so far from the White House

  Over the weekend, voting closed on who should be the next White House Farmer. Considering it was a poll with no weight for a position that doesn't exist, people took it quite seriously. The idea came from Michael Pollan's New York Times column suggesting a farmer-in-chief. Within days the Web site White House Farmer was made and nominations came pouring in from all over the country.Of the three local candidates, Diana Endicott had the best story and the best line: "Diana Endicott is the farmer t

  February 2, 2009

• More local food in the next four years?

  Flickr: DaBinsiIf you're at all interested in local food programs, organic food or pretty much anything having to do with the sources of food, then listen to this interview of author Michael Pollan, which aired on Fresh Air yesterday and is now available on NPR's Web site. Pollan summarizes in 25 minutes a lot of what was covered at the 2009 Healthy Food Policy Forum last week and both Pollan and the forum talk in-depth about the same subject: that it's preposterous that America is subsidizing c

  February 17, 2009

• The most famous urban garden in the world

  The White HouseWhat started as a request by Michael Pollan in October has turned into reality. In October, the food author wrote an article specifically asking then-president-elect Obama to build a garden at the White House:I don't need to tell you that ripping out even a section of the White House lawn will be controversial... the South Lawn is one of the most beautiful in the country. But imagine all the energy, water and petrochemicals it takes to make it that way... as deeply as Americans fe

  March 23, 2009

• Kind Bud

  Author Michael Pollan talks about the persuasive powers of plants.

  June 20, 2002

• Eat Right

  May 14, 2009

• Two wine events tonight

  If you're looking for some fun tonight, you're in luck. The wine gods have produced two events. Soho 119 in Leawood hosts a dinner focused on Asian wine. The five-course menu features items you might not expect to be paired with wine -- pho noodles, sushi roll of unagi, pad thai -- from relatively ordinary grapes like pinot grigio and zinfandel. The dinner starts at 7 and costs $45 per person; make reservations by calling 913-338-5800.If you need a crash course on wine before attending a pairing

  May 20, 2009

• A cup of tea with Michael Pollan

  Last night at the Unity Temple, Rainy Day Books owner Vivien Jennings introduced Michael Pollan as "the rock star of the food world." But looking up from my computer in the lobby of the Intercontinental Hotel just an hour earlier, the gardening essayist-turned-investigative journalist looked like some sort of spiritual guru. The shaved head. The untucked, long-sleeved white shirt draping his lanky frame. The way he ordered a hot tea with one packet of sugar on the side, instead of a cocktail,

  May 21, 2009

• Breakfast Buffet: Friday, 5/22

  You can have a night (and a very full one at that) downtown on $20. Catch a movie, drink some beers and laugh your butt off. [KC Beer Blog]Massachusetts is close to passing a law requiring calories on chain's menus just like New York City. Only this time without all the opposition. [WSJ] When you head out for food there is no need to go to a market, store or restaurant. Foraging in the local forest is often just as good. [Forbes]Everything we buy is because of (drum-role please) sex! That is acc

  May 22, 2009

• Fear Mother Nature

  The movie Food, Inc comes out later this week, promising to rip into Big Ag and all the evil it has done. Big Ag, or Big Food as it's also called (really, anything with "big" in the title will work, the better to remind people of similarities to Big Tobacco) consists of a handful of companies -- Monsanto, Archer Daniels Midland, Mars -- that control a majority of food products. The companies have drawn the ire of green supporters for years, but it's only been recently, through the efforts of wri

  June 8, 2009

• Steve Mann has hoes in different area codes

  Steve Mann I used to put smug vegetable gardeners in the same category as militant bicycle riders, self-satisfied Prius drivers and people who can afford to cover their roofs with solar panels. But when a friend invited me to hear Michael Pollan's talk at Unity Temple regarding his newest book, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, I was amazed at the throngs of people who showed up. People obviously want to take back control of what they're eating.The same friend who took me to hear Pollan

  June 17, 2009

• Food, Inc.

  July 9, 2009

• Lawsuit wants warning labels on hot dogs

  After buck night at The K, a lot of people wish hot dogs came with warnings. And if the Cancer Project in New Jersey gets its wish, hot dog packaging would come with the following label: "Warning: Consuming hot dogs and other processed meats increases the risk of cancer."  The nonprofit vegan advocacy organization filed a lawsuit yesterday asking the Essex County superior court to issue a judgment requiring companies selling hot dogs in New Jersey to put a warning label on every package

  July 23, 2009

• A week without corn

  ​The challenge sounds easy. Can writer Carey Jones avoid consuming any corn, or products that contain corn, for a week?The real question is how much would she actually have to change her diet? Not many of us eat corn every day in its original stalk or cob-form. Cornbread probably isn't on the menu unless you're enjoying barbecue, and sadly, grilled corn has not caught on as a street food yet in Kansas City. But it gets harder when you think about having popcorn as a snack or sodas sweetened wi

  July 27, 2009

• An etiquette guide for your unborn son

  ​Once you get an idea of how things ought to be, it's hard to stop thinking about it. And as documentary filmmaker Walker Lamond started to think about the kind of son he would want to raise, he began to offer pithy advice via a blog he called "1001 Rules For My Unborn Son." The blog -- a collection of music, aphorisms and photos -- gained a following and, as these things do, morphed into a book that is set to be released on October 27. The idea was to help create a set of rules that embodied

  October 22, 2009

• Are processed foods just sad sandwiches?

  ​Everyone has a moment when they grab a meal from the freezer or stare at that half-eaten package of hot dogs and think -- am I really going to eat this? According to the BBC, a new study suggests that you're right to pause because processed foods could be linked to depression.  The study involved 3,500 middle-aged civil service workers in Britain who were split into two groups according to diet. The first ate primarily whole foods (fruit, produce and fish), while the second group ate fri

  November 6, 2009