Save the Date: New Michael Pollan Book Coming Next Spring
Foodies can rejoice (and try not to drool) over the news that best-selling author, journalist and sustainable food expert, Michael Pollan, has announced the completion of his latest book, the longest from the author since his seminal 2006 release, The Omnivore’s Dilemma.
Entitled COOKED: A Natural History of Transformation, Pollan’s latest work will be released in late April 2013, and appears to deepen his studies on our massive, industrialized food chain, “looking at a link I had only touched on before but have begun to think may be the most important,” the author is quoted as saying in a recent Sustainable Food News article.
“The industrialization of agriculture is inextricably bound up with the industrialization of eating – the fact that most Americans today are outsourcing the preparation of their meals to corporations,” said Pollan. “It turns out corporations don’t cook very well, and the cost of letting them try – to our health and the health of our families and communities – is far too high.”
Following up on the success of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Pollan released Food Rules (2010), In Defense of Food (2008) and was a key component in the Oscar-nominated 2008 film, “Food Inc.” All put a clear emphasis on the importance of fresh, whole ingredients for our health versus the destructive effects–on our health and the environment–brought about by the excessive packaged, processed food industry. Pollan’s explorations of our relationship with food began with the earnest 2001 best-selling book, The Botany of Desire, and have continued to inspire an important movement focused on a (re)connection with our food–from where and how it’s grown or raised to how we prepare it.
Although few details are yet available about Pollan’s forthcoming book, it seems pretty clear that the author is suggesting a serious nationwide return to cooking from scratch: “Unless people are willing to take back some of the work of cooking, the food chain is likely to remain too long, too opaque, and too destructive.”
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Image: Michael Pollan’s Facebook Page
