In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

First, allow me to confess: I did not read The Omnivore's Dilemma. I started to read it, but had to return it to the library when outside influences were causing me to question whether my food philosophy (summed up well in La Leche League's "eat a variety of foods in as close to their natural state as possible") is in fact radical to an extreme. In Defense of Food has quieted my doubts.

Pollan begins his defense of food with a manifesto: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Perhaps his most radical assertion is that many (even the majority) of products sold as "food," in fact are not. The additive filled shelf stable foodstuffs found in abundance on the shelves of supermarkets is as far removed from real food as artificial baby formulas are from breastmilk.

He goes on to decry nutrition science, which he refers to as "nutritionism," as full of missteps and fallacies. He focuses on the "lipid hypothesis": "Between the end of World War II and 1976, per capita consumption of animal fats from all sources dropped from eighty-four pounds to seventy-one, while fats from seed oils approximately doubled. Americans appeared to be moving in the direction of a 'prudent diet' and yet, paradoxically, having more heart attacks on it, not fewer."

The chapter on "Food Defined" was of particular interest. Pollan advocates for traditional diets, in the sense of eating foods that your great grandmother (or even great-great grandmother, depending on your age) would recognize. He has a list of things to avoid on an ingredient list that is remarkably similar to the rules of thumb I've been operating under for several years. He avoids ingredients that are; "a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable, c) more than five in number, and that include d) high-fructose corn syrup." My personal list includes both a & b, but c is a more informal "as short as possible" and d is soy, in all of its many permutations. He also recommends avoiding foods that make health claims (a sure sign of nutritionism at work!), shopping the periphery of the store, and staying away from supermarkets as much as possible. While I practice the first two, the third is one of my areas of improvement, and brings me to my only real complaint about the book.

Pollan dismisses cost as a factor in what we eat ("Traditionally people have allocated a far greater proportion of their income to food--as they still do in several of the countries where people eat better than we do and as a consequence are healthier than we are. Compared to the 9.9 percent of their income Americans spend on food, the Italians spend 14.9 percent, the French 14.9 percent, and the Spanish 17.1 percent."), but he fails to recognize that costs can be prohibitive for some. I often hear people claim that a highly processed diet is more expensive than an organic, whole foods diet. I don't know whether or not that's true, but since we already focus on minimally processed foods, switching to organics does necessitate a budgetary increase. Access to the DeCA system complicates our situation further. DeCA says that families save 30% at commissaries over civilian supermarkets. While we are gaining more and more organic options in the commissaries, the benefit makes the price of outside sources of organic foods seem even more prohibitive than they would if we were paying 30% more for our regular purchases. Pollan does conclude with a strong push for gardening, but dismisses efforts like homesteading as unfeasible.

Whispering Dove Goat Farm

We visited a local farm with our attachment parenting playgroup. The tour was better paced for the adults than the children, but we all had a good time and learned a lot.

The farm is on 13 acres, and they have 50 some goats, 3 dozen chickens, a handful of potbellied pigs, an eight hole rabbitry, guinea hens and bees!

The primary breeding buck. Doesn't he look regal?

Several young goats.

Hannah chatting up a goat.

The farmers sell animals, eggs, meat (goat, rabbit, and chicken), honey, and soaps made from goat milk.

I was interested to learn about several laws that hamper their ability to sell their products and make a livelihood from their farm. They cannot process their own meat, but have to send the animals that are to be butchered to a USDA approved facility for processing. Of course, this is expensive and increases the cost they must charge their customers for chevon. They said they are allowed to process a certain amount of rabbit and chicken. They cannot sell goat milk without a full scale approved dairy in a separate building. They used to be able to sell pet milk, but there is a new law that requires them to add charcoal to any pet milk, discouraging human consumption. Milk shares are also not legal in North Carolina.

They also disparaged the notion that honey can harbor botulism, praising the antibacterial nature of raw honey. They surmised that the botulism warnings were a product of an anti-honey lobby. I still won't feed honey to a baby under one, but the botulism issue wasn't one that I'd questioned before.

Speaking of bees, I asked about the "Colony Collapse Disorder" that has been plaguing the bee world and was surprised to learn that they weren't much concerned about CCD, but there is a new threat from a hive beetle that they are very worried about. They are hopeful that their chickens will be able to keep the pest under control, should it appear on their farm. Apparently the insects hatch out of the ground. See the final picture above for a view of the chickens foraging in front of the apiary.

When we got home Hannah looked out at her slide in the back yard and told me we should move it to the front so we'll have room for our animals and so they don't hurt her slide. She even wants bees on our farm now, since her little friend told her that if one stings her she can just rub it to make it feel better.

The farmers told us they got their start after the wife clandestinely bought some chickens and pigs. Maybe I'll have to follow her lead and get some chickens while Michael is deployed.

State Fair

We saw rabbits.

And sweet potatoes.

And giant pumpkins, including a new state record pumpkin.

This Brahman cow was beautiful.

The apples smelled so sweet.

Hannah talked with this pretty cow for quite awhile. And the cow seemed to enjoy the conversation. Nora "moo-ed" at all the cows and "cock a doodle doo-ed" at all the roosters.

Hannah took this picture of the piglets.

Hannah enjoyed the PBS booth.

Hannah spun her teacup with abandon.

Hannah wanted to hold every one of the chicks and ducklings.

We had a grand time and wore ourselves out thoroughly. Hannah was making plans about all the animals we should have on our farm. We were disappointed to find that they didn't actually have the petting zoo indicated on their map, but Hannah sure loved the chicks and ducklings.

There were a few things that made the fair stand out as a distinctly North Carolina state fair: the tobacco and the sweet potatoes. The first vendor booth we came across after we came through the gate was a chewing tobacco tent (18 and over only, and completely enclosed with a zippered door). There were also several displays with hanks of tobacco leaves and I noticed one FFA project that was an apparatus for drying tobacco.

We saw a fancy booth complete with a diver in a tank recruiting for Navy EOD.

And of course we ate cotton candy!