If there’s a rush to get down and kiss Michael Pollan’s environmentally friendly loafers, let me join the herd and pucker up.
Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals and most recently, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, is an investigative journalist, essayist and deep thinker whose works have the effect of freezing the fork before it arrives at the mouth.
In Defense of Food reconsiders the typical American diet literally from the ground up, questioning the processing and adulteration of nearly everything in the grocery store. His arguments for our bodies, our farmers and our earth are no less than vital.
The new downtown location of Left Bank Books has brought a healthy dose of culture to our urban core, and the shop’s lunchtime reading group digests In Defense of Food with a book chat and meal on Aug. 19 at noon. For less than $20, participants get the book and a tasty box lunch from City Grocers (soon to be City Gourmet). Call 314.367.6731 or e-mail kris@left-bank.com for reservations. And click here for more on future nonfiction and fiction lunchtime reading groups.
– Byron Kerman
This article appears in Aug 1-31, 2009.