food!

"What the Soviet Union was to the ideology of Marxism, the Low-Fat Campaign is to the ideology of nutritionism -- its supreme test and as now is coming clear, its most abject failure. You can argue, as some diehards will do, that the problem was one of faulty execution or you can accept that the underlying tenets of the ideology contained the seeds of the eventual disaster." (p. 41)

Ok, yes, just yesterday I was all "whine, bleh, me-me-me, I can't find a good book to read, bleh bleh."

But today I am reading Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food.

It may be changing my life. I mean, we can't be sure yet, since it's been just about 24 hours. But you know how I'm not at all prone to being over dramatic, so chances are my life is in fact changing.

Ok, let's get serious here.

Pollan's a great writer; within the introduction of his book, he manages to whisk the reader through the last 50 years of eating food in North America. He explains the ideology of "nutritionism," and -- frankly -- makes you a bit queasy about all the crap you've been ignoring on the ingredients list of virtually anything you'd find in a grocery store freezer. Actually, if the lists of things you can't pronounce don't make you queasy enough, he walks you through all the things fed to pigs, cows and chickens to nutrient-up your pork, beef and eggs.

Now, the manifesto part is summed up in the first line of the book and on the cover of the paperback: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." But these simple words of advice do not actually signal the start of a book that is going to talk down to you. This is a work of journalism written for wide public access, and if anything it's an order not to reorganize your diet (necessarily) but to rethink how and what you eat.

Fascinating stuff.

By the way, other reads to consider if you're with me on this track?

In Edmonton, We eat together, by Julianna Mimande and Gabe Wong -- a book not just about eating locally, but about Alberta growers and producers.

And, in general, I'm pretty excited about Sophie Dahl's Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights, though have yet to pick it up.

on being shallow and having role models

I've been working on some academic stuff, but it hasn't stopped me from reading a super shallow book just for fun.

And that shallow book is Vancouver, a novel by David Cruise and Alison Griffiths.

This one's been on my bookshelf for years -- probably since its 2003 publication. (Which, incidentally, also means I've dragged it across the country at least once. Interesting.) At 914 pages, though, I just didn't get around to reading it.

Now, I can't really put it down. As this reviewer argues well, the book is super formulaic. Kinda sexy. Kinda silly. Not a bad read if you're in the mood for something you don't really have to invest much thought in.

Kinda like eating Lucky Charms for dinner.

Not that I've done that more than once in the last seven days.

Speaking of food, the most recent issue of Vogue has a fantastic piece by Sophie Dahl called "Secrets of the Flesh." Dahl, who has a new cookbook out, has an amazing take on food and body image.

Frankly, her article is like having a really awesome talk with your super self-confident friend who actually likes eating and doesn't really care what size she is.

It's a little ridiculous how refreshing that is and how much I actually want to hug a former model.

Last offering of the evening: A couple weeks ago, Jian Gomeshi talked to Elizabeth Gilbert on Q. Even if you don't buy into the whole Eat, Pray, Love/Committed thing (I don't either), it's totally worth listening to Gomeshi's take on romance....

By the way, did everyone already know Eat, Pray, Love was set to be a movie with Julia Roberts?

I have concerns. Mostly because of Julie&Julia, which was exactly half a good movie. As in, loved Meryl Streep and Julia Child. Hated Julie Powell. I am not sure I have much patience with movies about women who write all about themselves all the time. (Says a woman who writes a lot about herself.)

On the other hand, Eat, Pray, Love is directed by the dude who brought us Glee. So he's already earned a place in my heart.

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