In Defense of Food

My book club chose this book last month for something different, and I really enjoyed reading it! I had it sitting on my shelf for a long time and was glad for some motivation to actually pick it up and get through it, and I’m glad I did. It is a great book that takes a look at the way most of us view food and critiques some of the negative aspects of the Western diet. As a guide, Pollan uses the following rule of thumb: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” He sheds light on a lot of the problems with the way we eat in America, a country lacking in food culture where family meals around the dinner table are becoming few and far between.

It is interesting to think about the difference in the actual foods we eat and the nutrients in them. He points out that we often reduce the foods to the positive nutrients we are told that we need, and yet we miss the combination of elements that make up those actual foods. Milk is an easy example…we are told we need milk, but many people reduce that to a calcium supplement or try to get the protein elsewhere…but maybe it’s the combination of the protein, calcium and lactose that make up the milk that benefits the body. When we reduce it to the nutrients then we start allowing things into our diet that are manufactured to look and taste like food but are actually chemically created substances…i.e. “whole grain” Lucky Charms or “double fiber” breakfast bars. Are these things really food our body was designed to eat and break down? and do we get the same benefits?

It is a lot to think about…but it can help break down some of what you encounter in the grocery store (he asks, ‘would your great grandmother know what this is? if not, don’t buy it’) and give you a fresh way of viewing those lists of ingredients on the back of the box (he recommends not buying things with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you cannot pronounce). It is a very practical book and will help you see the FDA, cooking and even organic shopping in a whole new light!

Julie & Julia

So I am in a book club, and we have been talking about doing a book-turned-movie so that we could go see it together after all reading the book. We settled on this one because of a few recommendations and the fact that the movie looked like it would be cute. A lot of times books are better than the movie, and sometimes the movie just ruins it altogether, in my opinion. Well, this one was the other way around for me. I didn’t love (or even really like) this book, so the movie was actually a step up from the book in my opinion.

The book is the story of Julie Powell, who decides to cook (and blog) her way through Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year. The stories of her adventures buying, cooking and eating some of these elaborate French dishes (extracting bone marrow, de-boning a duck…) are pretty funny, but I found myself getting bored with the repetition by the middle of the book. Also, there is a lot of time spent on unrelated storylines, usually told from a rather negative perspective. I just didn’t find Julie to be a very likable person. HOWEVER, the movie focused a lot more on the life and personality of Julia Child, which I found extremely entertaining and enjoyed much more than the rantings of Julie Powell. I loved Meryl Streep and her impressive rendition of Julia Child’s persona and even voice. I thought she was hilarious and she had me laughing from beginning to end. I also enjoyed the Paris/France scenes that were included during her segments.

I would recommend the movie for sure…but if you ask me, skip the book and read something better. Oh, and if you’re like me, you might leave the theater craving a huge meal, soaked in butter of course.