“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
Printed
in just this manner, above and apart from the text of his article printed on January
28, 2007 in the New York Times, these
seven words transformed from epigram to scripture as the commandments of a gastronomical
revolution led in large part by Michael Pollan.
Though somewhat aptly
caricaturized as a “liberal foodie intellectual,” in a 2006 New York Times book review of The
Omnivore’s Dilemma, Pollan has done much more than pontificate on culinary
culture as a voice for the political left, as the title might suggest. Moreover,
Pollan doesn’t resort to the “pedestrian sort of whining about [an] apparent
inability to exert any influence in the public square” that characterizes the
careers of certain contributors to the supposed “decline” of the public
intellectual. If this “decline” meant a lowering of “an aristocracy of experts”
from superior ranks to the level of the everyman, instead of a diminishing
sense of integrity or quality of thought in our intellectual leaders, I would
say that, yes, Pollan is a part of the decline. Pollan defies the Public
Intellectual persona; his knowledge is not founded on a sense of elitism, but
fueled by endearing, hyper-curiosity and concern for the well being of the
world and its inhabitants.
Mack
argues that the role of the Public Intellectual can be “politically corrosive and historically dangerous” if it rests on “the assumption
that common citizens are forever childlike and must be led by a class of
experts.” Though Pollan does try to guide consumers on the decisions
that they make in the marketplace, at times he mocks the very idea that the
public should need expert help in the field in which he works: food. He blames
the collective, clouding voices of scientists and journalists for convoluting
the act of eating. In particular, Pollan speaks out against “nutritionism,”
what he calls “a widely shared but unexamined assumption that the key to understanding
food is the nutrient.” Though the term
was coined by Gyorgy Scrinis and has influenced marketing strategy in grocery
stores for decades, it was Michael Pollan who inspired not only a national
awareness of “nutritionism,” but also a debate about its validity as a dietary
guide. Pollan sardonically argued “to enter a world in which you dine on unseen
nutrients, you need lots of expert help." In this
regard, rather than advocating for a particular type of action, Pollan is
merely trying to show readers that good health comes from ignoring the advice
of many of those who presume to dictate how it should be pursued.
If Pollan, as an intellectual,
treats his audiences as children, it is only in the way that he assumes they
are similarly curious and capable of learning. His tone is not one of
condescension; his vernacular is meant to incite interest, not confusion.
Supported by a Masters in English from Columbia University, rather than a
formal education in science, Pollan is able to eloquently state and simplify
complex concepts. When he does use jargon, it seems less as a
means to assert authority, as it is to educate listeners. Though such terms
might become ill-used buzzwords that briefly thrive on trending charts, they
help to spread valuable ideas.
The fact that Pollan doesn’t
have a history in scientific studies actually contributes to the unique persona
that he has created. While he certainly has assumed a role as a public
intellectual, the personality that he portrays is founded on a sense of naivety.
He writes in the first person narrative style, but especially in his novels, he
writes almost as a composite narrator. In an interview at the University of
California, Davis, where he has spoken on numerous occasions, Pollan said “We
are plural. I can write as a male… I can write as someone who lives in
Berkeley, I can write as a gardener, a meat eater, any number of different
people – so [the writer’s voice is] the most constructed thing in a piece of
nonfiction.” By adopting this dynamic character, he’s able to connect with more
people, closing the gap between the public and the intellectual. While Pollan admits,
“I’m not quite as naïve as I pretend to be” when writing about certain issues,
he asserts that he always writes from a position of “not wanting to talk down
to [the] reader.” A sense of humility is also key for Pollan – he points out in
several interviews that writing about the scientific aspect of his work and
getting the facts right is “a source of anxiety”; he always confirms the
accuracy of what he’s derived from his research with experts in the field.
For more than two decades,
Michael Pollan has taken his pen to paper (or rather, fingertips to laptop keys,
due to notoriously bad handwriting) to tell us about what takes place before we
put fork to plate. His knowledge of the natural world ranges from plants
to bees to cows, dirt and dirty politics, organic farms and laboratories,
corporations and supermarkets and beyond. In 2006, his book The
Omnivore’s Dilemma was named one of the ten best books by the New York Times, was a finalist for the
National Book Critics Circle Award and received the James Beard Award, among
numerous other accolades. Several more acclaimed books followed, including a young
reader’s edition of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, a manual and a manifesto for
eaters, and his newest publication Cooked: A Natural History of
Transformation. All the while, Pollan has continued to contribute articles
to the New York Times, lecture at
universities and on television, and appeared in the Academy Award nominated
documentary, Food Inc. In 2010, TIME Magazine deemed Pollan one of the one
hundred most influential people of the year. The reach of his
influence has been greatly furthered by his strong social media presence,
particularly on Twitter, where he has more than 350,000 followers and posts
almost daily. Because he has embraced a variety of different media outlets,
Pollan has built a fan base that includes a wide range of age groups, from
millenials to hippies.
Of
all that Michael Pollan has contributed to the public, it is undeniably his
eyes wide-open, inquisitive nature that has had the most profound effect.
Pollan inspires his followers to ask questions, to be aware and to care. As
defined by Stephen Mack,
the public
intellectual function is criticism. And if intellectuals are in a better
position to perform that function it’s not because they are uniquely blessed
with wisdom—and it’s certainly not because they are uniquely equipped to wield
social or political power. It is only because learning the processes of
criticism and practicing them with some regularity are requisites for
intellectual employment…
It is also, however, the
obligation of every citizen in a democracy. Trained to it or not, all
participants in self-government are duty-bound to prod, poke, and pester the
powerful institutions that would shape their lives. And so if public
intellectuals have any role to play in a democracy—and they do—it’s simply to
keep the pot boiling. The measure of public intellectual work is not whether
the people are listening, but whether they’re hearing things worth talking
about.
In accordance with Mack’s position, Michael Pollan focuses
largely on criticizing American institutions and practices, without affectation
of superiority. He strongly believes that everyone has a responsibility to
consume consciously, but acknowledges that not everyone is willing to actively
seek out answers. For this reason, Pollan does the work and he makes the
information readily available – in essence, he “keep[s] the pot boiling” with
ideas that are vital to the integrity of our nation.
As a public intellectual and
professional pot-boiler, Pollan stimulates conversation on numerous subjects
that incur heated feedback. While Pollan attempts to present his arguments as
universally beneficial, his views undoubtedly fall to the left of the political
spectrum. In particular, Pollan is often attacked for his position on genetically
modified organisms – or rather, his inconsistent statements on the subject. A
contributor to Forbes.com pieced together several interviews with Pollan that seemed
to present contrasting beliefs in order to illuminate to the public “the sharp dichotomy between Pollan’s crafted image as intellectual
diplomat and his actual actions as anti-GMO pit bull." This criticism,
though harsh, isn’t wholly unjustified – if Pollan wants to appear as an
authority and influential leader on the matter of GMOs, he should clearly
define his position. However, Pollan’s uncertainty in regards to GMO safety and
how it might affect the future of the food industry represents the ambiguity of
the whole debate – much of the information is biased or unpredictable. Pollan’s
central goal of having genetically modified organisms labeled as such merely
enables consumers to know a little more about what they’re buying. Those that
support GMOs can continue to do so, but those that don’t have the right to
choose. Furthermore, labeling GMOs would help to increase public awareness so
that everyone can make their own decisions, instead of blindly allowing corporations
to do so for them – a key component of Pollan’s stance as an activist.
Michael Pollan’s critics often denounce
him as an idealist, some more politely than others. A writer for Grist expressed his belief that Pollan
needed to be more realistic in regards to what consumers can feasibly afford, saying,
“I have a hard time imagining people who are
struggling to put food on the table rambling off to the farmers’ market on
Saturday to fill cloth bags with the sort of fresh, local, organic produce so
beloved by Pollan." On the other end of the spectrum, another Pollan
opponent and writer for The American
posted an article titled “The Omnivore’s Delusion: Against Agri-Intellectuals,”
expressing the inability of farmers to follow Pollan’s lofty counsel. In
truth, Pollan’s solutions to major food industry issues are generally expensive
for the customer, the farmer, the vendor or all of the above, but it isn’t
necessarily his duty to take a pragmatic approach to saving the world. As
author and activist, he reveals to his readers what we should strive for and
provides the informational building blocks to help us work towards his ideal.
Michael Pollan, like some sort
of treasurer hunter, has dug deep into the dirt of the agricultural industry to
extract nuggets of information and share his wealth with the masses. Buying and
eating food had become a chore for Americans – on some matters, such as
nutrition, people were bombarded with advice that often contradicted what
they’d previously been informed; but in other cases, all information, such as
where the food came from or what was actually in it, was mysteriously
unavailable. Pollan took on the responsibility of answering these questions and
revealed his findings to the public. What he discovered galvanized a nation and
revolutionized the food industry. As a public intellectual, Pollan asked the smart
questions and inspired the people to continue the conversation. The impact of
his work as author and activist can be seen in restaurants, grocery stores and
kitchens everywhere, but it is his devotion to living consciously that has most
profoundly affected the lives of so many.
