I heart Michael Pollan...

There, I said it.

You know why I love this man I have never met and, until today, didn't know
what he looked like? Because he says everything I believe in a beautiful
way, writes books about those beliefs and lives in California on property
where he can grow anything. Also, I have a habit for respecting men who
articulate with such ease, grace and wisdom (example: my husband).

You know the post about my vegetarianism? I wish I had read an interview
with him in the latest Sun magazine, entitled "Lost in the Supermarket:
Michael Pollan on How the Food Industry Has Changed the Way we Eat." Agh! He
talks about how we, as a nation, eat. How we don't respect our food, we
don't even know where it comes from, how we can trust people to grow our
food but we spend years trying to trust someone to work on our cars, mouths,
and homes. Yet, we don't even know where our food comes from! But he does
all this in such a way where he doesn't sound like a crazy radical ranting
in his burlap sack for a loincloth, shouting at us from the wilderness. He
is very respectful, honest, and makes everything he says sound just like
common sense. Which it is.

Also, he took words right out of my mouth. For the three years I have worked
at Whole Foods, I have heard one major complaint from customers. "Why is it
so expensive?!" Or "My total is how much?!" OR "More like, Whole Paycheck".
It wasn't long after I became a vegetarian and awakening to our food crisis
(which leads to our obesity crisis) when I came up with my own response to
those questions. Why should food be so cheap? Making, hunting, preparing
food is timely and costly. Food that is very cheap is not really food at
all. Michael Pollan says this too but goes further on the subject in ways I
never even thought about.
Here is an excerpt from the article:
...Which raises the question: Should food be so cheap? As a society
we've chosen to value cheapness over quality when it comes to eating. We
spend less of our income on food than any other people in the history of the
world: around 11 or 12 percent. In Europe it's closer to 20 percent. For
most of history, 50 percent of people's income when to feeding themselves.
We're making a decision to spend less money on food and more on
luxuries such as cable television, cellphones, and bottled water. We need to
become connoisseurs of food the way we are connoisseurs of cars and
television and clothes. My guess is that, if people cared more about food
and appreciated how important it is, they'd be willing to spend more on it.
It's really a matter of priority. To the extent that we're willing to pay
more for local, organic food, we'll take better care of the environment, and
there will be more farmers living in our communities.

Lovely. Couldn't have said it better. Really.

******** SUBJECT
CHANGE****************************************************************************

I have also been reading Anne Lamott. Holy moly, talk about tearing your
insides out for further examination, all while saying curse words and
praising God. This lady tears me apart. After I am done reading her, I am a
little lost, frankly. How have I failed to think this much about God, about
love, about forgiveness? Do I think about myself all the time that there is
no room for such insight? OR is that why she is a talented and celebrated
author of faith and spirituality and I am not?
Who knows?

Whatever the case it, I like it. I like her. I like how confused I feel
after reading her, looking for any signs from our Mama pointing me in the
right direction. "Forgive that person, Michelle. Feed that person, Michelle.
Teach that person, Michelle. Love, love, love everyone Michelle."

I want to be more involved but I don't know where to begin; and as I write
this, my pastor has entered the reading room at the library where I am. I
could easily just turn and talk to him about it, but I know today is his day
off and I know how I cherish my days off, where they are truly, truly my
days off where I catch up on reading the paper, magazines, books, anything
else I can devour. So I remain silent. For now. But soon, and I can feel it,
soon the door I am standing in front of will open and I will stamp my foot
down in front of it before it closes and enter this new phase of my life.
Soon and very soon.

Peace and love,
Michelle

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