In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto Book by Michael Pollan

1. Once you start thinking of food as medicine, it changes the way you eat.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
2. “The human animal needs a rich and balanced diet of whole, natural foods to stay healthy, just as any other animal does.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
3. “We are not machines that run on fuel; we are animals that run on food.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
4. “Eat food, not too much of it, mostly plants, and not too much of those.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
5. “The wholistic view of food that existed before the rise of nutritionism is a more useful and comprehensive way of looking at food than the reductionist view of nutritionism.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
6. “The most important thing to know about processed food is that it is not food.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
7. “When eating, don’t think so much about nutrients—think about pleasure, variety, and balance.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
8. “Real food is any whole, intact food that a person of average intelligence could have recognized as food in an earlier era.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
9. “Real food is a living thing, and its nutritional content changes over time.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
10.                  “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
11.                  “The key to maintaining a healthy weight is not to diet but to eat real food, not too much, and mostly plants.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
12.                  “You are what you eat, too.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
13.                  “Food is the most powerful drug on the planet.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
14.                  “Food is the only thing that is both a pleasure and a necessity.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
15.                  “Food is information.” “It talks to your genes, and your genes talk back.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
16.                  “The way to a healthier diet is not necessarily through self-denial but rather through an adventure of discovery.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
17.                  “It is the eating, not the reading, that is the most important part of the food chain.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
18.                  “The real key to health is not nutritionism but culture—the set of customs, traditions, and taboos that surround the acquisition and consumption of food.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
19.                  “The only way to reclaim control of our health and of the food system is to relearn the lost arts of cooking and eating.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
20.                  “When you cook for yourself, you take back control of your diet—you decide what goes in and how it is prepared.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
21.                  “When you cook, you are taking part in a great and ancient tradition that connects you to the world’s cultures and cuisines.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
22.                  In the end, the best way to get the healthiest diet is to eat real food.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
23.                  “The cheapest and most efficient way to improve your health is to eat food as close to its natural state as possible.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
24.                  “The closer you can get to the source of your food, the better.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
25.                  “The most important things you can do for your health are to cook real food from scratch, eat meals with other people, and, if you can, grow some of your own food.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
26.                  “The pleasure of eating should be an extensive one, not that of a narrow specialist.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
27.                  “It is not enough to simply eat our food; we need to eat it with understanding.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
28.                  “In the food chain, the eater is the most powerful link.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
29.                  “Eating is an agricultural act.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
30.                  “Food is not just calories; it is information that talks to our genes and shapes our health.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
31.                  “Good health is not just a matter of what kind of food you eat, but how you eat it.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
32.                  “Food is an ethical choice as much as a nutritional one.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
33.                  “The most important rule of eating is: “Pay more, eat less.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
34.                  “We can’t eat nutrition, but we can eat food.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
35.                  “You can’t trust the health claims on food packaging; you have to trust your own taste and judgment.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
36.                  “You will never make sense of food if you separate it from the web of culture, environment, and economy in which it is embedded.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
37.                  “In the end, you have to trust your own judgment and your own taste.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
38.                  “If you want to eat well, you need to understand the world around you.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
39.                  “The most important lesson to remember about eating is that it is both an art and a science.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
40.                  “Eating is not just a physical act; it is also a cultural and spiritual one.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
41.                  “Food is never just food. It is always part of a larger story.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
42.                  “Eat food, not too much, and mostly plants—in that order.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
43.                  “Eating is an agricultural act, and you become what you eat.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
44.                  “Eat food that is as close to its natural state as possible.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
45.                  “Eat food that is produced with respect for animals, the environment, and people.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
46.                  “Eat food that is grown locally and sustainably.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
47.                  “Eat food that is in season.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
48.                  “Eat food that is prepared with care and eaten with pleasure.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
49.                  “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
50.                  “We are a nation of people who are afraid of food.” “And because we are afraid of food, we have given away our kitchens, our gardens, our communities, our sense of taste and appetite, and our pleasure in food.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
51.                  “The very same food that is making some of us sick is also making us fat.” “It is a double-edged sword that cuts both ways.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
52.                  “Nutrition science, which after all only got started in the 19th century, is today approximately where surgery was in the year 1650—very promising and very interesting to watch, but are you ready to let them operate on you?” I think I’ll wait awhile.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
53.                  “Not only have we given up cooking, but we’ve given up the places where we used to do it. Cooking was once a simple matter of putting food over a fire or turning on a stove. No more. Cooking has become complicated and expensive, a subject of anxiety, not enjoyment.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
54.                  “The health of the land and the health of the people are inseparable.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
55.                  “The shared meal elevates eating from a mechanical process of fueling the body to a ritual of family and community, from mere animal biology to an act of culture.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
56.                  “Eating is not just a political act; it is also a moral act.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
57.                  “The more you’re encouraged to focus on consumption, the less time you’ll have to produce your own food or to steward the land you’re eating from.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
58.                  “Eating what stands on one leg [mushrooms and plant foods] is better than eating what stands on two legs [fowl], which is better than eating what stands on four legs [cows, pigs, and other mammals].” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
59.                  “We are indeed much more than what we eat, but what we eat can nevertheless help us to be much more than what we are.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
60.                  “We’ve gotten to the point where we don’t know where our food comes from, and we don’t know what’s in it.” “We are just now learning how much we don’t know.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
61.                  “One of the most important things you can do to make your diet healthier is to pass on processed food.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
62.                  “You are what your food eats.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
63.                  “The problem with nutrient-by-nutrient nutrition science… is that it takes the nutrient out of the context of food, the food out of the context of diet, and the diet out of the context of lifestyle.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
64.                  “We shouldn’t eat like our lives depended on it; we should eat as if our children’s lives depended on it.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
65.                  “You can’t be healthy in an unhealthy world.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
66.                  “Eating in ignorance causes needless suffering and death.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
67.                  “A diet based on quality rather than quantity, a diet based on healthful sources of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, a diet based on what my grandmother would recognize as food, and a diet based on the kind of varied food cultures that have coevolved with humans—those are the key elements of what I call a real food diet.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
68.                  “When we eat real food, with all its flavors, textures, and colors, the experience can be much more satisfying than any blend of supplements.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
69.                  “We are not just eaters of food; we are eaters of culture, too.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
70.                  “To eat more healthily is to eat more slowly, more convivially, more thoughtfully, with more pleasure, and with more sociality.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
71.                  “The family meal is the nursery of democracy.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
72.                  “A diet based on food rather than nutrients would not only be healthier but also more sustainable.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
73.                  “It’s not food if it arrived through the window of your car.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
74.                  “Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
75.                  “Don’t eat anything with more than five ingredients or ingredients you can’t pronounce.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
76.                  “Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
77.                  “The banquet is in the first bite.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
78.                  “Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
79.                  “Don’t get your fuel from the same place your car does.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
80.                  “The fewer calories you consume; the more nutrients you need.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
81.                  “Health is a relationship between you and your body.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
82.                  “The whiter the bread, the sooner you’ll be dead.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
83.                  “The meal is the fundamental unit of sociality, the basis of the human community.” “And it is through the conviviality of shared meals that we celebrate our joys and reaffirm our bonds.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
84.                  “The human animal is adapted to, and apparently requires, an extraordinary range of environmental conditions.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
85.                  “The wholesomeness of a food is intimately related to its degree of processing.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
86.                  “The idea that we should be consuming mostly whole foods is hard to dispute and has become a kind of motherhood-and-apple-pie issue even within the food industry.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
87.                  “The key is to eat food that has been grown as if your life depends on it—because it does.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
88.                  “If we are going to pay more for better food, we need to know what “better” means and whether the extra cost is worth it.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
89.                  “When it comes to nutritionism, the only genuine test of its value is whether it leads to better health for those who actually practice it.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
90.                  “You are what you eat, it is often said. But you are also—and just as essentially—what you eat eats.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
91.                  “Food is not just a collection of nutrients that can be reduced to grams or even calories.” “It is also a source of pleasure, a cause for celebration, a reason for sociality, and a metaphor for the good life.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
92.                  “Eat food, not food-like substances.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
93.                  “Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
94.                  “Eat mostly plants.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
95.                  “Avoid foods that make health claims.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
96.                  “Cook your own food.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
97.                  “Eat slowly and savor your food.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
98.                  “The science of nutrition is not as clear-cut as we thought.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
99.                  “Eating is a political act.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
100.          “Our food system is broken.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
“We need to reconnect with our food and where it comes from.” —Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto