Here.

I do take issue with this, though:

MJ: When you first wrote the mantra “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants,” did you have any idea what kind of reaction you’d get?

MP: Well, I studied my poetry in school, and I knew there was something about the way it sounded that made it easy to remember. After writing The Omnivore’s Dilemma I wanted to write a book that got past the choir, that got to people who didn’t care about how their food was grown, but who did care about their health. I wanted to make it almost billboard simple. It started out as just “Eat food.” But then I realized, Eh, not quite good enough. You’ve got to deal with the quantity issue. And then plants; the more you looked, the more you realized that the shortage of plants in our diet could explain a lot. Not that I’m against meat eating. I think we’re eating too much. That’s why I said “mostly plants.”

MJ: Did you hear from the beef lobby?

MP: No, but there’s another group, the Weston A. Price Foundation, who are fierce in their love of animal fat. And a lot of what they say is right, but they really don’t like plants. People feel like they have to take sides on this plant/animal divide, and I don’t think we do.

MJ: There’s no dilemma?

MP: [Laughs.] No dilemma. And of course a lot of vegetarians were annoyed that I wasn’t saying “all plants.” It’s a thicket. People have strong, quasi-religious views. Secularizing the issue is challenging.

This is unfortunately not atypical of Pollan’s writing: to dismiss strongly held moral views as “religious” (and therefore, presumably, not rational). For an antidote, it’s worth reading B.R. Myers’ infamous review of the Omnivore’s Dilemma. This isn’t to say I think that everyone has to be vegetarian, but moral concerns can’t just be swept under the rug.

In other foodie politics news, the nomination of “organic food expert” Kathleen Merrigan for Deputy Secretary of Agriculture has been generating good buzz among food reformers. See this Ezra Klein post and follow the links for more info.