Reading at the Table: Real Food

If you've read Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, much of Nina Planck's Real Food: What to Eat and Why will not be new information. But I did pick up a few new things and it is an interesting read, even though I'm skeptical about some of her beliefs. Planck argues that much of the food we eat today is "industrialized food." Industrialized food is a replica of real food, such as margarine, high fructose corn syrup, etc. Eating all this industrialized food has led to health issues and obesity. She argues that we should be eating "real" meat such as real beef from cows that have been grass-fed as opposed to grain-fed. Again, nothing new here. But, I did learn that the term "cage-free" and "vegetarian-fed" with regards to chicken is very misleading. Chickens are not naturally vegetarians because they eat grubs and worms when they are allowed outdoors. If a chicken is labeled as vegetarian-fed, it usually means they have not had access to the outdoors. And "cage-free" does not necessarily mean they have been allowed access to the outdoors either. They may all be cageless, but still kept in a large building. The key is to look for "pastured" chickens, meaning that they have been raised with access to the outdoors. Good to know. I also learned that salmon farming in Alaska has been banned, so all Alaskan salmon is wild, which is useful information when I'm trying to remember what fish is ok to eat. She provides a great list of which fruits and vegetables you should buy organic and which ones are ok to buy conventional. She also provides several resources for finding "real food." Where I disagree with Planck is her aversion to low-fat dairy. She believes that raw, unpasteurized, unhomogenized milk is the way to go. No low-fat milk or cheese for her. While I agree that the taste is far superior than the low-fat versions, I'm not convinced that it is healthier. And if I lived on a farm, raw milk would be ideal, but I would be really hesitant to drink raw milk otherwise. She's also a proponent for using real lard, which makes my arteries constrict just thinking about it.