Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, also a frequent contributor to the New York Times, in March asked for reader’s food rules. Over 2,600 people (2,681 as of this morning) posted a comment with their own food rules. On Tuesday, Pollan published a piece in the Times’ The Food Issue section of their magazine called Rules To Eat By where he discussed food rules philosophically and more practically. He’s still asking for your food rules, if you want to contribute. Some will be used in his forthcoming book, Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual.
Today, Pollan posted his 20 favorites from the thousands contributed. (Actually, the post is dated Oct. 11, so presumably it will be printed in this Sunday’s New York Times Magazine but was posted online early. Also, thanks to Lisa Morrison, the Beer Goddess, for tweeting this my way.) Here are a few of my favorites from his list:
- Don’t yuck someone’s yum.
- Never eat something that is pretending to be something else.
- If you are not hungry enough to eat an apple, then you are not hungry.
- Avoid snack foods with the “oh” sound in their name: Doritos, Cheetos, Fritos, Tostitos, Hostess Ho Hos, etc.
My favorite quote from the “rules” is this simple one: “It’s better to Pay your Grocer, than to Pay your Doctor.”
Then there’s the old adage that wasn’t mentioned in the article: “Don’t make french fry tasting your hobby…even if you prefer calling the ‘frites'” ;-]-=
-gk.