The Honest Plate

Michael Pollan at Slow Food Martha's Vineyard Potluck.

I was fortunate enough to attend the Slow Food Martha's Vineyard Potluck this past Tuesday (7/22/08), and in addition to having a really great time (the world needs more potluck dinners!), I got to hear Michael Pollan speak.   

There wasn't much new in his presentation; essentially, he outlined the main ideas in his book In Defense of Food, including:  1) The American Paradox (the country most obsessed with healthy food is actually the least healthy) ; 2) The Ideology of Nutritionism (food is a delivery vehicle for nutrients, you need experts to explain which nutrients are good);  3) Industrialization of Food; 4) Eater's Manifesto (Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.)  But he did offer a few anecdotes about his relationship with Martha's Vineyard.  For starters, he's been a regular visitor since the 1970's, and still visits with his family today.  And when he was younger, started a small business on the island that delivered New York City bagels, lox, cream cheese and a copy of The New York Times (although he admitted that the carbon footprint was nothing to be proud of). 

Both Martha's Vineyard and Michael Pollan have come a long way since then.  Thirty-five years ago, there were only a handful of farms on the island, which meant that nearly all of the produce, diary and eggs had to be shipped in by boat.  Today, there are dozens of amazing farms on Martha's Vineyard, and nearly all of them practice organic, sustainable agriculture.

And whereas Michael Pollan used to deliver the New York Times, he now writes for them. 

Treasure trove of old books about food and cooking.

I'm fascinated with old cookbooks.  Anything prior to 1970 is bound to be interesting; the older, the better.  The website Feeding America is a goldmine of really old American cookbooks dating from the 18th to early 20th centuries.  Each book in the collection -- there are more than 70 -- is viewable in a full-color PDF format, or text (transcribed verbatim from the originals).   We can thank Michigan State University Library and the MSU Museum for partnering together to make this site possible.

If you're at all partial to encycolpedic works, check out Thomas Farrington De Voe's The Market Assistant (1867, New York, Hurd & Houghton), subtitled, "Containing a Brief Description of Every Article of Human Food Sold in the Public Markets of the Cities of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Brooklyn." The author, Mr. De Voe, was a butcher by trade, and goes into great depth on the topic of meats.  Happily, he avoids a textbook/scientific approach, favoring a mix of stories (the Roman discovery of the "beefsteak"), anecdotes, useful food wisdom and personal opinions ("...I have placed the Splayed Heiffer first -- from four to seven years old -- as generally affording the best and choicest beef.")

Also of interest, and along the same lines is Artemas Ward's The Grocer's Encyclopedia (1911, New York), which is chock full of illustrations, many of them color lithography.