In Defense of Pollan (Blog Post #4)

In Defense of Pollan
Being New York Times Bestseller, "In Defense of Food" successfully grabs the public’s attention by stating unique perspectives and referring abundant resources. However, readers are also complaining about its judgmental tone of writing as well as numerous facts without clear explanation. It is especially true for the main argument: people should eat unprocessed food, plants in particular. In spite of the fact that I don’t side with some of his opinions, I still consider his statement as a well-organized and convincing argument.

He first approaches the argument by critisizing harshly on the western diet which contains “lots of processed foods and meat, lots of added fat and sugar, lots of everything except fruits, vegetables and whole grains.” With the citation of words from several famous people like Denis Burkitt and Walter Willett, Pollan clearly makes his point that western diet is not only lack of nutrition but also has the potential to cause a variety of dieses such as obesity and high cholesterol. He then goes on to give some fundamental guidelines which can define the “real food”, for instance, “don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.” This sentence basically just conveys the idea that those unprocessed food in the past which used to be the favorites of the grandparents is the healthiest food that the people in the contemporary society should eat. Interestingly, he uses a precise and simple expression about grandmother to describe the features of the real food in his opinion vividly and effectively. This clear definition is followed by the methods of eating healthy diets. In a bullet-point form, he lists every rule about healthy eating distinctively and gives each rule a thoughtful explanation to convince the readers. To be honest, this is my favorite part about this book. Unlike other nutrition books which talk on and on in big paragraphs and complex sentences about how we should eat, “In Defense of Food” actually uses concise arguments and understandable vocabularies to give out the guidelines which are quite easy to follow. Moreover, the reasonable explanation given under every healthy eating rule helps establish his authority as an author. In particular, the sufficient uses of examples and professional tone both strengthen his argument by making the readers recognize him as an expert.

It’s not hard to infer from the above that Pollan’s statement about eating unprocessed food is structured pretty well. Furthermore, the content is also quite convincing and persuasive. Though the definition about western diet given in this book is a little bit general and controversial, it’s undeniable that some of the diets in the west do appeal the problems mentioned in his argument. McDonald’s, which is considered to be world’s largest chain of fast food restaurants as well as a significant American food cultural phenomena, is producing food which makes millions of people get obesity. He is also right about the fact that unprocessed food contains some nutrients that supplements cannot provide. So to avoid the popularity of some diet-related diseases and shortage of a few vital nutrients, choosing unprocessed food which comes without a package and is absolutely natural seems a wise choice. In the argument, Pollan analyzes this fact to the readers and transfers the professional phrases to some simple expressions which can help the readers comprehend. In addition to that, he even enumerates ways of putting the reasoning into action to gain trust from the readers that the guidelines he offers are applicable.

To sum up, with regards to the quality and organization of Pollan’s argument about “people should eat unprocessed food”, Pollan does a terrific job in convincing the readers.

Reference: "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan