Ah yes, Mr. Pollan, the champion of the people who showed us the inherent deceit of contemporary nutritionism.

This is, of course, while he (contrary to this blog post) tells us how great omega-3 or 6 or whatever it is fatty acids are on pages 5, 31, 37, 38, 39, 44, 59, 87, 108, 109, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 134, 140, 141, 155, 165, 167, 171 of that same book, as well as a few more times in the notes for good measure. (Admittedly that's from a quick Google Books search, but, for most anyone having read the book, the list makes the point.)

The book was great and well written overall. His deconstruction of white whole wheat bread was a classic, capturing our moment in society perfectly, and should be read in freshman composition classes (or whatever they're calling them then) decades into the future. Yet the logic in the book backtracked and undercut itself a number of times; the omega issue was the most startling of those self-deflations for me.

This is to say we all have our pet hypocrisies. JLD's seem to be that she's happy to sell out what sounds like a good, solid, eco-friendly lifestyle if hit with enough cash. We get the Marxist critique and the Bernstein and Woodward-ian method. But given that there is a breaking point for most professionals living in a capitalistic society, the issue isn't to point out what an actor is doing is "wrong", but to see how they might best use this wrongness to promote something positive. What should JLD be doing as ConAgra spokesperson to help fix what's broken? Can her message be co-opted, warts and all, just as we've been able to do with Pollan's?

Labels: food, Other Stuff