Food 101 - with Oprah!

Today was possibly the best Oprah episode I've ever seen - of course, as a foodie, I'm biased. The talk show Queen brought, what I consider to be some very important issues, into the light of mainstream.

Oprah featured Michael Pollen, journalist, "food expert", and author of such books as "In Defense of Food" and "Food Rules". Together they discussed the movie "Food, Inc." which Pollen is featured in. (Read my review of Food, Inc. here).

Pollen says "A lot of what you see in the supermarket I would argue is not really food," Michael says. "It's what I call edible, food-like substances."

"We all can vote with our forks. We get three votes a day," Michael says. "You don't have to get every one of them right. But if you get one of them right a day, if you vote for food that has been sustainably grown or humanely grown, whatever your values are, ... you will change the food system. It's happening now."

Oprah says she did the show because she believes people have a right to know where they're food comes from, and to make a personal choice as to what they are or aren't going to do about it. I couldn't agree more.

People who are interested in this kind of thing are, like me, researching, reading, watching and absorbing this information all the time. The great thing about today's Oprah show is that she is exposing people to this information who may never have been otherwise. It's bringing awareness on a massive scale and bringing important issues into the mainstream. I think some people view this organic, sustainable food as a trend. I certainly hope that's not the case - but if it is, it's the healthiest trend, for us and the planet, we've seen in the last century.

At that, I'll end with what I consider to be a statement that is genius in it's simplicity and truth:

"Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much." - Michael Pollen.

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