Today’s NYT Magazine features an article by one of my favorite writers, Michael Pollan, entitled “Our National Eating Disorder.” He begins with some thoughts on the low-carb fad, presenting it as just part of a longer tradition that he calls the American paradox: “a notably unhealthy people obsessed by the idea of eating healthily.” It’s an entertaining, thoughtful piece, like all of Pollan’s writing. The first paragraph:
Carbophobia, the most recent in the centurylong series of food fads to wash over the American table, seems to have finally crested, though not before sweeping away entire bakeries and pasta companies in its path, panicking potato breeders into redesigning the spud, crumbling whole doughnut empires and, at least to my way of thinking, ruining an untold number of meals. America’s food industry, more than happy to get behind any new diet as long as it doesn’t actually involve eating less food, is still gung-ho on Low Carb, it’s true, but in the last few weeks, I can report some modest success securing a crust of bread, and even the occasional noodle, at tables from which such staples were banned only a few months ago.
[This post was imported on 4/10/14 from my old blog at satsumabug.livejournal.com.]
satsumabug.com | Lisa Hsia 
[…] thing. We eat a lot, but we fuss about our diets just as obsessively. We are, as Michael Pollan has said, “a notably unhealthy people obsessed by the idea of eating healthily.” Almost one-third of […]