Vegetarian Star

Michael Pollan has been named of the most influential people of 2010 on Time Magazine‘s annual list.

Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, who’s criticized the unfit conditions for humans and animals in factory farms, can still be considered a vegetarian’s ally, despite his reluctance to go any further than advocating less meat.

Alice Waters has written his bio:

“Unwilling to accept the food industry’s account of where beef comes from, Michael bought a steer in Kansas to follow the life cycle of a kernel of corn from the laboratory to the feed bin to the restaurant where the beef is served. It’s a harrowing tale, and since the moment I heard him tell it, I have not served corn-fed beef of any kind. I was Pollanized — and I am not alone.”

“In the Oscar-nominated documentary Food, Inc. and in his books Food Rules and The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael, 55, tells complex stories in an engaging voice. When he speaks live, I’ve seen thousands grip their seats as they realize what our food system has become and how badly we need to fix it.”

The full list of Time’s Most Influential People can be viewed here.

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“To the extent we push meat a little bit to the side and move vegetables to the center of our diet, we’re also going to be a lot healthier.”

—Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food, in an article from CNN on Meatless Mondays.

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Alice Waters is one of the Michael Pollans in the food world.

Not vegetarian, and maybe showing no intentions of going there, she does support eating less meat and using locally grown items to lessen our environmental impact.

One way to get people to eat less meat is to raise the price of it.

Organic, grass fed varieties of meat cost more, and if more people who are part time vegetarians choose to only buy this option, it may greatly reduce the number of animals being raised for food.

“I eat meat, but no meat that isn’t pastured is acceptable, and we probably need to eat a whole lot less.,” Waters told MNN. “But by choosing to eat only pasture-fed, that encourages you to eat differently: “If I can’t get real meat, I don’t want it.” And since it’s more expensive, you’re inclined to eat less.”

What’s your take on Water’s opinion?

Will promoting the consumption of only pasture fed or “ethically raised” meat effectively lessen the numbers of animals raised for food?

Would it be easier to get people to spend more money to only buy these types of meats or convince them eating no meat at all is a better option?

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Author Michael Pollan hasn’t always expressed warm feelings for the vegetarian and vegan community, but in a recent interview with Time magazine, he said he has “enormous respect for vegetarians,” and eats a lot less meat than in the past.

In an exclusive interview with the Huffington Post, Pollan gave his thoughts on animal rights, criticizer of factory farming and author Jonathan Safran Foer and even Oprah.

That’s quite a combination, and here are a few highlights.

On Foer and “Eating Animals”
In terms of the argument that I don’t grapple with meat, I would refer Jonathan and anyone else to Chapter…hold on, I can dig it out… (flips through book)…it’s a very long…Chapter 17 of Omnivore’s Dilemma, “The Ethics of Eating Animals.” And that is where I try to grapple with the best arguments against meat eating, which in my view are Peter Singer’s arguments, and defend a very limited kind of meat eating, which is the kind I do.

On Animal Rights:
I think one of the changes you’ve seen in the animals right’s community in the last five or ten years is a lot more interest in mitigating the worst abuses of animal agriculture …which I think is a more realistic goal than abolition.

On Oprah Winfrey:
She had a very bad run-in with the cattle industry, and she doesn’t want to spend any more time in court, so it was much to her credit and it took a certain courage for her to air the issues and show clips from Food Inc., especially, and to have me on, and the fact that she was willing to re-engage on these issues of factory farming was all to her credit.

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Oprah Winfrey‘s show on Wednesday January 27 will feature Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual.

Oprah aims to let her audience know where their food comes from.

During the segment, Oprah asks Pollan, “What do you eat?”

Although it’s already known Pollan’s not a full time vegetarian, he does advocate eating less meat.

Watch the clip for a preview of the show and be sure to catch Alicia Silverstone‘s appearance towards the end of the video.

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Michael Pollan was interviewed by Time magazine where he answered 10 questions on food, health, the environment and animals.

The author of the The Omnivore’s Dilemmna and most recently, Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, was asked about his diet.

“I still eat meat. But I eat a lot less. I have enormous respect for vegetarians, but I believe there are ways to eat meat that are good for you and good for the environment.”

What do you think of Pollan’s response?

Are there environmentally friendly ways to produce and consume a little bit of “ethically raised” meat or non threatened fish every now and then?

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Michael Pollan is a hit or miss with vegetarians.

Not a veg himself, he lost even more popularity points by calling the vegans neurotic.

But he does call for an end to excessive fast food, less consumption of meat and a return to the kitchen to cook your own food.

That includes your own junk food.

In an interview with the New York Times, Michael discusses one his latest book, Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, and shares one rule about eating junk food.

“Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.” That gets at a lot of our issues. I love French fries, and I also know if I ate French fries every day it would not be a good thing. One of our problems is that foods that are labor or money intensive have gotten very cheap and easy to procure. French fries are a great example. They are a tremendous pain to make. Wash the potatoes, fry potatoes, get rid of the oil, clean up the mess. If you made them yourself you’d have them about once a month, and that’s probably about right. The fact that labor has been removed from special occasion food has made us treat it as everyday food. One way to curb that and still enjoy those foods is to make them. Try to make your own Twinkie. I don’t even know if you can. I imagine it would be pretty difficult. How do you get the cream in there?”

Hey, if the producers of Zombieland can make a vegan Twinkie for Woody Harrelson, it’s worth a try at home!

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“School cafeterias serve chicken “McNuggets” and give kids 10 minutes to eat, educating them to be the next generation of fast-food eaters. We need to give kids good food and enough time to eat it, teach them where food comes from, and provide them with opportunities to grow the food in school gardens and cook it in school kitchens. Knowing how to cook is an essential skill. Parents can also get their kids involved in cooking. They need to take back control of their kids’ diets, which has been ceded to food marketers. [Parents] need to be the gatekeepers.”

—-Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food and The Omnnivore’s Dilemma, in an interview with Vegetarian Times.

Although Pollan isn’t vegetarian, he has recommended we eat less meat and begins In Defense of Food with the following statement: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

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