Pollan on NPR

Michael Pollan on Fresh Air. Excerpts:

It’s one of the ironies of society that junk food being sold by multi-national corporations, like McDonalds and Kraft, appears to be populist. And food grown by struggling, scrupulous farmers is elitist…

I think that this movement to reform the food system, it’s mistaken to think it’s a left or liberal movement. There is a groundswell on the right also. There are many people who are trying to take back control of their family dinner from the fast food companies. There are evangelicals who are very interested in this food movement…. What is a more traditional value than sitting down to dinner with your family, and not going to McDonalds? I mean, this is the culinary equivalent of homeschooling…

To have healthier food, you either have to invest more money or more time. And some people who can’t afford to invest more money could invest more time. And what I mean by that is, cooking the food yourself, spending a Sunday making three or four meals for the week, once again learning the traditional talents of the kitchen, which in the old days got three or four meals out of one chicken, rather than just buying chicken breasts.