Bitter, party of one...

I was sitting here listening to an online hour long talk given by Michael Pollan at the Authors@Google event in March, 2008 and he made a good point - there are people who complain that a dozen eggs at a farmers market costs $6. While that sounds expensive, if you break it down and have 2 eggs for breakfast - that's a $1 breakfast. With a piece of toast, you add mere pennies to that. This is considerably less than one would spend at any fast food joint and FAR better for you. Good point, Michael Pollan.

Let me tell you how this all got started.

Monday, August 31, I was listening to NPR's Talk of the Nation and they were interviewing Charlotte Allen. Her article titled, "Keep your self-righteous fingers off my processed food", had just appeared in the Opinion section of the LA Times. In this article, she took issue with those who believe in spending their dollars on items that are better made, healthier, local, and possibly more expensive. She says that what they do, and what they tell others, is "impossible." The resentment oozed through my speakers....... Hear it here.

What caused my brain to nearly explode was her thoughts on farmers markets and "real" food, and her shots at Michael Pollan. I'm no expert on the man, but I have listened to several interviews with him, and own a couple of his books and what he says makes a lot of sense and I try to follow the logic of what he says in my own families food choices.

One of her sticking points is Pollan's advice to not buy anything you see advertised. His point (which apparently she missed along with several other issues - like why corn is also high up on the not-so-good list, or that you not EVERYTHING has to be bought organic) was that broccoli, for example, doesn't have an advertising budget... and it's better for you than most anything that does have money to advertise.

Her example of the Haagen-Dazs ice cream which advertises only 5 ingredients - which is something Pollan says you should be looking for AS A GUIDELINE to purchasing food - is ridiculous. Yes, it only has 5 ingredients - BUT IT'S STILL ICE CREAM!!

Another example she gives:

• "...the strawberries at the Safeway probably aren't going to be that great because they've been shipped from California. But if you don't have the money for boutique strawberries, why not have strawberries, period? They're pretty good. They're not so bad."

That's a selling point if I ever heard one...

But here is one thing she states in her article. She asks, "What's wrong with low prices? If you don't care for the quality, well, as my mother always says, you get what you pay for." I couldn't agree more.

For a good read, check out this from the LA Times.