"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

Says Michael Pollan in an excellent in-depth article entitled "Happy Meals" in the New York Times Magazine. Pollan is the author of "The Omnivore's Delight," (reviewed in a series of Village Green entries here here, here and here) who is making a lot of people rethink what human diet is really best for us. When he says "eat food," he is telling us to eat unprocessed plants for the most part, with some animal products on the side, but never as a main course.

Pollan presents an overview on how food was transformed into "nutrients" and how that has led us into obesity and "nutritionism." Along the way, we learn how the beef industry proved to be the death of Senator George McGovern's political career as well as how our reliance on chemical fertilizing has decreased the nutritional value of everything we eat, among many of the fascinating points Pollan continues to make about 21st century food chains.