Podcasts about cooked a natural history

Michael Pollan's book, Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation

Chapter 1 What's Cooked Book by Michael Pollan" Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation" by Michael Pollan is a book that explores the transformative power of cooking. Pollan investigates the four classical elements - fire, water, air, and earth - and how they play a role in the cooking process. He also delves into the history of cooking, the cultural significance of different cooking methods, and the impact of processed foods on our health and the environment. Ultimately, Pollan argues that cooking is a fundamental human activity that can bring us closer to nature, community, and ourselves.Chapter 2 Is Cooked Book A Good Book"Cooked" by Michael Pollan is generally well-received by readers and critics. It explores the role of cooking in our lives and the importance of preparing and consuming real, unprocessed foods. Pollan delves into the history and cultural significance of cooking, and offers personal stories and experiences to illustrate his points. Overall, many readers find "Cooked" to be an informative and thought-provoking book that inspires them to reevaluate their relationship with food and cooking.Chapter 3 Cooked Book by Michael Pollan Summary"Cooked" by Michael Pollan is a book that explores the role of cooking in our lives and the impact it has on our overall health and well-being. Pollan examines the four elements of cooking – fire, water, air, and earth – and delves into the history and science behind each one.Throughout the book, Pollan takes readers on a journey through the process of cooking, from fermenting sourdough bread to barbecuing meat over an open flame. He emphasizes the importance of cooking our own food and the benefits it can have on our physical and mental health.Pollan also discusses the rise of convenience foods and how they have changed the way we eat, often leading to negative health consequences. He advocates for a return to traditional cooking methods and emphasizes the importance of taking the time to prepare and enjoy homemade meals.Overall, "Cooked" is a thought-provoking exploration of the power of cooking to nourish our bodies and our souls. Pollan's engaging writing style and insightful research make this book a must-read for anyone interested in the art and science of food preparation. Chapter 4 Cooked Book AuthorMichael Pollan is an American author, journalist, and professor of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. He is best known for his books on food and the food industry, exploring topics such as the impact of agriculture on the environment, the ethics of eating meat, and the benefits of cooking at home."Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation" was released in 2013. In addition to "Cooked," Pollan has written several other influential books on food and health, including "The Omnivore's Dilemma," "In Defense of Food," and "The Botany of Desire."One of Pollan's most popular and critically acclaimed books is "The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals," which was published in 2006. This book has been reprinted multiple times and is considered a seminal work in the field of food writing.Chapter 5 Cooked Book Meaning & ThemeCooked Book MeaningThe title "Cooked" suggests that the book is about cooking and food preparation. The word "book" indicates that the book is a written work. Therefore, "Cooked Book" by Michael Pollan likely refers to a book about the art and science of cooking, exploring the relationship between humans and food and the cultural significance of cooking.Cooked...

Ed Mitchell #edmitchell is known as ‘The Pitmaster' #thepitmaster in barbecue circles #bbq, Ed Mitchell has been cooking whole-hog barbecue the traditional way since he was a teenager in Wilson, North Carolina. A grandson of a small farmer, Ed was surrounded by natural, good-tasting food as a child. He has rich memories of those taste and times. For years, his education, military duty, and work with the Ford Motor Company took him away from Wilson, until he returned in 1990 to help his mother when his father became ill. Thanks to a chance launch and Ed's habit-forming barbecue, Mitchell's Grocery soon morphed into Mitchell's Ribs, Chicken & B-B-Q. As the business grew, so did Ed's reputation. Acknowledgement of his talents led to associations with influential writers and historians including Calvin Trillin, John T. Edge, Peter Kaminsky, and Michael Pollan. Peter Kaminsky, author of Pig Perfect, in which a chapter is dedicated to Ed's story, introduced Ed to the superior taste of free-ranging pigs raised on traditional foods. Ed was convinced that this was the taste of his youth he'd been searching for. He soon partnered with North Carolina A&T State University's farm-raised pig program to encourage chefs to support naturally raised pigs. During this time Ed became a founding pitmaster of the 15th annual Big Apple Block Party #bigappleblockparty. In 2009, Ed was invited to cook at the prestigious James Beard House in New York City. A year later, notable food advocate and author Michael Pollan shadowed Ed in preparation his The New York Times' best selling book, Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation (Penguin Books, 2013.) #cooked Ed was not only featured in the book, but also in the Netflix original food documentary film, “Cooked.” In March 2012, Ed hosted a barbecue master class at the 20th Annual International Food and Wine Festival #annualinternationalfoodandwinefestival in Melbourne, Australia. Ed's network of passionate culinary experts who are at the forefront of the food movement, as well as a rising fan base, helped support his transition from his family's restaurant to an upscale barbecue concept, The Pit, based in Raleigh, North Carolina. In 2014, Ed left The Pit to team up with his son Ryan at Ed Mitchell's Que in Durham. ____________________________________________________ Food & Beverage Industry brought to life. F&B LIVE! is a national, industry influencing webcast featuring the leaders in the restaurant, hospitality, branded food and beverage and CPG industries, many of whom are Michael's "friends in the business." Featuring an informal and informative conversation where friends in the business share the latest intel, ideas and best practices for surviving these dynamic challenges we are facing and the future of our brands and businesses. The show is live and broadcast across 5 platforms and features an audience rich with industry influencers. Be sure to pick up your copy of: Food & Beverage Magazine's Guide to Restaurant Success https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119668964/... ____________________________________________________ *CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/foodbeverag... *Follow Us on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/FoodAndBever... *Follow Us on INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/fbmagazine/ *Follow Us on TWITTER: https://twitter.com/fb101com www.fbmagazine.com@edmitchell@ryanmitchell@michaelpolitz@jenniferenglish@jamesbeardaward#foodandbeverage#foodandbeveragemagazine#JamesBeardAward#foodie#restaurant#foodieinternational#foodiefest#foodandbeveragetrade

#GeekingOutSeries/Safety101/ChemicalsinFood/1This post is part of the Geeking Out series which presents data-driven information on food and farming, safety in the kitchen, practical science for cooks, cooking techniques and processes and other relevant nerdy stuff that every cook should know.  For the next few weeks, we will be covering topics from the chapter, Safety 101. This is the first of four parts.While the idea of pathogens posing a danger to our health is established knowledge-- we’ve all learned about it in elementary science for one, my reference to many chemicals that are in our food system as “poison” may raise some eyebrows.  I’m referring to three kinds: toxic chemicals that go on our crops such as fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides; are present in our meat and poultry like steroids and antibiotics, and are in ultra processed foods like sugar additives and preservatives. While there’s a growing body of woke citizens, health professionals, scientists, environmental groups and even government agencies like the CDC that acknowledge the toxicity in our food production system, most Americans don’t realize the gravity of the situation for a number of reasons.It’s fairly new. Widespread chemical use in agribusiness is relatively recent, gaining traction only in the mid twentieth century.  The adverse effects caused by chemical fertilizers and additives in our food were not easily identified or immediately apparent, sometimes taking years to diagnose. It’s only in the last decade there’s been broad consensus that sugars, particularly high fructose corn syrup, are linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer.      Corporate greed.  The main reason for the use of chemicals in our food system is to increase efficiency and lower production costs (but not environmental and public health costs), which means bigger profits for companies. Big Business loves its bottom line and will do anything to protect it. Large amounts of money are spent trying to convince the public their products are great or that studies showing harmful effects are conflated. Sound familiar?  We’ve been down this road before with the tobacco industry denying for decades that smoking cigarettes causes cancer. Human nature.  Our tendency towards the path of least resistance means it’s easier not to change old habits or question previously established beliefs, despite growing available data that should convince us otherwise.  Plus, it’s not easy keeping up with food trends --margarine was in, now it’s out; wine was out, now in; coffee is…what now? It doesn’t help we’re bombarded with billions of dollars in unhealthy food advertising, brainwashing us since we were children. Sorting through the muck of false or misleading information is overwhelming.  To top it all, we’re not hardwired to be on red alert if we think the danger posed is far away.  Unlike e coli which could make you sick right away, toxic chemicals in our food system are a slow poison and it’s easy to believe we’re okay until we’re not.  Just like a lobster unaware it’s slowly boiling to death (also a good metaphor for why we’re not all panicking about global warming).Knowledge is key.  Stories can put things in perspective and convince us to take action. I hope that understanding how and why America’s food system is in crisis might be the nudge we all need to make food choices that benefit the planet and ourselves, and not just Big Business.Chemical Fertilizers, Herbicides and PesticidesIt’s impossible to overemphasize the danger posed by many chemicals in our food system.  They are not only toxic to us, but to other animals, the soil, the environment. Why the US is able to legally serve its populace harmful food comes down to corporate greed, how big money can influence government regulations, and insidious marketing that’s shaped culture and tastes predisposed to unhealthy food that keeps corporate coffers full.  For a detailed understanding of America’s food system from production to consumption,  I will defer to a few books that have strongly influenced me over the years:  Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, Third Plate by Dan Barber and Micheal Pollan’s  Omnivore’s Dilemma and Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation.Monoculture America:  An OverviewMost commercial farming practices monoculture, the cultivation of a single crop in an area.  Think of those sweeping fields of Idaho corn or row after row of potatoes.  It’s ubiquitous and you could be forgiven for thinking this is how farming always was.  But that’s not right.  American Indians and other farmers practiced polyculture, planting diverse crops which were mutually beneficial not only to each other, but to maintaining and building soil health. The Three Sisters of Native American agriculture is one such well-known companion planting of corn, beans and squash. Jo Robinson in her book, Eating on the Wild Side describes:‘The Wyandot people, renamed Hurons by the French were masters of this art.  Each spring, the Wyandot women would walk to a cleared field and spread a mound of fish waste every three or four feet.  They covered the fish with dirt and then planted a few corn seeds in the center of each mound. When the corn leaves reached hand height, they planted beans next to the corn, then sprinkled pumpkin seeds between the mounds. The corn stalks grew tall and sturdy, providing support for the limply twining beans.  The beans made their contribution by drawing nitrogen dioxide out of the air and converting it to a stable form of nitrogen that could be used by all three plants, but especially by the nitrogen-hungry corn.  The broad squash leaves fanned out beneath the corn and beans, preventing weeds from growing, cooling the soil, and slowing the evaporation of water.”The function of the beans to draw out nitrogen dioxide from the air and convert it into a kind of nitrogen plants can use (ammonia and nitrate) is what’s called nitrogen-fixing.  Legumes, clover, lupines are some of the nitrogen-fixers commonly used to replenish the soil.  Another popular companion planting example is the home gardener’s tomatoes-basil combination.  According to the Farmer’s Almanac, not only do they taste good together, but the basil helps increase tomato yield and repels pests like mosquitoes, flies and aphids.In companion planting, not only is there a symbiotic relationship between plants, but the diversity provides insurance of crop survival. Blight might take down corn, but maybe the squash will survive. And when planting is diverse, it’s harder for pests to home in on their favorite food. Vast swaths of single crops are an all-you-can eat buffet waiting to happen.But in the 20th century, a confluence of events propelled America and much of the world’s agriculture into a monoculture landscape dependent on chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides.     In 1909, A German chemist named Fritz Haber discovered a chemical way of “fixing” nitrogen, which is to produce liquid ammonia, the raw material for making nitrogen fertilizer. By 1913, the Haber-Bosch process was used to produce liquid fertilizers in greater quantities and by the time World War II was over, munitions factories which used ammonium nitrate for explosives, could find a new lease in life producing chemical fertilizers, thereby increasing supply and lowering costs to farmers.In the mid-50’s, another scientist, Norman Borlaug bred a variety of dwarf wheat that tripled yield with the use of fertilizers.  The wheat variety, regimen of fertilizers and single crop cultivation (monoculture) were tested in Mexico and then later in India, which was on the brink of a famine. With the template for breeding high-yield crops dependent on fertilizers a huge success, The Green Revolution of the 60’s was born and exported to many parts of the world, including the Philippines, where “miracle” rice, another fast yielding crop, was developed. And this is how monoculture agriculture dependent on chemicals became the norm in American Agriculture.The Ravages of Monoculture AgricultureThe Green Revolution had noble intentions and was a miracle with its bountiful yields, earning Borlaug the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize.  But decades later, we’ve learned what it has cost us. Forcing land to produce more than nature intended with chemical fertilizers is like me having to put in 70 hour work weeks on uppers.  Eventually, both the land and I are going to self-destruct, affecting everything in our wake.  Artificially propped up by speed, I may be able to function temporarily on this mad schedule. But besides the adverse effects on body and mind (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you need a refresher on Breaking Bad), I’d probably be an insufferable maniac to co-workers and family. It’s a vicious cycle.  An organism builds tolerance over time, so after the initial productivity, more chemicals are required.Land stripped of nutrients and toxic with chemicals becomes sick and unable to protect itself;  plants that grow in this environment are stressed and susceptible to diseases like blight.  Pollinators that feed on the toxic plants become sick and die. Declining bee population is largely linked to pesticides and habitat loss and in the US, winter losses commonly reach 30-50%. And drift-prone weed-killers like dicamba kill valuable food sources for bees—weeds.  Bees have been in serious decline over the last decade.  Pollinators, especially honeybees, are responsible for one in every three bites of food we take, according to the USDA.  You get the picture.  All these fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides are killing our pollinators.But they’re also killing us.  200,000 people die every year of acute pesticide poisoning worldwide, according to a UN report released in 2017.  That doesn’t include chronic illnesses and other diseases attributed to indirect exposure such as in contaminated food. And then there’s Roundup.To be continued…Interested to learn more? Read my companion posts on Cooking Subversive:I Cook to Reclaim My Health Superpowers of the Garden Get full access to Cooking Subversive at cookingsubversive.substack.com/subscribe

#WhyCookseries/MyHealth/1 #CSM1This post is part of the Why Cook? Series: 6 Reasons to be a Lifestyle Cook, a discourse on the pillars of The Cooking Subversive Manifesto (CSM). Providing great reasons to cook are powerful motivators to make cooking a lifestyle choice especially when we understand how forces have conspired to make us choose otherwise.America’s obesity rate is 42.4%.The United States may lay dubious claim to being democracy’s chief champion of late, but when it comes to obesity, it is without a doubt the leader, and has been so for nearly 2 decades among countries tracked by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).  That’s not exactly something to be proud of.We’re inured to this data point because we’ve sat with this fact for far too long and it’s only becoming worse.  We’ve vilified the subjects—overweight people, because in the back of our minds, we’ve been taught to associate being fat with gluttony, poor self-control, laziness and other reprehensible traits we like to think we’re absolved of. Because we’ve appropriated blame to the wrong culprits, we’ve missed the real offenders, and they’ve been able to hide in plain sight.  Before we point fingers, let’s first understand the magnitude of the problem.Why the US Covid-19 death toll is so highWe’ve just reached the grim milestone of 800 thousand deaths in the United States, with no real end in sight.  From the onset, the huge American death toll, disproportionately higher than in other developed countries, begged the question: why so high?In a John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center tally of global deaths attributed to  coronavirus, the US has 239.43 deaths/100,000 people.  It is the 6th highest in the world, preceded by Brazil, Romania, Czechia, Hungary and Bulgaria; and the highest among wealthy nations.  While we can debate on the ramifications of polarized attitudes towards masks and vaccines (we don’t have the monopoly on anti vaxxers and conspiracy theories), the data is clear on the primary causes of American deaths.  According to a study published by The Lancet.Consistent with reported COVID-19 outcome data from Europe, the United States, and China, higher caseloads and overall mortality were associated with comorbidities such as obesity, and advanced population age.Let’s unpack the comorbities part.  Comorbidy, the simultaneous presence of two or more diseases, entered our lexicon when covid-19 exploded.  Comorbidity is a bulls-eye target for coronavirus;   the chances of getting very sick or death is much higher.  But what diseases are strongly associated with covid deaths?In this screenshot of Covid-19 deaths with contributing conditions released by the CDC for 2020 and 2021, I circled 9 diseases linked to obesity.   That’s half of the top 18 (see note) diseases associated with covid-19 deaths that can be linked to obesity, which is directly associated with poor diet and unhealthy lifestyles.Even without Covid-19, 3 of the top 7 leading causes of death in the US, heart disease, stroke and diabetes, are linked to obesity. A recent report by the New York Times suggests that covid 19 lives in fat cells. If proven conclusively, that will be the most direct link yet of Covid-19 to a poor diet.  Covid-19 exacerbated what we’ve known all along: Americans are unhealthy and unless we make lifestyle changes, we are literally going to pay for it with our lives. When I was a child, my mom told me her father had diabetes. She said that they would find ants gathered near the toilet, because his urine was so sweet. To an 8-year old, that was the sort of outrageous, fun and slightly gross family factoid to brag about to friends.  As an adult, the implications were serious.  Though my mom didn’t have diabetes, both her parents did; my father had it too, and two of my siblings are on medication for it.  The CDC says I am highly predisposed to diabetes if it runs in the family (check) and if I’m Asian American (check).  Add to the melee, heart disease is also a familial companion.You would think this less-than-glorious health history was enough incentive to get me cooking.  It was not.  In Manila, we had household help who cooked for us, I frequently dined out, and frankly had no interest in it. I turned to cooking in my 30’s out of necessity: I downshifted from a corporate career in Manila and moved to the US as a music student. I simply couldn’t afford to keep eating out.  But I also had not understood the pernicious actions of big corporations, particularly the food industry, nor their sustained influence on lifestyle and culture, which diminished cooking life skills in our eyes.  I didn’t know then what I know now.  So despite a lifetime eschewing junk and processed foods, I became prediabetic. That’s a red flag for me to be vigilant about diet and lifestyle so I never cross over to diabetes.  I have no ailments, am not on any medication and I want to keep it that way. So though my cooking journey began with economic reasons (the fifth tenet of the manifesto, I Cook To Save Money), it’s now sustained by others, primarily, that I Cook to Reclaim My Health.  To Solve a Problem, Understand What Caused ItThere’s nothing like statistics on death and disease to put a damper on holiday celebrations.  I admit, the timing may not be the best as we look forward to celebrating with feasts and abundance.  A snapshot of America’s health today, however dire, is not without use. 2022 is around the corner, and what better way to counter a grim trend than to make new year’s resolutions that benefit you and your family?But resolutions are only resolute if you can counter forces that undermine.  So we need to understand how we got into this predicament in the first place. Why are we Fat?There are really just 2 big reasons:1.     We eat too much. (overconsumption)2.     We eat unhealthy stuff.Easy, peasy, right?Well, not exactly. This is one of those Matryoshka-esque problems where an issue opens up to another and then another, and sometimes is intertwined with others. As an example:Overconsumption can be traced to reduced cooking and preparation times which  has its genesis in mass food production and consequent growth in prepackaged foods; but it’s also related to sugar addiction which fails to satiate hunger. And if you think sugar is just that white table stuff, think again, because sugar has over 60 names and comes in many forms most don’t even recognize.  The general public’s confusion on understanding exactly what is healthy and what’s not is a product of the machinations of greedy, unethical corporations, poor science, complicit government actions and a culture that makes us too busy to figure things out for ourselves. Confounded yet? Exactly! It’s a lot to unpack and why we haven’t been able to solve this decades-old problem.  And because it’ll take me a few passes to paint the general picture, I’ll start with how we started to spend less time cooking.When did we start spending less time in the kitchen?In his book, Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation, author Michael Pollan traces the fascinating history of cooking from when man first learned to make fire to where we are today.  As a starting point for my discussion, I will jump to post World War II in the United States where Pollan recounts:…the food industry labored mightily to sell Americans—and American women in particular—on the processed-food wonders it had invented to feed the troops: canned meals, freeze-dried foods, dehydrated potatoes, powdered orange juice and coffee, instant and superconvenient everything.”Post war America was a different world.  Women, who were the traditional cooks, had entered the workforce; a proliferation of cars gave rise to suburbs where cooking became an isolated chore when once it was a communal activity; technological advances in the food industry were making packaged foods cheaper and more palatable every day and labor saving kitchen devices like the microwave oven were proving to be indispensable appliances. The combination of changing societal and technological norms of postwar America, increased wealth, the burgeoning idea the food industry peddled that women should be “liberated” from the kitchen and most especially the prevalence of ready-made food that could be picked up or delivered all conspired to convince Americans to spend less time in the kitchen.  In 1965 it was 146 minutes a day.  By 2019, it was 36 minutes.*2019 data from US Bureau of Labor StatisticsIn a 2003 study titled, Why Have Americans Become More Obese? , researchers Cutler and his colleagues linked increased caloric consumption, primarily from snacks, directly to the rise of obesity.  Data collected (1977-78 vs 1994-96) showed that men and women consumed 268 and 143 more calories per day than they did 14 years before. The question was, what was making Americans eat more?  They’re conclusion: Less cooking.Binge AmericaA simple home-made Pizza Margherita, even if you use store-bought dough, tomato sauce, mozzarella and happen to grow basil leaves in your window sill, will likely take more time to make then having pizza delivered.   You’ll have to roll out the dough, perhaps half-bake if it’s a thick crust, slather sauce, arrange toppings and then bake again to finish. While you were at it, you probably popped a piece of mozzarella into your mouth with a leaf or two of basil and perhaps sampled the tomato sauce with it.  Your home-made pizza took more time, but not only was it more fun, you tasted along the way, which reduced the chance of wolfing it down when it came out of the oven.  But more than that, a craving for pizza, not the healthiest of foods to begin with, becomes more difficult to satisfy if you had to make it from scratch.  But pizza delivered is just a phone call away.  And that is why delayed gratification was the link Cutler and associates made when they concluded that:Less Cooking Time=Less Delay in Gratification=Eating MoreYet how many Americans actually make their own pizzas? Pre-made food, because it’s accessible, is not only easier to eat, but makes you likely to eat more. The time and effort involved in cooking, delayed gratification and eating slowly all help to curb our appetite.  When Netflix releases a whole season of your favorite show, you’re not just watching one episode.   It’s why the term “binge-worthy” exists. Lest you think we’re immune to the allures of instant gratification, let me assure you that we’re not.  Jeff and I are as guilty as everyone else of Netflix binging and snacking while we’re at it.  We live in a modern world subject to time-sucking temptations and frankly, our self-control is not as iron-clad as we would like.  So instead of fighting human nature, we’ve just become a little smarter working with it.  Besides reducing our screentime by cooking (including preparation and clean up) we make sure snacks at home are healthy for when the munchies hit.   So yes, Americans are eating more. But we’re also eating too much of the wrong stuff.  It’s not like we don’t know who the usual suspects are; we do.  We know processed junk foods are some of the worst offenders, yet they are almost 60% of calories  consumed in the United States.  But eating is not a rational behavior; and corporate America is counting on that.The Companies We Hate To LoveForget covid for a sec: prior to the pandemic, it’s long been known that being overweight and obesity can lead to heart disease, the leading cause of death for both men and women in the US. That’s 1 out of 4 deaths, according to the CDC.  Perhaps even more than overconsumption, the rise in obesity is attributed to poor diets—specifically the increase in sugar, sodium and other toxic additives in ultra processed foods.  Unhealthy ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oil (trans fats) and flavor enhancers are used by the food industry because they are cheap and make nutrient-deficient lab concoctions edible.  “But they make us sick”, you might say.  Well, in America it’s all about free choice and capitalism.  You’re not forced to drink a can of Coke (high- fructose corn syrup) or eat Kellogg’s Froot Loops (partially hydrogenated oils) for breakfast, but it’ll be hard to resist because all your life you’ve been told it’s the right thing to do. My second job out of college was a brief stint as Account Executive for the Coca Cola division of the McCann-Erickson advertising agency in Manila.  The Philippines was one of the few markets where Coca Cola was way ahead of Pepsi, so dominant a player that we broke out of the soda category and considered the whole beverage industry as our competitive field.  We ran radio ads to compete with coffee, juice and milk with our Coke in the Morning campaign; we printed Coke Tuba posters targeted to the Southern Philippines where locals consumed Coke with Tuba, an alcoholic libation of fermented coconut sap.  Coke ads were hip, featured cool music, had great looking, laughing models, and the sales pitch was always oblique. Coke ads evoked warm and fuzzy feelings.  I was a kid and still recall when the mega-hit commercial of the 1970’s spawned the memorable tune, I’d Like To Teach the World to Sing:I'd like to teach the world to singIn perfect harmonyI'd like to hold it in my armsAnd keep it companySo sweet. Just like Coca Cola, addicting the world to its empty sugary charms.   I wasn’t a Coke or Pepsi drinker and I already knew about the deleterious effects of sodas, but still, I was hooked.  I loved my job with the Coke group also because its branding strategy, front and center of Filipino lifestyle and culture  meant aligning with the music pop stars of the country and part of my work was to travel with artists and help organize Coca Cola concerts.  That was a dream job for someone in their 20’s.I also had an unusual personal history with Coca Cola: my mother was one of their first models in a video advertisement; and as a student activist, I marched against Coke, the premier face of imperialism.US occupying forces during the great wars brought Coca Cola with them introducing the world to the “pause that refreshes”. Regimes came and went, but more durable was a non-violent Coca Colonialism that tied profitability to notions of liberty and the American dream. The Philippines’ relationship with Coke, like mine, was complex and conflicted. An article in the New Yorker published in 1959 is filled with wry , often humorous anecdotal evidence on the world’s infatuation with Coke.  In a former US colony like the Philippines, liberated from the Japanese by the Americans in World War 2, the sentiment ran strong, as evidenced by an account of Filipino General Carlos Romulo in his memoir “I Saw The Fall of the Philippines”:This day that was to mark the turning point in the Battle of the Philippines began for me with an incident that seemed of the greatest importance. In fact, so vital did it seem at the time that that night, upon my return to the tunnel on Corregidor after one of the most terrible days a man could ever experience, I wrote a detailed account of that day on my typewriter with a ribbon that could hardly make itself legible, and with trembling hands I added the important notation: “I had a Coca-Cola.”      Pearl of the Orient: A Coca Cola infomercial on the Philippines The World Wars are decades past and discussions on Coca Colonialism are long buried.  But these antecedent events are important to comprehend where we are today.  If you still think I’m overstating Coca Cola’s sway on our culture, look no further than at the brand’s most iconic figure and ambassador of goodwill and cheer, Santa Claus. The jolly, rotund man in red is a visage largely shaped by Coca Cola which you can read about on the company’s page,  “Five Things You Never Knew About Santa Claus and Coca-Cola.”  We hate to love companies that are bad actors if their brands are associated with positive ideals deeply ingrained in who we think we are or want to be.  Like an abusive boyfriend, they know how to sweet talk their way back.  Our ambivalence is why they are still around and why we still consume their products despite the harm they’ve caused us. Big Business, our Sugar DaddyBig Business is omnipresent.  They’ve been targeting you since you were a babe with a multi-media onslaught that includes ads on television, internet and social media.  They infiltrated your videogames through advergames.  At school, you bought soda from their vending machines and the tomato-based pizza served at your school’s cafeteria was your vegetable option. You even got free Big Business- branded school supplies.Obesity among youth has more than tripled since the 70’s and affects 1 in 5 of school-aged youth. If you were a kid who celebrated your birthday party at MacDonald’s, then Big Business may have lassoed your little heart and you feel a tiny tug whenever you spot the golden arches as you drive by.  Food ads on television comprise half of all ad time in children’s shows, according to the American Psychological Association.We must not underestimate how well Big Business understands and manipulates our collective psyche.  We know it’s powerful, because despite our best intentions, we continue to poison ourselves when we consume unhealthy foods. What rational being does that?  Unless it’s because we’ve been deliberately misled and have not seen the whole picture yet.  Which is why this story isn’t over.We reduce caloric consumption when we cook by delaying gratification.  And if we’re eating a home cooked meal, perhaps we’re not consuming unhealthy ultra processed food as much.  That’s already a win.  But healthy cooking is as much determined by what and how we cook. Remember I mentioned a confluence of forces that helped confuse America and the world on what healthy eating means? When we take a detour from the Cooking Subversive Manifesto tenets to introduce a few more bad actors, we’ll see how what we eat is even more nefarious than how much we eat in the battle of the bulge and other diseases. In the new year, we’ll take a glimpse at America’s food and farming in the post, “I’ll Have The Poison on the Side, Please.” : Chemicals in our Food.  Additional References:High US covid death toll causes: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2771841Food waste: https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-2017-report.pdfGrowth of the Suburbs: https://americanhistory.si.edu/america-on-the-move/city-and-suburbSanta Clause: https://www.coca-colacompany.com/company/history/five-things-you-never-knew-about-santa-claus-and-coca-colaImpact of Food Advertising on Childhood Obesity: https://www.apa.org/topics/obesity/food-advertising-children Get full access to Cooking Subversive at cookingsubversive.substack.com/subscribe

For more than thirty years, Michael Pollan has been writing books and articles about the places where nature and culture intersect: on our plates, in our farms and gardens, and in our minds. He is the author of the multiple New York Times best sellers, including How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence, Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation (2013), Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual (2010); In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto (2008); The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (2006) and The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World (2001). In his latest audiobook Caffeine: How caffeine created the modern world, Michal Pollan offers his provocative look into the profound ways that what we eat affects how we live. Caffeine, it turns out, has changed the course of human history: Pollan’s reporting explores how caffeine has won and lost wars, changed politics, and dominated economies. The science behind caffeine addiction forms the fascinating backdrop to this definitive look at an insidious drug that hides in plain sight. With his wide-ranging talent to entertain, inform, and perform, Michael Pollan’s Caffeine is essential listening in a world where an estimated two billion cups of coffee are consumed every day. Several of his books have been adapted for television. Netflix created a four-part documentary series based on Cooked in 2016, and documentary adaptations of In Defense of Food (2015) and The Botany of Desire (2009) both premiered on PBS. Pollan also appeared in the Academy Award nominated 2009 feature documentary, Food Inc. In 2015-2016, Pollan was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard. In 2013, he was awarded Italy’s Premio Nonino prize. In 2012, he was given the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of Biology Teachers. In 2010, Pollan was named to the 2010 TIME 100, the magazine’s annual list of the world’s 100 most influential people. Also in 2010 he was also awarded the Lennon Ono Grant for Peace by Yoko Ono. In 2009 he was named by Newsweek as one of the top 10 “New Thought Leaders.” Recorded at our second online 5x15 in May 2020. 5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories

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Michael Pollan Cooked A Natural History of Transformation Book Summary --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bestbookbits/support

Cooked a Natural History of transformation. By Michael Pollan ♨ Ep 3 Hungry Books is presented by: Rocio Carvajal Food history writer, cook and author. This weeks book is like taking the red pill, you will embark on a deep philosophical and existential soul searching from the comfort of your kitchen. It is an invitation to understand the value of being mindful, have intention and use information and our creativity to cook for ourselves and others and more importantly it will encourage you to make the conscious effort to get in the kitchen and reclaim what made us human: cooking. ——————————————————— Links mentioned on today’s episode:

Michael Pollan is the author of eight books, including How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence, Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation, Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, … Continue reading →

Ulysses and the subscription model for apps. Medium versus Jekyll. Also, Joe bakes some sourdough bread. Show notes: Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation (http://amzn.to/2fWWsjS) The last episode of Whims That Work (http://whimsthatwork.fm/6) Ulysses (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ulysses/id1225571038?mt=8&uo=4&at=1010l7cc&ct=wtw) Day One (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/day-one-journal/id1044867788?mt=8&uo=4&at=1010l7cc&ct=wtw) Scrivener (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scrivener/id972387337?mt=8&uo=4&at=1010l7cc&ct=wtw) Productivity Guild (https://productivityguild.com) TextExpander (https://smilesoftware.com/textexpander) 1Password (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/1password-password-manager-and-secure-wallet/id568903335?mt=8&uo=4&at=1010l7cc&ct=wtw) Dropbox (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dropbox/id327630330?mt=8&uo=4&at=1010l7cc&ct=wtw) Spotify (http://spotify.com) Spotify on Amazon Speakers (https://support.spotify.com/us/listen_everywhere/on_speaker/spotify-amazon-speakers/) Shawn Blanc’s Ulysses Setup (https://thesweetsetup.com/shawn-blanc-ulysses-setup/) Medium (https://medium.com) Jekyll (https://jekyllrb.com) Audiogram (https://github.com/nypublicradio/audiogram) Brett Terpstra (https://twitter.com/ttscoff?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor) Typepad (http://www.typepad.com) Seth’s Blog (http://sethgodin.typepad.com)

Samin Nosrat is a food writer, educator, and chef. Her new book is Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking. “I kind of couldn’t exist as just a cook or a writer. I kind of need to be both. Because they fulfill these two totally different parts of myself and my brain. Cooking is really social, it’s very physical, and also you don’t have any time to become attached to your product. You hand it off and somebody eats it, and literally tomorrow it’s shit. … Whereas with writing, it’s the exact opposite. It’s super solitary. It’s super cerebral. And you have all the time in the world to get attached to your thing and freak out about it.” Thanks to MailChimp, Squarespace, Away, and Masters of Scale for sponsoring this week's episode. @CiaoSamin ciaosamin.com [01:45] Chez Panisse [02:00] Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking (Simon & Schuster • 2017) [03:30] Pop-Up Magazine [27:45] Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation (Michael Pollan • Penguin Books • 2014) [30:00] Nosrat’s Archive at Edible [30:45] "Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch" (Michael Pollan • New York Times Magazine • Jul 2009) [34:00] Wendy MacNaughton on the Longform Podcast [37:45] An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace (Tamar Adler • Scribner • 2012) [39:15] Levels of the Game (John McPhee • Farrar, Straus and Giroux • 1979) [52:15] Outliers: The Story of Success (Malcolm Gladwell • Back Bay Books • 2011) [54:30] Golden Boy Pizza [55:30] "Cookbook Author Samin Nosrat Celebrates with Champagne and Babybels" (Sierra Tishgart • Grub Street • Apr 2017) [57:00] Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us (Michael Moss • Random House • 2014)

On This Edition of the Zoomer Week in Review: Is finding true love just a matter of supply and demand? Economist and IdeaCity presenter Marina Adshade says so. She'll tell us all about dollars and sex and what we should do to succeed in the marketplace of romance. Plus, sometimes the fastest way to someone's heart is through the stomach! Prominet food writer Michael Pollan says taking up cooking can improve our health, bring families together and even promote democracy! He'll tell us about his new book Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation.

Sure you have a big brain; it's the hallmark of Homo sapiens. But that doesn't mean that you've cornered the market on intelligence. Admittedly, it's difficult to say, since the very definition of the term is elusive. Depending on what we mean by intelligence, a certain aquatic mammal is not as smart as we thought (hint: rhymes with “caulpin”) … and your rhododendron may be a photosynthesizing Einstein. And what I.Q. means for A.I. We may be building our brilliant successors. Guests: •  Laurance Doyle – Senior researcher, SETI Institute •  Justin Gregg – Animal behaviorist, The Dolphin Communication Project, author of Are Dolphins Really Smart?: The mammal behind the myth •  Michael Pollan – Journalist, author of Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation and The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. His article, “The Intelligent Plant,” appeared in the December 23rd issue of The New Yorker •  Luke Muehlhauser – Executive Director of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute   First aired March 19, 2014 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ENCORE  Sure you have a big brain; it’s the hallmark of Homo sapiens. But that doesn’t mean that you’ve cornered the market on intelligence. Admittedly, it’s difficult to say, since the very definition of the term is elusive. Depending on what we mean by intelligence, a certain aquatic mammal is not as smart as we thought (hint: rhymes with “caulpin”) … and your rhododendron may be a photosynthesizing Einstein. And what I.Q. means for A.I. We may be building our brilliant successors. Guests: •   Laurance Doyle – Senior researcher, SETI Institute •   Justin Gregg – Animal behaviorist, The Dolphin Communication Project, author of Are Dolphins Really Smart?: The mammal behind the myth •   Michael Pollan – Journalist, author of Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation and The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. His article, “The Intelligent Plant,” appeared in the December 23rd issue of The New Yorker •   Luke Muehlhauser – Executive Director of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute   First aired March 19, 2014

Michael Pollan The Trip Treatment: New Research on the Healing Properties of Psychedelics ~Co-presented and sponsored by Point Reyes Books~ How are we to judge the veracity of the insights gleaned during a psychedelic journey? It’s one thing to conclude that love is all that matters, but quite another to come away from a therapy convinced that “there is another reality” awaiting us after death, as one volunteer put it, or that there is more to the universe—and to consciousness—than a purely materialist world view would have us believe. Is psychedelic therapy simply foisting a comforting delusion on the sick and dying? So writes author and journalist Michael Pollan in his recent New Yorker article, “The Trip Treatment.” Join TNS Host Michael Lerner for a conversation with Michael Pollan about his research and thoughts—on the subject of new research on the healing properties of psychedelics, among others. Read Michael Pollan’s letter about his New Yorker article. Photo: Ken Light. Illustration: Stephan Doyle. Michael Pollan For the past 25 years, Michael has been writing books and articles about the places where nature and culture intersect: on our plates, in our farms and gardens, and in the built environment. He is the author of Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation (2013) and of four New York Times bestsellers: Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual (2010); In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto (2008); The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (2006) and The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World (2001). The Omnivore’s Dilemma was named one of the ten best books of 2006 by both the New York Times and the Washington Post. Michael grew up on Long Island and was educated at Bennington College, Oxford University, and Columbia University, from which he received a Master’s in English. He lives in the Bay Area with his wife, the painter Judith Belzer, and their son, Isaac. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Get ready for déjà vu as you listen to some of our favorite interviews in the past year. It’s our annual fundraising podcast. Come for the great interviews, stay for the great interviews. Lend us your support along the way. What’s for dinner? Maybe fried bugs. Listen as we do a taste test. Speaking of dinner, learn why saliva’s acceptable as long as it’s in our mouth. But dollop some into our own soup, and we push the bowl away. Hear adventures of space walking and of space hunting: what happens to the search for extrasolar planets now that the Kepler spacecraft is compromised, and an astronomy research project that takes our interviewer by surprise. Plus, the case for scrapping high school algebra. That’s right: No more “the first train leaves Cleveland at 4:00 pm …” problems. Also … why “The Simpsons” is chock-a-block with advanced math. And, in a world where everyone carries GPS technology in their pockets, will humans ever get lost again – and what’s lost if we don’t. Plus, Mary Roach gives us a tour of our digestive systems. All this and more on a special Big Picture Science podcast. Guests: Hiawatha Bray – Technology reporter, Boston Globe, author of You Are Here: From the Compass to GPS, the History and Future of How We Find Ourselves Chris Hadfield – Astronaut and author of An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything Geoff Marcy – Astronomer, University of California, Berkeley Andrew Hacker – Professor of political science and mathematics at Queens College, City University of New York. His article, “Is Algebra Necessary?”, appeared in The New York Times in 2012. Simon Singh – Science writer, author of The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets Mary Roach – Author, most recently, of Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal Jill Mikucki – Microbiologist at the University of Tennessee Michael Pollan – Journalist, author of Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation and The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals . His article, “The Intelligent Plant,” appeared in the December 23rd issue of The New Yorker. Descripción en español

The Paleo diet is hot. Those who follow it are attempting, they say, to mimic our ancient ancestors—minus the animal-skin fashions and the total lack of technology, of course. The adherents eschew what they believe comes from modern agriculture (wheat, dairy, legumes, for instance) and rely instead on meals full of meat, nuts, and vegetables—foods they claim are closer to what hunter-gatherers ate.The trouble with that view, however, is that what they’re eating is probably nothing like the diet of hunter-gatherers, says Michael Pollan, author of a number of best-selling books on food and agriculture, including Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation. "I don't think we really understand well the proportions in the ancient diet," argues Pollan on this week’s episode. "Most people who tell you with great confidence that this is what our ancestors ate—I think they're kind of blowing smoke."This week on the show, guest host Cynthia Graber has a wide-ranging conversation with Pollan that covers the science and history of cooking, the importance of microbes—tiny organisms such as bacteria—in our diet, and surprising new research on the intelligence of plants.This episode also features a discussion of the new popular physics book Trespassing on Einstein's Lawn, by Amanda Gefter, and new research suggesting that the purpose of sleep is to clean cellular waste substances out of your brain.Subscribe:itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/inquiring-minds/id711675943feeds.feedburner.com/inquiring-minds

This week we discuss a few of our favorite fermentation things. This is our annual stuff to buy issue. We share what kind of gifts to get for yourself or your loved ones this holiday, or any, season. We also talk skunks, scales, and upcoming events. Show notes: [Upcoming Events FermUp](http://fermup.com/events/) The Ginger-Beer Plant, and the Organisms Composing it: A Contribution to the Study of Fermentation-Yeasts and Bacteria [Kitchen Scale - Baker’s Math Kitchen Scale - KD8000 Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001NE0FU2/fermup-20) [3-Gallon Stoneware Pickling Crock Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B002P4LRCO/fermup-20) [Lodge Pro-Logic P14P3 Cast Iron Pizza Pan, Black, 14-inch Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000E2V3X/fermup-20) [Lodge LCC3 Logic Pre-Seasoned Combo Cooker Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0009JKG9M/fermup-20) [Elitech 110V All-Purpose Temperature Controller Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B008KVCPH2/fermup-20) [Johnson Controls Digital Thermostat Control Unit Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/Johnson-Controls-Digital-Thermostat-Control/dp/B00368D6JA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1387156665&sr=8-2&keywords=temperature+controller) [Aquatop GH150 Aquarium Submersible Glass Heater, 150-Watt Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B006MMJ8EE/fermup-20) [Kraut Kaps 3 Pack Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00B2B98K4/fermup-20) Weston Cabbage Shredder Camp Chef Single Burner Corning keg Mason Jar Beverage Dispenser for Kombucha or even Ginger Beer [Prepworks from Progressive GPC-4000 Fruit and Vegetable Chopper Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000F9JP3O/fermup-20) [Digital Gram Scale Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002ITQHS/fermup-20) [Pyrex Glass Measuring Cups Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00BSZJYY4/fermup-20) [Kombucha Brooklyn 32-oz Amber Growler Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B005Z76520/fermup-20) [Mercer Cutlery Genesis 6-Piece Forged Knife Block Set Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000IBU9FW/fermup-20) [TSM Products Stainless Steel Cabbage Slicer Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001IEEJ7C/fermup-20) [True Blues Medium Red Ultimate Household Gloves Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000MWFWZY/fermup-20) [Shin Sun Mi Korean Red Pepper Coarse Powder Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B005OJUSZE/fermup-20) [Organic Brown Rice Koji South River Miso](http://www.southrivermiso.com/store/p/13-Organic-Brown-Rice-Koji.html) Books as Gifts: The Art of Fermentation: An In-Depth Exploration of Essential Concepts and Processes from around the World: Sandor Ellix Katz, Michael Pollan: 9781603582865: Amazon.com: Books Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation: Michael Pollan: 9781594204210: Amazon.com: Books Tartine Book No. 3: Modern Ancient Classic Whole: Chad Robertson: 9781452114309: Amazon.com: Books Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza: Ken Forkish: 9781607742739: Amazon.com: Books Mastering Fermentation: Recipes for Making and Cooking with Fermented Foods: Mary Karlin: 9781607744382: Amazon.com: Books Real Food Fermentation: Preserving Whole Fresh Food with Live Cultures in Your Home Kitchen: Alex Lewin: 9781592537846: Amazon.com: Books Fermented: A Four Season Approach to Paleo Probiotic Foods: Jill Ciciarelli, Bill Staley, Diane Sanfilippo: 9781936608249: Amazon.com: Books The Kimchi Cookbook: 60 Traditional and Modern Ways to Make and Eat Kimchi: Lauryn Chun, Olga Massov: 9781607743354: Amazon.com: Books The Cheesemaker’s Apprentice: An Insider’s Guide to the Art and Craft of Homemade Artisan Cheese, Taught by the Masters: Sasha Davies, David Bleckmann: 9781592537556: Amazon.com: Books Artisan Cheese Making at Home: Techniques & Recipes for Mastering World-Class Cheeses: Mary Karlin, Ed Anderson: 9781607740087: Amazon.com: Books True Brews: How to Craft Fermented Cider, Beer, Wine, Sake, Soda, Mead, Kefir, and Kombucha at Home: Emma Christensen: 9781607743385: Amazon.com: Books The Art of Making Fermented Sausages: Stanley Marianski, Adam Marianski: 9780982426715: Amazon.com: Books Other Resources: Beer Kit #2 is a great starter package and includes ingredients for your first brew Mulled Red Wine, Syrup, Cider, Home Fragrance, Vinaigrette [Holiday Mulling Spices Cooking Channel](http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/kelsey-nixon/holiday-mulling-spices.html) [Craftsy Learn It. Make It.](http://www.craftsy.com/) [How-to Videos for Making Yogurt, Kefir, Kombucha, Sourdough, Cheese, Sauerkraut and more Cultures For Health](http://www.culturesforhealth.com/how-to-videos) [Cheesemaking Fundamentals Class Saturday January 25, 2014 Curds and Wine](http://www.curdsandwine.com/products/cheesemaking-class/cheesemaking-fundamentals-class-saturday-january-25-2014) Rate us on iTunes. Thanks for your support! Send your feedback to podcast@fermup.com or connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

Michael Pollan has literally changed the way we eat. The best-selling author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma," and one of the stars of the documentary "Food, Inc.", returns to the table with "Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation." In this "One on One," Pollan explains why the simple act of making - or not making - a meal changes everything, from the way we live now to the future of our species and planet.

Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation

In his new book, "Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation," Michael Pollan explores the previously uncharted territory of his own kitchen. Here, he discovers the power of the four classical elements—fire, water, air, and earth—to transform the stuff of nature into delicious things to eat and drink. "Cooked" becomes an investigation of how cooking involves us in a web of social and ecological relationships: with plants and animals, the soil, farmers, our history and culture, and, of course, the people our cooking nourishes. Cooking, above all, connects us.

Ginger beer plant, the world’s largest mozzarella ball, and Michael Pollan’s upcoming book release. This week we further our discussion on why we ferment or spend any time at all caring about food. Inspired by a few articles related to Michael Pollan’s upcoming book about cooking and fermenting, we discuss the philosophy and politics behind fermented food choices. Show notes: [Ginger Beer Plant Yahoo Groups](http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GingerBeerPlant/) A SCOBY of Saccharomyces florentinus and Lactobacillus hilgardii, ginger beer plant looks very similar to water kefir grains but are supposedly different. This yahoo group appears to the most extensive resource on this little known ferment. [Strange Brew CAA](http://alumni.berkeley.edu/news/california-magazine/spring-2012-piracy/strange-brew) This article explains a little more about the recent resurgence of ginger beer plan in the USA. Farmington Harmons tries to set world record for largest mozzarella ball Cheese mongers at a grocery store in Farmington, Utah attempt to set a World Record last week with the world’s largest mozzarella cheese ball. [Interview: Michael Pollan, Author Of ‘Cooked’ NPR](http://www.npr.org/2013/04/21/177501735/fire-water-air-earth-michael-pollan-gets-elemental-in-cooked) A brief six minute NPR interview segment with Michael Pollan. [Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation by Michael Pollan The Washington Post](http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/cooked-a-natural-history-of-transformation-by-michael-pollan/2013/04/18/ec87c17e-a396-11e2-9c03-6952ff305f35_story.html) A review by the Washington Post of Michael Pollan’s upcoming book. [Michael Pollan Cooks! NYTimes.com](http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/pollan-cooks/) Mark Bittman says that Michael Pollan should add “And cook them” to his famous food movement words, “Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly Plants.” [Cooked: A DIY Manifesto Medium](https://medium.com/culinary-literature/f767d50796c1) This is an excerpt from Michael Pollan’s book about Cooking (and fermenting). He writes about how cooking (and fermenting) transforms us from mere consumers into producers. [Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation by Michael Pollan Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1594204217/fermup-20) Please note that we will receive a small percentage of the sale if you use this link to purchase through Amazon. But this book will be available everywhere on April 23rd including the local bookstore near you! Want to leave a rating or review? Here’s the link to iTunes. Thanks for your support! Send your feedback to podcast@fermup.com or find us on Twitter @fermup, Facebook or Google+.