What the Ultimate Food Expert Eats for Dinner
For years writer Michael Pollan has told us what to put on our plates. ("Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants," he famously wrote.) Now he's learning what cooking is really all about: slowing down, enjoying the process, and filling the kitche
Photo: Coral Von Zumwalt
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Pollan says that learning to be a better cook has changed his life in ways he didn't expect. He has bonded with Isaac over homemade beer (they have a carboy of home brew bubbling in the basement), he eats out less often (on nights when she's been away, Judith says, she sometimes comes home to find Pollan eating a three-course meal he's made just for himself), and, perhaps most surprisingly, he has come to view the aspects of food preparation that used to seem like a chore as calming, grounding, and sometimes even meditative. "Cooking is how we transform nature into culture," he says. "It's a really profound thing—a spiritual thing. For me, transcending this idea that it's drudgery is important."
Pollan laughs. "So when I realized it was possible for me to enjoy chopping onions, I knew I'd passed over into a different place."
Catherine Price is the author of 101 Places Not to See Before You Die (Harper Perennial).
Vibrant Recipes from Michael Pollan's Kitchen
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