Michael Pollan

At a glance

• Michael Pollan is an American journalist and author on food, agriculture and plants. He teaches at Harvard University and at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.
• In The Omnivore’s Dilemma (2006) he traced four meals back to their source, from industrial corn to foraged mushrooms.
• In Defense of Food (2008) summed up his advice in seven words: ‘Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.’ Food Rules (2009) turned it into simple rules of thumb.
• Cooked (2013), on the value of cooking for yourself, became a Netflix series, as did How to Change Your Mind (2018), on psychedelics.
• In 2020 he co-founded the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics, where he leads the public-education programme.
• For longevity, his simple principles closely match what large nutrition studies show about healthy eating patterns.
• Takeaway: cook more often with real ingredients, eat mostly plants and be wary of products with long ingredient lists.