I just finished reading a book called ‘In Defense of Food’ by Michael Pollan, an incredible exposé on our relationship with food, and particularly the industry which has emerged to ‘support’ it. He cites the emergence of ‘Nutritionism’ as a defining factor. We no longer look at food as ‘food,’ but as a combination of its constituent parts. An exerpt from the book explains what this has led to: ‘The first thing to understand about nutritionism is that it is not the same thing as nutrition. As the ‘ism’ suggests, it is not a scientific subject, but an ideology. Ideologies are ways of organising large swaths of life and experience under a set of shared but unexamined assumptions. In the case of nutritionism, the widely shared but unexamined assumption is that the key to understanding food is indeed the nutrient. Put another way: Foods are essentially the sum of their nutrient parts. From this basic premise flow several others. Since nutrients, as compared with foods, are invisible and slightly mysterious, it falls to the scientists to explain the hidden reality of food to us. In form this is a quasireligious idea, suggesting the visible world is not the one that really matters, which implies the need for a priesthood. For to enter a world where your dietary salvation depends on unseen nutrients, you need plenty of expert help.’ Fascinating reading. There’s plenty of material available on Michael Pollan, who has produced plenty of books on the topic. Here’s a clip of a radio interview he made in support of ‘Food Rules.’
