Food Rules by Michael Pollan Penguin, HK$88
Readers may wonder what Michael Pollan intends for the main course in Food Rules. The slim volume offers 64 tips in three parts: What should I eat? (Eat food); What kind of food should I eat? (Mostly plants); and How should I eat? (Not too much). Much of the 'advice', however, wastes paper. A whole page, for example, is taken up by #7: Avoid food containing ingredients a third-grader can't pronounce, which is part of the book's raison d'etre. Eating has become needlessly complicated, Pollan says, with words such as antioxidant and probiotics becoming part of our lexicon. In trying to show how simple a healthy diet can be, he contrasts the so-called Western diet with ones that rely on the wisdom of mothers and grandmothers - that is, on tradition and culture (think French, Japanese, Italian and Greek). In the third section, he urges reducing portions by eating and drinking from small plates and cups. And so the obvious titbits continue, most of them suggestions from New York Times readers who responded to his plea for pointers. Nothing will surprise in Food Rules. But that's probably the point: eat real food, not ethoxylated diglycerides or calcium propionate.
