The return to real food

Just as Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution is spreading the word about why our kids should eat fresh food in place of nuggets, fries and burgers, US author and journalism professor Michael Pollan is on the ‘real food’ cause. It’s one I wholeheartedly support.

Like Jamie, he urges us to cook home-cooked meals from scratch. But he also wants us to know more about where our food comes from, steer away from manufactured foods and additives and buy food that’s grown locally, organic where possible.

Michael wants us to source foods at farmers’ markets where you can talk to the people who grow your food. His message is simple. ‘Eat real food. Not edible food-like substances,’ he says.

In his latest book Food Rules, Michael shares what he’s learnt into 64 simple rules. Things such as:
• ‘Shop the periphery of the supermarket and stay out of the middle’ – where the snack packs and biscuits are stocked.
• ‘Avoid foods that contain more than five ingredients.’
• ‘Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants’, is one of his most memorable rules and sums up his food philosophy of eating home-cooked food in smallish portions to avoid obesity, and not overdoing the meat.

Healthy tip
Michael Pollan is a big fan of freezing local meat, soups and slow-cooked meals.

Recipe
To get back to real food, try this delicious Organic chicken and vegetables with almond lemon gremolata recipe

Catherine Saxelby is an accredited nutritionist and dietitian and author of nine books, foodwatch.com.au