What To Eat

Today I thought I'd share a book I just read and liked a lot, one that fits in with the "good food' theme. It's called What To Eat, and it's by the nutritionist Marion Nestle.

Basically, this book tells you everything you could ever want to know about the food on grocery store shelves. Have you have ever been confused about what exactly that "organic" label entails? Sure, for plants it's straightforward. But what about for eggs or beef? Or seafood? Do you have a strong conviction that most popular diets are ridiculous, but you couldn't tell someone why exactly they could never work? Do you wonder about what kind of oil to cook with? Or whether your fear of margarine and diet soda is irrational? This book answered just about every question I had about food, and I thought the author did a great job at presenting a ton of information in a very accessible way. I feel like, after reading it, I'm a much more knowledgeable consumer.

For the most part, the book is geared toward helping readers make informed decisions when they go to the grocery store--it's very practical. But a theme throughout was the lack of consumer protections regarding food safety. Especially scary is how meat companies have been able to push virtually the entire burden of infection prevention upon their customers. Straightforward, sensible, and relatively inexpensive methods that could prevent a staggering number of infections are not implemented so that these companies can save a little money. Thanks for looking out for us, FDA! After reading this book, I'm definitely more wary of cooking with meat and feeding it to my kids. Another reason to minimize the amount of meat in our diets I guess. Sigh.

-Kristin