Pollan, Michael

An author, journalist, editor, educator, and professor of journalism, Michael Pollan (1955–) is one of the most eloquent champions of the contemporary food reform movement. For the last twenty years, he has been advocating for a more diversified, localized, and sustainable food system through his writings and public speaking. His 2006 best seller, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, has been referred to as “the bible of the sustainable food movement.” He himself describes his work as “writing about the places where nature and culture intersect: on our plates, in our farms and gardens, and in the built environment.” Pollan’s work builds on a long tradition of nature writers in American literature. He has most notoriously discussed transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, and has invited comparisons with environmentalists Rachel Carson and Frances Moore Lappé. His food activism equally links him to health reformer Jerome I. Rodale of Organic Gardening and Farming magazine.