Michael Pollan emphasizes the therapeutic benefits of gardening, providing mental clarity and an opportunity for self-reflection.
Pollan encourages mindful eating, advocating for a sustainable and healthy approach to food, emphasizing the importance of cooking and enjoying home-cooked meals.
Deep dives
Writer and activist Michael Pollan featured in Desert Island Discs podcast
Michael Pollan, a renowned writer and activist, is the guest on the Desert Island Discs podcast. Pollan discusses his lifelong passion for gardening and exploring the relationship between nature and contemporary life. He shares insights into his research on the impact of plants on our bodies and minds, highlighting the effects of caffeine, opium, and psychedelics. Pollan also reflects on his experiences as a gardener and the lessons he's learned about our place in nature. Throughout the episode, Pollan selects and discusses the music that holds personal significance for him.
Pollan's immersive approach to writing
Pollan explains his immersive approach to writing, where he becomes an active participant in the topics he explores. For instance, he bought a cow to research the cattle industry and built a writing hut while examining architecture. He believes that firsthand experiences offer unique perspectives and opportunities for deeper understanding. By engaging in various activities related to his writing, Pollan aims to convey his ideas more vividly to his readers.
The transformative power of gardening
Pollan describes how gardening allows the mind to wander and provides a space for creative thinking. He emphasizes the therapeutic benefits of gardening, which offer mental clarity and an opportunity for self-reflection. Pollan also reflects on his childhood gardening experiences, where he discovered the miracle of creating something valuable from sunlight, water, and soil. Gardening has become an essential aspect of his life, allowing him to contemplate our relationship with nature and our role in shaping it.
Pollan's perspective on food and agriculture
Pollan discusses his views on food production and the importance of mindful eating. He encourages people to eat food, not too much, mostly plants, emphasizing the need for a sustainable and healthy approach to food. Pollan delves into his writing journey, evolving from an impartial observer to a vocal advocate for change in the food industry. He addresses the criticism he faced from big agribusiness corporations and highlights the significance of cooking and enjoying home-cooked meals as a way to promote health, sustainability, and family connections.
Michael Pollan’s award-winning writing about plants, nature and food combines anthropology and philosophy with culture, health and natural history. Time Magazine has named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world and his maxim to ‘Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants.’ is a central tenet of the sustainable food movement.
Michael grew up in suburban Long Island, USA, and planted his first garden when he was eight-years-old. He was an intern at the Village Voice newspaper in New York while he was a student and after he graduated he joined Harper’s Magazine as an editor where he worked with the writer Tom Wolfe among others.
Michael’s first book Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education is a collection of essays about gardening and his later titles, including the Botany of Desire and the Omnivore’s Dilemma, addressed modern methods of food production and argued that in an era of fast and processed food, basic cooking skills were being lost. Recently, Michael has written about the use of psychedelic drugs as a potential treatment for some mental health conditions, such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Michael is professor of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2020 he co-founded the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics. Michael is married to the artist Judith Belzer and they live in California.
DISC ONE: Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) by Harry Belafonte
DISC TWO: The Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel
DISC THREE: Going Up the Country by Canned Heat
DISC FOUR: Cheek to Cheek by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald
DISC FIVE: Shady Grove by Jerry Garcia and David Grisman
DISC SIX: California by Joni Mitchell
DISC SEVEN: Tomorrow Never Knows by The Beatles
DISC EIGHT: Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: I. Prélude, composed by J.S Bach and performed by Yo-Yo Ma
BOOK CHOICE: Ulysses by James Joyce
LUXURY ITEM: Dark chocolate
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: I. Prélude, composed by J.S Bach and performed by Yo-Yo Ma
Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley
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