It's a fine essay. But the thing that most struck me about Michael Pollan's "Unhappy Meals" is when he writes about vegetables. Fruit and vegetables don't make any health claims, they just sit in the produce racks, he explains.
He clearly hasn't been to a UK supermarket recently, where everything remotely green is festooned with five a day advice. Further down of course, is the real heart of this article; the bitter truth that also bedevils the five a day campaign. What is it?
If you want to be healthier, you should eat more green vegetables.
He uses the slightly less loaded term 'leaves'; appropriately for salad obsessed America. But honestly, broccoli, cabbage, green beans and asparagus are all just fine too. Even peas as long as you eat them in moderation.
But a lot of this diet stuff boils down to:
Only Eat Food.
Vegetables are food. Meat is food. Cakes are not food. Crisps are not food. And so on.
I had peas in my brown basmati rice today. Just a handful.