Listen free for 30 days

  • In Defense of Food

  • An Eater's Manifesto
  • Written by: Michael Pollan
  • Narrated by: Scott Brick
  • Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (94 ratings)

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
In Defense of Food cover art

In Defense of Food

Written by: Michael Pollan
Narrated by: Scott Brick
Try for $0.00

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $30.70

Buy Now for $30.70

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

#1 New York Times Bestseller from the author of This is Your Mind on Plants, How to Change Your Mind, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and Food Rules

Food. There's plenty of it around, and we all love to eat it. So why should anyone need to defend it?

Because in the so-called Western diet, food has been replaced by nutrients, and common sense by confusion—most of what we’re consuming today is longer the product of nature but of food science. The result is what Michael Pollan calls the American Paradox: The more we worry about nutrition, the less healthy we see to become. With In Defense of Food, Pollan proposes a new (and very old) answer to the question of what we should eat that comes down to seven simple but liberating words: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Pollan’s bracing and eloquent manifesto shows us how we can start making thoughtful food choices that will enrich our lives, enlarge our sense of what it means to be healthy, and bring pleasure back to eating.

©2008 Michael Pollan (P)2008 Penguin Audiobooks

What the critics say

"Michael Pollan [is the] designated repository for the nation's food conscience."—Frank Bruni, The New York Times

"In this slim, remarkable volume, Pollan builds a convincing case not only against that steak dinner but against the entire Western diet."The Washington Post

"A tough, witty, cogent rebuttal to the proposition that food can be reduced to its nutritional components without the loss of something essential . . . [a] lively, invaluable book."—Janet Maslin, The New York Times

What listeners say about In Defense of Food

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    69
  • 4 Stars
    17
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    59
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    56
  • 4 Stars
    13
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Some good messages but very preachy

Having enjoyed The Botany of Desire, I was excited to give this a listen. Sadly it’s a book-long holier-than-thou rant as Pollan positions himself as an authority who knows better than everyone else about how to eat well - only he admits multiple times he’s no scientist or authority at all (save a trip here and there to a nutrition conference). Narrator had nasally, sardonic voice, and I’m not sure whether it contributed to my perceptions of this pretentiousness or nailed the tone of the book. I’m guessing the latter.

There are definitely some good ideas in here and it’s a useful book for practicing more mindfulness about eating habits (though common sense makes most of said ideas unoriginal). That said, I would have liked a little more of the anthropological dives into the relationships people have had with food over history that drew me in with Botany of Desire.

Instead, there’s a condescension towards American lifestyles without adequate acknowledgment about the economic systems in place making it difficult for families to buy “healthier” foods. He claims the majority of Americans can afford to spend more money on less food and encourages the buying or organic produce and the practice of cultivating gardens, but this advice comes from a place of privilege that he fails to acknowledge.

Also it really irked me that he failed to do thorough enough research to realize that “Indian”, “Aborigine”, and “Eskimo” are all outdated terms or straight up racial slurs for indigenous peoples. It just contributed to making the book feel sloppy.

TL;DR Save yourself 7 hours of an old white man preaching how he’s better than you and take the time to use common sense to improve your eating habits.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A profound new look at the western diet

Western “culture” (if you can even call it that) has changed and taken away from the one thing we always do, eat. Many lessons are to be learned from this book in an eaters education of food and what they put in their bodies. Utterly brilliant and entertaining read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A lot of great information!

I found this book very enjoyable and it offered a wealth of valuable insights to think about regarding our food choices.

Highly recommended for everyone and anyone, as we all have to eat and the information in this book can be beneficial for anyone who is willing to give it a try :)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

ok information, annoying voice

The information is interesting. It gives a brief historical review of how we got to our "nutritionism" attitude towards diet and offers logical suggestions to get back to a normal and healthy relationship with food (nothing we should instinctivelyknow). Unfortunately, the voice reads with the tone you would expect from a Shakespear monolog, which made it hard to get through.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A life changer book on food and diet

Micheal Pollan is a genius using a journalistic approche seeking the answers of those two questions: why food made us so fat over the last decades and what should we eat to be healthy. This book is a game changer. It explains why the « real food » has to be defended from the « food industry » and even from experts and scientists. You will understand what went wrong with our food over the last decades and why the « edible food-like substances » that fills our grocery stores and our fast-food restaurants that we confise with real food made us fat and completely unsatisfied with what we eat. And most important, you will have all the guidelines you need to radically change the way you eat and get healthier, leaner and for the first time in your life, in peace with food.

The conclusion of this book is quite simple: EAT REAL UNPROCESSED WHOLE FOODS THAT YOU HAVE COOKED YOURSELF, NOT TO MUCH QUANTITIES, MOSTLY PLANTS WITH LIMITED AMOUNT OF MEAT.

By understanding why processed foods made by a money-driven industry are so bad for us with there obsession to make profits with there highly addictive palatable foods made with mostly from cheap and shelf stable ingredients that are refined sugar, refined carbs, unhealthy fats, salt and many other chemicals, you will be able to make a radical change in what you eat. Replacing water in our foods by those ingredients makes it non-perishable and almost eternal. But is it still food? Why even molds don’t want to eat that stuff? Did you know that the industrial grain-based diet that replace the algae and grass-based diet of our fish, cows and other animals has completely unbalance our ratio intake of omega-3 fatty acids (antiinflammatory) and omega-6 fatty acids (proinflammatory)? Knowing that, will you choose grass-feed beef even if it’s a bite pricier? Those are the types of eye-opener provided in this book.

In a matter of weeks after reading and re-reading this book, I have completely change the way I see food, the food I buy, the energy I put in cooking and the appreciation of a good family meal. Doing that, I have lost a lot of weight, I am healthier and most of all I feel completely satiated. This book had change my life. Let me know if it has changed yours by sending me an email at simonletendre@cableamos.com

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!