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As eaters we find ourselves increasingly in the grip of a Nutritional Industrial Complex – comprised of well- meaning, if error- prone, scientists and food marketers only too eager to exploit every shift in the nutritional consensus. Together, and with some crucial help from the government, they have constructed an ideology of nutritionism that, among other things, has convinced us of three pernicious myths: that what matters most is not the food but the “nutrient”; that because nutrients are invisible and incomprehensible to everyone but scientists, we need expert help in deciding what to eat; and that the purpose of eating is to promote a narrow concept of physical health. Because food in this view is foremost a matter of biology, it follows that we must try to eat “scientifically” – by the nutrient and the number and under the guidance of experts.
~ In Defense of Food By Michael Pollan
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