It has to have elaborate packaging to even tell you it’s healthy, and that suggests unnecessary processing. The reason is that it’s usually going to be bigger food corporations that have invested in research, which may or may not be valid. Some of the wisdom is more counter-intuitive, such as “avoid food products that make health claims”. Or if we prepare treats ourselves, such as making our own ice cream or fried chicken, the amount of work involved will guarantee that we only have them occasionally. “Eat when you’re hungry, not when you’re bored.” Pollan puts a practical spin on things by suggesting we snack on natural foods such as fruit or nuts. Much of the advice here is stuff we already know but fail to observe, such as keeping treats as treats or avoiding snacking between meals. If you can’t imagine it growing, is it really food? Rather than attempting to understand all those unpronounceable additives and what their purpose and health effects are, how about making a simple general rule: if you wouldn’t stock it and use it as a cupboard ingredient, why eat food that includes it? By eating food, we’re talking about eating real identifiable food, rather than the ‘food-like substances’ of modern convenience. The book’s three chapters elaborate on this maxim. Unlike most journalistic enquiries, “the picture got simpler the deeper I went”, leading Pollan to a seven word summary: “Eat food.

“I’m not a nutrition expert or a scientist” he writes, “just a curious journalist hoping to answer a straightforward question for myself and my family” – what to eat? Many of them aren’t his, but are ‘curated’ from folk wisdom, traditional diets and grandmotherly advice. Pollan’s rules are more like ‘personal policies’ for eating well, presented in accessible language. Despite the name of the book, I thought this might help.

I’m also trying to encourage good eating habits in my children without burdening them with a puritanical approach to manners and nutrition. I’ve been meaning to read it for a while. While I was there I picked up a copy of Michael Pollan’s Food Rules to read on the train.

I popped into Blackwells bookshop in Edinburgh to do some location scouting – we’re having a book launch event there on January 30 th and if you’re in the area, consider yourself invited. Last week I was in Scotland for a series of work meetings.

Pollan food rules