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michael pollan
FRI, FEB 2 | DELL HALL | 8PM
"One Writer's Trip—From the Garden to the
Plate and the Beyond"
Author and journalist Michael Pollan has made it big by taking
it back to basics. Plant basics, that is. He's talking a new kind of
foodie fascination—a term that makes Pollan uncomfortable himself
though applicable, nonetheless. It's simple, he says, "Eat food. Not
too much. Mostly plants."
is is Pollan's own creed that echoes throughout his five books about
humans, food and the multitude of ways the two intersect—three of
them New York Times bestsellers. You might recognize him from "In
Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" or "e Omnivore's Dilemma:
A Natural History of Four Meals," or even "Cooked," now a popular
Netflix series.
For his February appearance in Austin, Pollan will strike an
autobiographical tone, starting from his first oreau and Emerson-
influenced horticultural disaster to the garden, the farm, the table and
beyond, as he describes the give-and-take that is human engagement
with the natural world, including how certain plants and fungi can
affect our conscious state. What does it mean that a mushroom can
occasion a mystical experience? What value do such experiences have
for the individual, the culture, and the plants and fungi involved?
e talk will include brief readings from several of Pollan's previous
books and work in progress. ■
LONG CENTER PRESENTS 2017-2018 W I N T E R/S P R I N G S E A S O N 8
MICHAEL POLLAN (PHOTO BY FRAN COLLIN)