Pollan on politics. Pollan on business?

Monday, March 9th, 2009, 6:19 pm PDT

Michael Pollan, who recently authored “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto” (a book I’d definitely recommend reading if you want an informational book without relying on speculative experimental findings) wrote an open letter last October to then President-Elect Obama: An Open Letter to the Next Farmer in Chief (8,253 words). It’s rich with both food and food policy information, and argues pretty convincingly that solving food problems will alleviate problems across many other political categories.

As an author, he is already doing a great job helping lots of people find healthy diets, but I’ve got to wonder what would happen if he tried opening a line of grocery stores. I’d imagine the stores would compete with Whole Foods, but probably would have even stricter selections, where all food would be local, and even more, if not all, would be organic. He could assure suppliers follow the guidelines he discusses, and hold indoors weekly farmers markets. Maybe it’s just that writing is his best way of spreading the word, hopefully inspiring people to make the right choices themselves, but damn, a Pollan grocery store would be convenient. ∞ via Chloe Rote