Sally Fallon's open letter to Michael Pollan

[dirtgirl]

I just finally sat down to read Sally Fallon's open letter to Michael Pollan in the current issue of the WAPF magazine. Hoooo boy, do I hope he responds openly and takes her suggestions! I loved the Omnivore's Dilemma, but I also felt let down after I read it. I agree that it was a lost opportunity to really educate people. What do others think?

[Nikki98]

Do you have a link to the letter, is it available to view on the web somewhere? I would love to read it .

[AJP]

When did you get this issue? I've seen it mentioned here twice in the last couple of weeks, and I don't have it yet. Is it the summer 2007 issue?

[Chicharronita]

Originally Posted by AJP

When did you get this issue? I've seen it mentioned here twice in the last couple of weeks, and I don't have it yet. Is it the summer 2007 issue?

Yes, it's in the Summer issue. The letter is under the "President's Message."

Unfortunately, for those of you who are not WAPF members, it takes a while for articles in recent issues of "Wise Traditions" to be posted on the WAPF website. The forty dollar membership fee is well-worth the quarterly journal, IMO.

In this issue, I really enjoyed the article on the Mongolian traditional diet.

[JElaineB]

For those of us who aren't members can you summarize what the letter said? I heard a bit of a lecture Michael Pollan gave to a college audience (saw it on a university channel on TV) and in the short time I watched I definitely saw some lost opportunities.

[pampered_mom]

Yes...please...because although I am a member we recently moved and who knows when I'll get it in the mail (sold our house and moved too quickly to change the address).

[Taedareth]

Was Sally's letter really confrontational and brusque?

[kdmama33]

Originally Posted by Taedareth

Was Sally's letter really confrontational and brusque?

Knowing her other work, I'm sure it was.

I haven't seen the letter yet, but I'm not really looking forward to reading it. Honestly, I'd be happier if Sally Fallon wasn't so much a part of the Traditional Foods movement. She's sanctimonious and off-putting, and I really don't think she's the kind of ambassador the TF movement needs in order for it to really reach the number of people it absolutely needs to reach.

I read The Omnivore's Dilemma, and I thought it was excellent. You have to remember your target audience as a writer, and I believe Michael Pollan has a good line on who his target audience is. And it's not the members of WAPF, nor the other hardcore TF enthusiast. That would be like preaching to the choir, don't you think?

[pampered_mom]

Originally Posted by kdmama33

I read The Omnivore's Dilemma, and I thought it was excellent. You have to remember your target audience as a writer, and I believe Michael Pollan has a good line on who his target audience is. And it's not the members of WAPF, nor the other hardcore TF enthusiast. That would be like preaching to the choir, don't you think?

I would certainly agree with you here. Michael Pollan's book is actually what got me headed down the TF route b/c he was really the first more "mainstream" writer that touched on some of the TF values I think many of us can agree upon. He was the first person that I read who suggested that I didn't just have to be veg*n or eat a very industrial foods diet. That there was actually another choice AND that one could be every bit as mindful about what they were eating.

[AJP]

If she really wants it to be an open letter, she should have it posted online. I hope to see a dialogue between them about whatever her issues are.

For those of you who have received the summer issue, how long have you had it? I find it irritating that I always seem to receive mine weeks after some other people, based on mentions of stories from the journal here.

I admit I'm already feeling irked that she would scold Michael Pollan, he's one of my favorite authors ever (long before he wrote OD). I do think he needs to dig deeper into the good fat/bad fat/cholesterol issue, but I find it annoying that SF and the WAPF often seem to dismiss out-of-hand anyone who doesn't 100% toe their line, and in the process alienate many potential allies. If this is how the letter to Pollan comes across when I finally get to read it, it's going to be yet another black mark on my list of grievances with them.

[HerbanGirl]

I haven't received my issue yet, either...I wonder why it takes so long?

I just finished The Omnivore's Dilemma, and I loved it. I like Sally Fallon and WAPF and I appreciate their commitment to excellence in disseminating information, but I think it's important to have more moderate voices in the TF movement like Michael Pollan and Nina Planck, too. I usually recommend Nina Planck's book to clients and friends who are interested in TF, because it's a softer and friendlier introduction to the concepts. But I don't know of a source more complete than NT and it's almost always my second (or first) recommendation.

[dirtgirl]

Hmm...I definitely agree that we need moderate voices in the movement, however, it's more important that the information being disseminated is accurate. I think the letter was confrontational in a healthy way. I wish I could post a link because I found the whole thing to be like a breath of fresh air. Don't get me wrong, I love Michael Pollan and I loved the Omnivore's Dilemma, but I do agree that it was somewhat of a missed opportunity to introduce some relatively simple and easy-to-sell basics of nutrition such as BUTTER (not to mention some of the evils of the industrial soy industry). The book, as SF points out, has not one bit of butter in any of the four meals. She made a lot of good points in a very intelligent way, and I respect both her and MP, so I'm excited to see what comes of it.

[HerbanGirl]

I'm excited and interested to read it too! I wish my summer issue would get here already!

[kdmama33]

Maybe that's my problem. I don't have a lot of respect left for Sally Fallon.

I am interested in reading the article. Whenever I actually get my copy, that is.

[avendesora]

I'll post my 2c.

I read OD at the same time as I was discovering about TFs. I wouldn't call myself a TFoodist - I'm a recent ex-vegetarian who now is having grassfed beef twice a month, and we do drink raw milk. We eat a lot of whole foods. I make our own bread with a slow rise. That's about the extent of the TF here.

I read OD and I loved it. I started to read some of what Sally Fallon wrote online, and found it totally off-putting. I might be more into TF if it weren't for her.

As a recent ex-vegetarian, I found it very insulting. Rather than saying "Vegetarians are wrong" (I know she doesn't say that per se, but that's the tone I've gathered) I'd feel much more welcomed if she said, "Vegetarians are right to be concerned about factory farmed animals. But maybe they would be interested to know that there are alternatives to factory farms..."

What really drew me in were the descriptions of how animal farming can be very sustainable.

I knew enough while reading OD to ignore what he said about high fat foods. BTW, I wouldn't say our culture is "wrong" about the "dangers" of high fat foods. When you're considering what fats are consumed by SADists, most of them are high toxin fats. I would say our culture is just - not specific enough when it talks about the dangers of high fat foods. High fat foods, if they come from natural sources (grass fed, coconut, etc) are beneficial, but the high fat foods in the SAD diet are truly dangerous.

Aven

[zzwhitejd]

Very well put Avendesora! I am not a vegetarian, but I have some reservations against SF as well. I just wish she was better at couching things. She is indeed WAY to confrontational. I do consider myself one who is learning about and starting to practice more NT, but seriously wish someone else was at the helm....

[avent]

Originally Posted by dirtgirl

Hmm...I definitely agree that we need moderate voices in the movement

I think that will happen w/TF. Usually a movement starts with more forceful and fringe types and then the moderates move in later to make the change more palatable to others. At least that's been my experience.

[AJP]

I finally got my issue of WT and read the letter. It's not as annoying as I feared it would be. SF makes good points, mostly things I noticed while reading Omnivore's Dilemma and set aside as "nobody's perfect". I kind of doubt that if MP had gone off in any detail in all those other directions about the specifics of nutrition that the book would have been as wildly successful as it has been. I think it would not have been as effective at shifting the thinking of so many mainstream people into a healthier, more connected, more real relationship with food. I really hope there is a public dialogue between these two, that he accepts her challenge to delve into these issues more deeply and writes about it.

I still think that if she wants it to be a truly open letter, she should post it on the website now, linked on the front page, instead of waiting for all the copies of this issue of WT to sell out (which I believe is when they put the articles online typically). That way it would be accessible to anyone with a computer, instead of only WAPF members, and would be truly "open".