Michael Pollan: One Writer’s Trip

From the Sustainable Food Center –

The Long Center presents Michael Pollan: One Writer’s Trip – From the Garden to the Plate and the Beyond, Friday, February 2 in Dell Hall.

In this autobiographical talk, Michael Pollan tells the story of the path his thinking and writing have taken since he first planted a vegetable garden under the unfortunate influence of Thoreau and Emerson. Beginning with that horticultural disaster, his work has evolved into an exploration of human engagement with the natural world. But rather than go to “the wild” in search of nature, as Americans typically do, Pollan has focused on nature as we find it closer to home: the garden, the farm, the table, and most recently, the altered states of consciousness that certain plants and fungi allow us to achieve. 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? The talk will include brief readings from several of Pollan’s previous books and a work in progress.

Tickets can be purchased here.

Michael Pollan is a professor, journalist, and author of five books including In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, and Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation (now a popular Netflix series).