Cooked by Michael Pollan

Cooked is Michael Pollan's latest book.

Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation by Michael Pollan --- 468 pages

Bestselling author Michael Pollan (named one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time Magazine in 2010) is a long time contributor to the New York Times, and the Knight Professor of Journalism at the University of California - Berkeley.

Ranging across history, myth, science, technology, psychology and his own kitchen, Pollan explores the relationship between people, culture and food. In this book he uses the four classical elements: fire, water, air and earth, to reflect on how the raw stuff of nature is transformed into nourishment for the body and the spirit. What the reader learns, along with Pollan, is how cooking connects us in a web of relationships: with plants and animals, farms and farmers, history and culture, and with the family and friends who gather around our tables.

He argues that relying on industrial agriculture and large corporations to process the food we eat is not only unhealthy, but also severs us from our environment and disrupts our sense of community. The first and most important step towards a healthier and more sustainable life for each of us and all of us is to step back into the kitchen and re-claim the act of cooking.

Pollan's previous books include Food Rules, In Defense of Food, The Omnivore's Dilemma and The Botany of Desire.