Michael Pollan Quotes

Yesterday in this country we had people die of hunger and malnutrition. In some parts of this country, the infant mortality rate rivals that of sub-Saharan Africa. We have a public education system that ranks below that of almost any other Western nation.

The lack of access to proper nutrition is not only fueling obesity, it is leading to food insecurity and hunger among our children.

It's difficult to believe that people are still starving in this country because food isn't available.

People are overweight and starving at the same time. It's a tragedy for both the individual and society.

As a chef, I always have in mind how to properly feed the public, but at times it's easy to forget that some people have trouble even getting any food, much less adequate nutrition.

Nobody in this country, the richest on Earth, should ever go hungry.

I participate in the SNAP Challenge to raise awareness about the millions of people in our communities who struggle with hunger on a daily basis despite living in the most prosperous nation ever known.

Really, the only way to face the biggest problems we have is for the government to change the way they subsidize food. The way we subsidize food makes it cheaper to go to McDonald's and get a hamburger than a salad, and that's insane.

I wish anyone in this world could go to his fridge and pick whatever he wants. Because the day you open your fridge and there is nothing in it, it is difficult.

Close to a billion people - one-eighth of the world's population - still live in hunger. Each year 2 million children die through malnutrition. This is happening at a time when doctors in Britain are warning of the spread of obesity. We are eating too much while others starve.

We take food for granted, but it isn't a luxury for many people.

We talk about, you know, diet and that we shouldn't give our kids big things and obesity and fast food. Well, you know there are people who don't have that problem because they're not getting any food! We have so many deep problems and issues facing humanity.

When food prices surge, poor families suddenly find themselves unable to afford enough nutritious food. If this happens during the first thousand days of a child's life, the damage to his or her body and mind can be permanent.

The interesting thing is, while we die of diseases of affluence from eating all these fatty meats, our poor brethren in the developing world die of diseases of poverty, because the land is not used now to grow food grain for their families.

There is no reason, in the capital city of the richest country in the world, for anybody to be hungry.

I went to Ethiopia, and it dawned on me that you can tell a starving, malnourished person because they've got a bloated belly and a bald head. And I realized that if you come through any American airport and see businessmen running through with bloated bellies and bald heads, that's malnutrition, too.

There's the issue of hunger, and there's an issue of if you're going to cut out food programs. We should be focusing on healthy food. Right now, fruits and vegetables are very expensive. So what can we do on the policy side to bring the cost of fruits and vegetables down?

Hunger could not exist but through violation of economic laws and fundamental principles of social justice.

Hunger in America is an American problem. The hunger of one should be the concern of all. Especially the hunger of children - our children.

I'm very concerned about U.S. food policy.

Food insecurity is not remotely the same as hunger.

When I was at school, you could tell the demography of children by how thin they were. You could see by looking at their eyes.

Food poverty comes in two strands. The first is not having enough money to buy food for yourself and your family. The second is poverty of education.

Famine is a consequence of poverty.

Food is such a basic need, and it is unfathomable to me that people still do not have adequate access.