Michael Pollan

Michael Pollan at Greenmarket in Union Sq. is interviewed by NBC

The interview lasted about 20 minutes. The traffic noise on the street was so loud that I couldn't hear the questions but I suspect they were even softer than what Larry King, our primetime verbal voyeur, might come up with.  Besides, I had a question of my own so I took photographs as I waited for NBC to conclude.

Several minutes after the interview ended, with two people before me, I got my turn to thank him;  I told him how much I enjoyed Power Steer, a piece he'd written for the New York Times Magazine, about his buying a calf and following it through the feedlot process until its slaughter at an industrial abattoir.  It was refreshing to read of how a carnivore critiqued the agri-factory meat business and it was so much more credible than if Mr. Pollan had been a vegan telling the same story.

He politely, but disinterestedly, listened to me as a celebrity would listen to a fan's adulation, but he brightened when I mentioned his book The Botany of Desire and told him how much I liked how he questioned agency there.  To wit and in my case, did I choose sheep to raise or did sheep choose me to raise them.  Was I the agent, the actor who decides, or were they.  The question that is central to The Botany of Desire is "Who is really domesticating whom," the farmer or what she farms?

"Ah, so you see," he smiled. "Yes, you've made me wonder," I said, but I have a question for you.  He looked at me expectantly.  "Given that 100% grass-fed livestock is healthier than 100% grain-fed livestock raised in feedlots, then is 100% grass-fed healthier than 90% grass-fed/10% grain-fed, or another high grass/low grain ratio for example?  Where is the science that proves or disproves this?"

He gave me some anecdotal explanations but he did not point to any conclusive studies.

In fairness to him, the circumstances were such: We were on the street, our time together was limited, I'm sure he had an itinerary, and I had to get back to my stand.  Perhaps, I will email him  to continue the discussion; hopefully, he won't be too busy to reply.  Michael Pollan is a sought after speaker as he is the most important person in American food today.

In parting, we shook hands and I said, "I must thank my sheep for getting me over here to meet you."  He beamed.