The Program in Human Biology is organizing a lecture by author/journalist Michael Pollan. What should we eat? is a question most people for most of history have had little trouble answering. You ate what tradition (aka your mother) and nature dictated. Now, we have something called "nutritionism," an ideology promoted by science, the food industry, government and the media that has hopelessly confused the issue and done nothing for our health, except to make it worse. Pollan traces the rise and triumph of nutritionism and the Western Diet, before proposing an alternative approach to eating that promises to improve both our health and the health of the environment. Pollan has been writing books and articles for the last 20 years about places where the human and natural worlds intersect. He is a the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Omnivore's Dilemma. This event is co-sponsored by the VPUE, Ethics in Society, Center on Ethics, Stanford Hospital and Clinics, Residential Education and the Charles F. Riddell Fund. The Stanford Bookstore will be attending with copies of books for sale.