Michael Pollan will be appearing at a fundraising event at Zingerman's Roadhouse on April 11.

Photo by Ken Light

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants." According to Michael Pollan, these are the most important rules to consider when choosing your next meal. A journalist whose explorations into food, sustainability, ethics and health have made him one of the most revered and oft-quoted advocates of the sustainable food movement, Pollan has been explaining and expounding upon these rules for the past decade. He'll be doing just that on Sunday, April 11 when he appears at a fundraising event at Zingerman's Roadhouse in Ann Arbor.

Sunday's event is the brainchild of Michigan-based filmmaker, organizer and advocate Chris Bedford.

"I've worked informally with Michael on a couple of things," Bedford said. "I saw that he was coming to Lansing on the 12th, so I emailed him to see if he might want to stop in Ann Arbor for an event on his way up from the Detroit airport. I knew it was a long shot, but Michael was willing, and even offered to donate his time."

Bedford's next calls were to Kim Bayer from Ann Arbor's Homegrown Festival and Local Food Summit, and Kris Kaul from Edible Avalon.

"Community is the most important resource of the 21st century," said Bedford. "Not just with each other, but community with life and the soil. Edible Avalon creates community by inviting neighbors to cultivate food gardens that provide healthy food to people in need. And the Homegrown Festival and Local Food Summit create a community between the land, the people who grow food, and the people who enjoy it."

"This is a great opportunity to raise the visibility of these organizations," said Homegrown Festival organizer Bayer, "while at the same time spreading the word about community food security."

Food security and community are sure to be topics discussed by Pollan on Sunday evening. In an e-mail interview with AnnArbor.com, Pollan talked about these and a few other topics that were on his mind.

Q: When you came up with the line: "Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants," did you have any idea the kind of traction it would get?
A: No idea. But I was an English major and it sounded good to my ear.

Q: You're a journalist, but you're often called upon to fill the role of food activist. Is that a difficult line to walk, or are you equally comfortable in both roles?
A: Yes, it can be awkward, but even when I’m writing advocacy pieces, I feel a strong compunction to honor the codes of journalism — not necessarily to be objective, which is impossible, but fair — and to air opposing views as generously as possible.

Q: Was there a crucial moment for you that changed your perspective on food and industrial agriculture?
A: Yes. Spending time on a cattle feedlot and then on a 15,000-acre potato farm in Idaho; both blew my mind and made me realize most of us have no idea where our food is coming from.

Q: You make the argument that the industrial agriculture model we're following is not sustainable. In your opinion, how much of the responsibility for change needs to come from the individual and how much needs to come from legislation at the federal level?
A: Equal parts. We need to vote with our forks, but we also need to vote with our ballots for new policies. Both forms of action can take place at the same time.

Q: The FDA recently announced that it will be enforcing spot-testing of products labeled “organic.” Do you see this as a good first step?
A: Yes. Under the Bush administration, regulation of organics was clearly too lax, and it is good to see the USDA stepping things up.

Q: We know that cooking from scratch with locally-sourced ingredients is better for us, but the perception is that it’s much more expensive. What advice would you give to a family on a fixed income trying to follow your food rules?
A: You need to invest more time if you don’t have more money. For example, spend a Sunday afternoon cooking 3 or 4 meals for the week. That can be very economical. Basically, people need to be strategic, but it’s unrealistic to think you can eat well and invest neither time nor money. No free lunch — or should I say, no healthy free lunch.

Q: If we were to take a peek into your pantry, would we find any guilty pleasures? Maybe some tasty edible foodlike substances?
A: Very few, actually. I have a weakness for potato chips and am more likely to binge on cheese than sweets. Though I always have dark chocolate around and don’t take a hike without it.

Jessica Webster oversees Food & Drink coverage for the Community Team at AnnArbor.com. You can reach her at JessicaWebster@AnnArbor.com.