Michael Pollan Joins Cheese Nun in Crusade for Real Food

A box of seed potatoes, for fingerlings, arrived the other day, recalling a few hours I spent years ago harvesting potatoes in a garden in Europe where my daughters did their first sprouting.

When it comes to food and growing things, Michael Pollan has a gift for making you think outside the box. In his new book, “Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation,” he immerses himself in four types of cooking that he links -- in theory, fact or informed fancy -- to the ancient elements of fire, water, air and earth.