FOOD RULES: A BOOK TO BE SAVORED SLOWLY

I woke up early on Christmas morning, about 5:30 am, in a hotel room in San Diego.  I got out of bed to use the bathroom and when I returned to go back to sleep, I bumped into something with edges that had a small figurine perched on top of it . "I guess Santa came early," said my husband.  I looked closer at the ensemble, and saw that the figurine was a Hello Kitty ornament .  What a delightful and unexpected surprise.  The magic of the holidays is still alive! I thought.

I put Hello Kitty aside and opened the wrapped gift.

It was Food Rules:  An Eater's Manual, written by Michael Pollan and illustrated by my creative heroine Maira Kalman.

Hooray!  I had been ogling and leafing through this book every time I walked though the local book store.
Now, I had a copy of my very own.

First of all, Maira's illustrations are pure magic - whimsical with rich, vibrant colors.  They stand alone.

Pollan's Rules are mostly ones I have heard of before, but I still loved looking at them accompanied by Maira's pictures.  Examples include:

• It's not food if it arrived through the window of your car.
• Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does.
• Do all your eating at a table.
• Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.

I had a ritual for a while with this book:  Just before falling asleep each night, I would reach for Food Rules on my nightstand and read two or three rules and relish the illustrations that went with them.  This went on for many nights, and I felt a bit sad when I finished the book.

Now, Food Rules sits next to my computer so that I can continue to think about what it means to eat mindfully while enjoying life to its fullest.

Food Rules is the gift that keeps on giving.