Max Watman

There are as many approaches to a whole foods diet as people who become disenchanted with the industrial agriculture crap that they feed us. Some ditch one “food” or another and leave it at that (gluten, sugar, etc.). Some go the Whole Foods chain store route and be as careful as they can with their choices. Some go local and leave it to the professionals to provide better food (CSAs, farmers’ markets, meat shares). Some go the DIY route (gardens, chickens, canning). That last one is how Max Watman went and by the end it pretty much exhausted him, although I don’t think he cared. There was a bit too much food porn toward the end; waxing poetic about meals he ate and meals he prepared (apparently he’s a memory savant when it comes to eating). Also, the book drops you right into his process without a backstory or how he became a whole foods zealot. Not that it matters, his motivations become clear with time.

While having the best of intentions, Max realizes he has little to no expertise in almost anything he tries - raising beef or chickens and making cheese being the most obvious. Why he couldn’t google the Eat Local website, to find farmers who knows how to provide the food he wants the way he wants, it is beyond me. When I moved ½ way across the country that was almost the first thing I did and now I have new farmers and the best beef I ever ate. And I didn’t have to do anything. But that’s me and Max has a more hands-on approach. At times it smacked of hubris; thinking that if you don’t go it alone it’s not really “pure”. A whole foods hair shirt if you will. At times it was presumptive; as if people should automatically bend over backwards and show him their trade secrets just because he was standing there earnestly wanting to know. It was entertaining though and confirmed I made the right choice for me; I go to farmers’ markets regularly and order meat through farmers who are experts at raising those animals and sell the products at fair market prices. Sure I’m lucky to live the state with the 2nd highest number of organic farms, but I did this back in NH, too. It’s not that hard, unless you want it to be.… (plus d'informations)