Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
Michael PollanRead
You know what a lima bean does when it's attacked by spider mites? It releases this volatile chemical that goes out into the world and summons another species of mite that comes in and attacks the spider mite, defending the lima bean. So what plants have - while we have consciousness, toolmaking, language, they have biochemistry.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote illustrates how plants have their own defense mechanisms, analogous to human responses to challenges.
Michael Pollan highlights the remarkable way plants, such as the lima bean, defend themselves against threats by releasing chemicals that attract beneficial organisms. This comparison draws a parallel between human consciousness and the intricate biochemical responses in nature, emphasizing that while humans use language and tools, plants have evolved sophisticated methods to protect themselves, showcasing the interconnectedness of life.
Themes
Lima BeanDefense MechanismsPlantsNatureBiochemistry
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about ecology, one might say, 'Like the lima bean that calls for help when threatened, we must also learn to seek support in our challenges.'
More from Michael Pollan
All quotes →You look how much sugar is in a typical supermarket loaf of bread: it's a lot of sugar. It's just become one of those sugar delivery systems in our food economy.
Michael PollanRead
There is nothing wrong with eating sweets, fried foods, pastries, even drinking soda every now and then, but food manufacturers have made eating these formerly expensive and hard-to-make treats so cheap and easy that we're eating them every day.
Michael PollanRead
Meat is a mighty contributor to climate change and other environmental problems. The amount of meat we're eating is one of the leading causes of climate change. It's as important as the kind of car you drive - whether you eat meat a lot or how much meat you eat.
Michael PollanRead
[Government] regulation is an imperfect substitute for the accountability, and trust, built into a market in which food producers meet the gaze of eaters and vice versa.
Michael PollanRead
He showed the words “chocolate cake” to a group of Americans and recorded their word associations. “Guilt” was the top response. If that strikes you as unexceptional, consider the response of French eaters to the same prompt: “celebration.
Michael PollanRead
Similar quotes
Next time you're stunned by a large moon on the horizon, bend over and view it between your legs. The effect goes away entirely.
Neil Degrasse TysonRead
The smell of manure, of sun on foliage, of evaporating water, rose to my head; two steps farther, and I could look down into the vegetable garden enclosed within its tall pale of reeds - rich chocolate earth studded emerald green, frothed with the white of cauliflowers, jeweled with the purple globes of eggplant and the scarlet wealth of tomatoes.
Doris LessingRead
But the trees seemed to know me. They whispered among themselves and beckoned me nearer. And looking around, I noticed the other small trees and wild plants and grasses had sprung up under the protection of the trees we had placed there. The trees had multiplied! They were moving. In one small corner of the world, Grandfather's dream was coming true and the trees were moving again.
Ruskin BondRead
Life is about daring to carry out your ideas. And for me, it always comes back to the wilderness, nature, mountains.
Reinhold MessnerRead
The question is, are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never be able to see an elephant except in a picture book?
David AttenboroughRead
So many times I've photographed stories that show the degradation of the planet. I had one idea to go and photograph the factories that were polluting, and to see all the deposits of garbage. But, in the end, I thought the only way to give us an incentive, to bring hope, is to show the pictures of the pristine planet - to see the innocence.
Sebastiao SalgadoRead