Pollan to Compile Food Rules

Michael Pollan is asking his readers and followers to share the traditions and wisdom that guide their daily decisions about food (via TPP's Well Blog in the NY Times). From his post:

I want to create a compendium of such rules, across cultures and also time. Some of the rules readers have sent me so far are specifically about navigating the modern food landscape: “It’s not food if it comes to you through the window of a car.” “Don’t eat at any restaurant of which there is more than just one.” “A snack is not the same thing as a treat.” “If a bug won’t eat it, why would you?” and so on.

Folks are encouraged to submit their rules via the blog comments. Here are some of my favorites (from the first couple pages of comments):

Don’t eat anything you can buy at a gas station.— Jesse Montgomery

Nevermind what McDonald’s says, it is NOT OK to eat chicken for breakfast.— Ralphinjersey

Don’t eat anything you see advertised on TV.— wc

Don’t eat the icicles off the back of the car.— Liz

Don’t buy sushi out of the trunk of a car.— Alan

Perhaps a rule should be, “Eat a food in inverse proportion to how much its lobby spends to push it.”— KW

“If you don’t eat your green vegatables, you will turn purple.”-mindyn

The great cartoonist Kliban wrote, long ago, “Never eat anything bigger than your head.” That is good advice for all of us…— David Binger

And in case you were wondering, here's what I posted:

If you can't learn the equivalent title for it in a foreign language dictionary, it probably isn't food. Perhaps I should also mention that if it's title is the same worldwide it may not be food. For example: Cheetos, Big Mac. Seriously... go to Google Translator and type in Big Mac. You will get: Big Mac. Type in simply "big" and you will get grande, gandisimo, mayor, gran.... hmmm....

Post a suggestion of your own here