Practical Pollan--"Food Matters"

There's a very good review of Mark Bittman's new book "Food Matters" in today's online Salon that presents his effort as a practical version of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma.  I haven't read it but the review was enough to get me interested in it:

The first part of Bittman's book provides a concise, streamlined overview of data that Pollan and nutrition experts like Marion Nestle have offered before in greater detail. In brief, our current meat-heavy system of food production is unsustainable, a waste of resources and a source of pollution in the form of pesticides and hormones as well as methane gas from livestock manure. Our overreliance on a few big crops (especially corn and soy) depletes the soil, demanding the use of ever greater quantities of chemical fertilizers, whose manufacture requires massive amounts of fossil fuel.

The rest of the book details Bittman's approach, including recipes for simple ways to prepare whole foods--streamlined recipes that cut out excessive meat and processed foods and focus on vegetables, beans and legumes:

This is why Bittman and "Food Matters" are so sneakily revolutionary. The second half of this book is a collection of uncomplicated recipes, which -- as is the case with other Bittman cookbooks, especially the indispensable "How to Cook Everything" -- are more like proposals and approaches than they are strict lists of ingredients and instructions. Probably the most daunting of these for the average American will be Bittman's recommendations for ways to incorporate more beans and whole grains into your diet.