Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation | Michael Pollan | Talks at Google

In "Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation," Michael Pollan explores the previously uncharted territory of his own kitchen. Here, he discovers the enduring power of the four classical elements-fire, water, air, and earth- to transform the stuff of nature into delicious things to eat and drink. Apprenticing himself to a succession of culinary masters, Pollan learns how to grill with fire, cook with liquid, bake bread, and ferment everything from cheese to beer. In the course of his journey, he discovers that the cook occupies a special place in the world, standing squarely between nature and culture. Both realms are transformed by cooking, and so, in the process, is the cook.

[@linguinegirl]

Love Michael Pollan - he is always so engaging, personable, and open-minded. His research is thorough, his writing both clear and poetic, and his advice sensible. He just seems like a super-intelligent guy who is also down-to-earth and humane. I wish he was my neighbor and I could hang out with him!

[@kend7597]

god I could listen to Michael speak forever. such a brilliant cool dude

[@coasternut3091]

I would still call myself a foodie for one reason : I enjoy exploring cultures through their food. The fact that I agree completely that food from certain areas is highly unique is exactly why I think it's important, and fun, to sample a little of everywhere. You learn so much about other cultures through sharing their food

[@GemmaSeymour]

Three very powerful observations in this talk: 1. That the transformation from hominid to human may in fact be marked primarily by the discovery of cooking with fire, and not, as previously thought, solely by the addition of meat and/or seafood (because of the high omega-3 fatty acid content) to our diet. 2. That we can pretty much eat whatever we want, so long as we cook it ourselves. As a poor person who cooks the majority of her own food, I can vouch for this. 3. "I just don't think we're going to tackle things like climate change until people can imagine living in a different way. And if you're highly specialised, you can't imagine living in a different way-without that car, without that fossil fuel, without that restaurant cooking to cook your meal."

[@Purnama1008]

Cooking engages your five senses, including intuition in ways you may not be aware. I taught cooking and students improved their overall writing and speaking skills.

[@TheFlowerGardenZa]

What an insight comment. Thank you

[@cbigskies5310]

Ever since I read "The Omnivore's Dilemma," Michael Pollan has been one of my heroes!

[@Gerimichau]

Michael inspires me to cook at home. We haven't eaten out in over a month. My husband and I are feeling so much better! Thank you Michael!

[@twocrazyboys4367]

Geri Gigi true home cooked food saves ur health as well as money.

[@rikkifurey5670]

cooking round the camp fire enabled us to build bonds and culture.

[@EasilyAmused42]

You will be glad to hear, that fermentation changes everything! Traditional sourdough breads do not have gluten issues. I know you will do the research and find this truth, quickly, you just needed to be pointed in the right direction! ;) Thanks for all you've shared.

[@darinrmcclure]

Don't eat anything that your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food... love that.

[@ghostpiratelechuck2259]

@Megan McLeod yeah I think that was for boomers lol

[@sdestaic777]

If my grandmother was alive wouldn't have an iota what half the crap we buy is. Fruit,veg,meat,baking bread ingredients. That was her shopping list back in the 80s/90s.

[@adriennetoth7586]

Excellent presentation!

[@mechissegovia8179]

amazing talk

[@Hardycore7]

This is a GREAT talk! The culture parts were VERY interesting.

[@adbills]

Very interesting talk. Thank you

[@steinijg]

Micheal Pollan is such a great guy and so interesting to listen to! I lived in China and he's right, stinky tofu tastes pretty awful but they seem to like it. The Chinese also seem to think cheese is horrible, except on pizza which they tend to like. In my native country of Iceland we have rotten shark and many people like it, but I've never seen a foreigner like it hehe :)

[@jocelynhofman5174]

Very enjoyable listen!. to download free @ tinyurl . com \ nq5hzze . delete spaces.

[@zapfanzapfan]

+Steingrímur Jón Guðjónsson I was expecting him to mention fermented shark and fermented herring but maybe he has not been brave enough to try them :-)

[@chewyjello1]

He has tried the shark! He didn't care for it much lol. Heard him talk about it on another video. :)

[@LucretiaYeh]

Stinky tofu is amazing. Hated it the first time I smelled it. Now I miss it.

[@ottomatic7823]

The irony of returning to a simpler eating lifestyle, given at GOOGLE.

[@SourovKabirII]

loved the intro. great talk.

[@RiDankulous]

Omg, he put the image of the bouquet of French fries in my head! haha

[@tobiasscott7429]

Fascinating

[@mikerepairsstuff]

Cooking is a therapy / therapeutic to do so;cooking real food.

[@campbejouc]

One of very few people I look to, to listen

[@stephentaylor4593]

Спасибо! Во благо всем живым существам! Самым наилучшим образом!

[@tomfusia2345]

Engaging, informative, thoughtful and entertaining! Thoroughly enjoyed this!

[@Kats_Tea_Time]

Now I want kimchi. Great talk! I didn't know chocolate is fermented, though it makes sense. Coming from Polish culture, I love my fermented foods 😋

[@fransiscaveronica7]

my fave fermented food is TEMPEH

[@ShieldsJustice]

20:11 - dude looks thrilled to be there

[@pheresy1367]

Whenever I hear any "Talks at Google" introduction, It is said so fast it sounds like "here at toxic Google." :)

[@jjf7525]

LOL 49:32 that guy with google glasses...is that thing still around?

[@shriibrahim4424]

TOTALLY agree with him..... you can eat whatever if you cook it yourself.... . I am a dialysis patient and since then.... have cooked almost all my food...... and every month they check my blood and I am considered exemplary patient..... BUT THE FUNNY THING IS I EAT ANYTHING I WANT.....BUT IN CONTROL ......

[@RickP2012]

Where did they find those audience members? They look like extras from the Walking Dead!

[@eduardomena4418]

Buena informacion,si lo tradujeran en español seria de mucha ayuda,muchas gracias.

[@lilolandia]

Genial Pollan, un gran comunicador. 49.32...el nabo con los google glass, me dio como verguencita ajena.

[@amilahmic6447]

take a shot every time Michael says um

[@Hashishin13]

Lots of predators stash food and come back to it when its partially rotten.

[@fransiscaveronica7]

i combined cooked n raw food.

[@jennilee4u2c]

longest intro EVER... he starts speaking at 3:30

[@ammarmahdi1422]

In his 2018 talk at Bioneers he starts talking at 4:30. Record broken lol

[@noblelies]

Why do people who love to hear themselves talk seem so intent on wasting minutes of our lives that we will never get back, as if they have something that important to say?

[@danbet6613]

agreed with you in many points, but you describe to make french fries at home as a nightmare and thats totally wrong, is a culturel thing, i'm spanish and we do french fries often with any meal and is literally a 20 min process while you do the rest of the meal, with fresh potatoes and is not a pain, it's for lazy people with no culinary culture, actually we do mostly daily...

[@kirastus]

Longest intro!! I really rather hear the man talk...

[@RyanParker]

Eastern Carolina Barbecue is the most like our ancient ancestors cooking with fire style. Pretty interesting.

[@rikkifurey5670]

yes the in the high attic they will catch returning little auk's put them in to a seal skin and bury it for it to ferment then dig it up in 3 6 months later and eat the hole thing they do not even skin the birds. they call it kiviat.

[@tmchugh]

54:01 Michael Pollen was right and this guy was totally wrong. I love Sous Vide cooking, but it definitely isn't the everyday cooking item like a blender.

[@TheZANCADEPINHOEDIMAR]

Hello!!

[@englishteacher6404]

I would like to email someone about this video but I can't find any contact email addresses anywhere. Please can the makers of this video contact me via email. Thanks.

[@rikkifurey5670]

gluten is protein.

[@pepihuber564]

Great Michael Pollan. Its really amazing in such events how babbling types - as the moderator who babbles 3:45 - and the ones who have something to say differ. 3:45 mins babbling are unbearable and it seems after 30 secs or so such babbling just becomes a sound carpet without any graspable content anymore. I therefore find it funny when moderators babble along 3, 4,5,8 mins of irrelevant blabla.

[@jimfrommars2591]

Am I tripping or did he talk about the potato twice?

[@arabiccola]

He's really flattered by her intentional and genuine introduction

[@TST1998]

To learn about bread you have to come to Germany. Germany has a real bread culture with 5000 different breads.

[@RomyMacias]

Absolutely!

[@vsubbu21]

23:20

[@arinhirst5190]

Not true about fries. Dump some olive oil onto a baking sheet, cut some potatoes with those circular grate things, hit them with salt and pepper, and bake at whatever temp till they start to stick. Mix around with a spatula half way. Tasty as fuck, and not bad for you unless you don't know how to burn off olive oil calories. Only pain in the ass is to clean the banking sheet but just soak it and you're all good.

[@josephcassini]

I agree, those are really good. I like to add some paprika to mine. However, those are oven-roasted potatoes, not french fries. French fries are fried, not baked. As he said, actual fried potatoes are time consuming, that's why people don't make them at home much. The point he is making is that these types of labor-intensive foods are typically prepared by corporations. This is the problem, that most people are not doing the cooking anymore.

[@rikkifurey5670]

that's the problem our immune systems need practice other wise when the time comes (infection) our immune systems can not cope. its a double edge sword. but yes we need bacteria.

[@rikkifurey5670]

Round the camp fire eating talking using friendly wolfs to help us stay safe for a free hand out.

[@apollocobain8363]

I generally like Pollan's work but am occasionally put off by his rules and gimmicks. "fire, water, air, and earth" is really only two forces -- heat and microbes. Hot air and hot water = fire.

[@audrey1053]

I'm on a raw food diet. I'm not dependant on a blender and I have my period. However, it's not easy. I eat around 10 meals a day and it require very good planning skills. However, do you know anyone that can eat all day long without gaining weight? :)

[@GuntherL1]

Why would you want to eat all day? I have other things to do. There are plenty of women who don't have their period on a raw food diet. Even crazy bananawoman had a 9 month period-free-period.

[@audrey1053]

I eat all day long because I love too. Before I was eating bags of chips and sweet throughout the day. Now I switch to fruit and vegetable and I feel awesome! Do whatever make you happy, truly deeply happy. That's the only way to go.

[@zachwagner007]

Yeah you missed his point. Humans created an amazing society and culture because cooking allows us to evolve with technology. You will get nothing done eating all day everyday. Be grateful for the unimaginable technology that is surrounded by you right now, because we cooked food and evolved. I use to be raw vegan by the way. Back to eating meat and it’s the healthiest I have ever been.

[@LManhattan]

substitulos al español please!!

[@Vbelle8]

This is great but I would disagree with the raw food concept because many people survive perfectly fine on a fruit diet and often eat the skin of many of the fruits. Also in other countries fruit varieties are much more vast and are natural with no pesticides.

[@viegoisolde4281]

"TALKS AT GOOGLE" HAHAHHAHAA DONT BELIEVE THIS

[@rikkifurey5670]

hi Micheal just read your new book (How To Change Your Mind) bang on loved it had a lot of experience with drugs and drink but bean clean now for 6 years 7 months and will never go back. i did not get the look of an education i had to do it my self. self educated in evolution and science just read Richard Dawkins new book Science In The Soul. but are you not misleading people about food all food we eat is not natural it is all G.Modified. the last time we ate natural food was 8.000 200 years ago when we in Britain had to go back to hunter gathering farming only began 10.000 years ago that's when we started to change food and g. modified it so no one eats natural food all fruit and veg is G.M. but yes we should eat as healthy as we can for the good of the planet and us all human and none human. we are the only species that works to destroy the planet all other species work for the good of the planet. they (none human) animals used to eat all natural food now they are eating plastic P.S.Bs DDTs CBCs. if a whale washes up we have now got to treat it as toxic wast. we are destroying our self's and with the planet it breaks my heart after all we are part of nature. you can always find me on facebook. take care. great book.

[@MizeeKazee]

Natto ;)

[@StorytellingHeadshots]

34:01 Well the eucharist bread has nothing to do with yeast and doubling, since it’s unleavened bread. And it’s not like the catholics worship bread because “whoa, it expands!” Fairly ignorant misunderstanding of history that a quick fact check could have illuminated for him.

[@lillytrexler1]

the ladies "intro" was way too long ..ughhh

[@HopeSingh]

I'm just looking at the beautiful Pakistani lady in red...

[@fransiscaveronica7]

i say no to yogurt as this dairy product. no.

[@jnovikoff001]

+fransiscaveronica7 Especially sweetened yogurt

[@summerwood619]

This intro is so long that I lost interest by the time he’s ready to speak, maybe you could have cut your intro for you tube viewers or if you want to talk some more get it all out in your car

[@oooodles3]

...before Google was evil, and dropped their slogan. 2013.

[@MortishaPoppins]

He is SO WRONG with his raw food statements - ignorant

[@mosiah9205]

In what way (legitimate question by the way)? He's a really good journalist and writer. He seems to be really clear, open minded, and understanding about everything he talks about. Why was he wrong about this? I, myself, am naturally skeptical when it comes to anyone making food/nutrition claims because there is so much BS out there... so I'd like to know why you feel the way you do.

[@MortishaPoppins]

Raw foodists thrive - %wise they are the healthiest. The raw food diet is the only natural (species specific) diet for humans. This is scientifically observable and Evidenced by our structural and functional anatomy and digestive system. . Humans are the only species to cook food and are the most disease ridden (along with our domesticated pets fed a cooked food processed diet). Cooking food, although it allows one to consume more and varied foods, reduces or removes both nutrients and enzymes. The heating process alone produces carcinogens. Leaving us disease ridden, nutrient depleted, and obese as we overeat depleted foods to try to get the nutrients we require. The only advancement cooking food has provided is for the growth of the pharmaceutical companies

[@RiDankulous]

It's wise to move in that direction but most people would get to big of a shock switching everything so baby steps are good and should be rewarded imho

[@LA-li4yw]

you are more ignorant than he is. your comment alone reflects that fact that you are unable to handle constructive criticism, Thats ignorance. i know more than a few people that get sick from eating a raw food diet.