Letter from Michael Pollan to John Mackey

In 2006, the co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market, John Mackey, wrote a letter to Michael Pollan taking issue with the way in which his company was portrayed in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, as well as in a column for TimeSelect and some of his public remarks. If you haven’t read or heard any of this, the very basic version of what Pollan says is that Whole Foods uses words like “local” and “organic” to put on a positive face – for health, for the environment, for animals, etc. – when in fact that is false advertising most of the time. Mackey took issue with Pollan’s angle – which was more as a surface consumer than as an investigative reporter – and re-pointed out his own investment and interest in those food movements, and the issues that surround supporting them when you run a business as large as Whole Foods.

Pollan wrote Mackey a letter in return – the letter that I decided to focus on for this assignment – directly addressing the points he made. At one point he writes, “I confess I am of two minds in deciding how to respond to the substance of your letter: whether I should attempt to cast doubt on your claims that Whole Foods wholeheartedly supports local, artisanal, and grass-based agriculture, or whether to simply applaud and encourage your inclinations in that direction.” In the end he does both, fully and wholeheartedly. The nature of the letter is very genuine. Pollan is stern and understanding at the same time, and that rings true throughout.

At the end of the letter Pollan says he looks forward to continuing the dialogue and, aptly, Mackey wrote another letter back. I think their dialogue through these letters reveals something great – not just Mackey’s face behind the scenes of Pollan’s research and approach to tackling these food issues in his work, but Pollan himself, who feels realer here, open and willing to discuss and debate, than he does in his more formal books and articles. Even though Pollan published his letter on his website, available for anyone to see, there is still a certain authenticity to the way in which he works through the issues Mackey brings up. Pollan sympathizes with his position of power, but also firmly wills him to do all the good that he can with that.  It makes the often overwhelmingly giant issues of food systems in America more personal, something that could really only happen in such a format.