The shared meal elevates eating from a mechanical process of fueling the body to a ritual of family and community, from the mere animal biology to an act of culture.

Pollan co-starred in the documentary Food Inc. It is divided into three sections further explicating Pollan's principles of "Eat food. Foer criticizes Pollan's argument regarding table-fellowship.

". A 2006 New York Times book review describes him as a "liberal foodie intellectual.