Michael Pollan, the Knight professor of science and environmental lournalism at University of California-Berkeley, has struck a chord in this country. His back-to-back best sellers, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals” (Penguin, 2006) and “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto” (Penguin, 2008), take a good, hard look at the food we eat and how it’s made. What he has to say could change the way you look at food forever — so put down that fork and read on for some spectacular insights from top author and quintessential foodie Michael Pollan.

Platkin: Should we really be that worried about the foods we eat?

Pollan: I think we’re far too worried about food, actually — Americans have an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating. We need to learn to relax about it, but that doesn’t mean eating anything you want. If you eat real food — unprocessed whole foods — you can eat pretty much any of it you want, in moderation. My aim in “In Defense of Food” was to help people relax about food by simplifying the food landscape for them.

Platkin: I’ve read that you were pretty surprised when you first visited a commercial farm. What stunned you the most?

Pollan: For me the awakening came in a potato field in Idaho. The farmers sprayed fungicides that were so toxic they wouldn’t go into the field for five days afterwards because they were so worried about the effects of the chemicals.