Look how big cheese has gotten.

Some of you out there may have noticed that Michael Pollan — a.k.a. The Big (organic, local, free range, artisan) Cheese — is back with a new book, Cooked, which I plan to review very soon, probably next week. The de rigeur buzz-builder feature story in the New York Times came out today in the food section, however since MP doesn’t seem to be making any major political statements this time out, the piece was light and lifestyle-ish, following him on a trip to the grocery store then home for lunch. It contains nothing new for those already familiar with Mr. Pollan’s work. I found this interesting, however:

“I don’t get invited out to eat as much as I used to, or to people’s houses, because they think I’m going to be critical,” Mr. Pollan said. “I’m cast in this role of dietary superego, and I really don’t feel that way at all.”

He has even begun to receive confessions, as if he had ascended to a sort of food priesthood. “You don’t have to tell me if you like your Cheetos,” he said. “That’s between you and your cardiologist.”

That the food-guilty have taken to confessing to Mr. Pollan makes a lot of sense. Here on this blog I’ve called the man a “food moralist” and compared his live appearances to revival meetings. The fact that his food crusade is now taking on the contours of an actual religion is very much in line with this thinking. More on this soon!