The other night I quickly read Michael Pollan’s new book(let) Food Rules. It’s a quick, easy reminder that we as people should be eating things that look, feel, and act like food.  On paper, these rules make sense but today I read an article that really brought the idea of eating real food to life for me (check the great pictures out here).

The thing about Pollan’s rules are that they’re all so simple, they’re easy to overlook but incredibly powerful at the same time. I bring it up because I also read and hear a lot of concern over the consumer.  Will they begin to spend again? What will they buy?

Looking at the food pictures from Good Blog I realized, the answer is easy to overlook and powerful.  Brands should keep it simple. Consumers don’t necessarily need every variety and innovation known to man. They really want stuff  that works well for a reasonable price. So many products don’t live up to this idea while striving to be lower calorie or greener or new and improved.

If you haven’t checked it out, Food Rules is a great, short read (under an hour) and has some good lessons that could be applied to the world of advertising, branding, and product development in addition to eating.