Kasper On Tap: Michael Pollan on beer - Baltimore Sun columnist Rob Kasper blogs about beer

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May 7, 2009

Michael Pollan on beer

I had a telephone conversation with Michael Pollan, author of the best selling books The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food the other day. I am writing a story about him for The Sun because he is speaking at the Enoch Pratt Library on Saturday, May 16. The speech is open to the public. There is a pre-speech cocktail reception, $35 a ticket, details here.

Mostly we talked about food. But we also spoke about gardening -- and beer. Pollan grows a vegetable garden in the front yard of his Berkeley, Calif., home. Like most gardeners, he battles bugs, in particular snails and slugs.

How does "Mr. Sustainable" keep these pests at bay without hurting the environment? He puts out small bowls of beer. The snails and slugs dive into the beer and expire.

Who could blame them?

Anybody else kill bugs with beer?

Anybody know why it works?

Posted by Rob Kasper at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Comments

Bugs, i.e., snails are attracted to the scent of beer. They fall into whatever beer-filled container is set out for them, and then they drown!

Posted by: Debbie | May 13, 2009 1:35 PM

i have done it before. Be prepared, the slugs indulge in the beer and get huge! It can get kind of gross if you don't check the traps on a daily basis.

Posted by: ebe | May 13, 2009 2:17 PM

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About Rob Kasper

Rob Kasper, a features columnist, has been writing about beer for 20 years, and he remembers when Anchor Christmas and Noche Buena were about the only beers at a holiday tasting and Sisson’s was the only brewpub in Baltimore. A collection of his columns, "Raising Kids and Tomatoes, Amusing Tales and Appetizing Recipes," was published in 1998. He lives with his wife, Judith, a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, in a downtown Baltimore rowhouse. They have two grown sons, who come home from time to time and drink their father’s beer.
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