Animal, Vegetable, Junk by Mark Bittman

Animal, Vegetable, Junk

A History of Food, From Sustainable to Suicidal: a Food Science Nutrition History Book

Mark Bittman

HarperCollins · Print & ebook · April 26, 2022

From hunting and gathering to GMOs and ultra-processed foods, this expansive tour of human history rewrites the story of our species and points the way to a better future.

We earn from qualifying purchases.

Who it’s for
A brisk food-history lens on how eating became entangled with larger systems.
Genres
Agriculture & Food Systems, Agriculture & Food Policy, Environmental Science
Published
HarperCollins, April 26, 2022

About this book

From hunting and gathering to GMOs and ultra-processed foods, this expansive tour of human history rewrites the story of our species and points the way to a better future. The history of Homo sapiens is usually told as a story of technology or economics. But there is a more fundamental driver: food.

Continue reading

How we hunted and gathered explains our emergence as a new species and our earliest technology; our first food systems, from fire to agriculture, tell where we settled and how civilizations expanded. The quest for food for growing populations drove exploration, colonialism, slavery, even capitalism. A century ago, food was industrialized. Since then, advancing styles of agriculture and food production have written a new chapter of human history, one that’s driving both climate change and global health crises. Best-selling food authority Mark Bittman offers a panoramic view of the story and explains how we can rescue ourselves from the modern wrong turn.

Food, Unpacked

A brisk food-history lens on how eating became entangled with larger systems.

Come here for

  • food history with a sharp, readable sweep
  • a clear look at how what we eat got tangled up

Expect

  • cultural context without the lecture
  • a conversational, idea-led read

Where it sits

Agriculture & Food Systems76%
Environmental Science37%
Agriculture & Food Policy25%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Economic History
  • Food Writing & Memoir
  • Nutrition
  • World History
Show all 8 publisher categories
  • Civilizations
  • Social History
  • History of Science
  • How Cultures Work
Authors
Mark Bittman
Publisher
HarperCollins
Published
April 26, 2022
Format
Print & ebook
Reading lane
Economic History