The Way We Eat Now

Fortnum & Mason Food Book of the Year 2020

We never snacked like this and we never binged like this. We never had so many superfoods, or so many chips. We were never quite so confused about food, and what it actually is.

This is a book about the good, the terrible and the avocado toast. A riveting exploration of the hidden forces behind what we eat, The Way We Eat Now explains how modern food, in all its complexity, has transformed our lives and our world. To re-establish eating as something that gives us both joy and health, we need to find out where we are right now, how we got here and what it is that we share.

Award-winning food writer Bee Wilson explores everything from meal replacements such as Huel, the disappearing lunch hour, the rise of veganism, the lack of time to cook and prepare food and the rapid increase in food delivery services. And Bee provides her own doable strategies for how we might navigate the many options available to us to have a balanced, happier relationship with the food we eat.

Reviews

‘Bee Wilson weaves staggering information and fascinating insights into a gripping and inspiring story that is both fairytale and horror story. A brilliant must-read about what touches us all’ Claudia Roden

‘Bee Wilson’s fascinating book is a guide to the future of food and how we eat and will be eating. Meticulously researched and written brilliantly’ Ken Hom

‘As she wrestles with how and what we eat Bee Wilson is fearless, rigorous, compassionate and totally readable. Thank God we have her’ Diana Henry

‘Bee Wilson once again proves herself one of the world’s most compelling voices in journalism … This book should be required reading for everyone’ Darra Goldstein

‘This is urgent reading. Bee Wilson writes with a deep understanding of the problems posed by the way we eat today, but she never loses sight of her own love for the joy and promise and power of eating well. I always walk away from her writing feeling more hopeful than despondent, resolved to do better for myself, my family, and the planet’ Chris Ying

About the author

Bee Wilson is an acclaimed food writer, historian and author of five other books, including Consider the Fork, First Bite, Swindled and This Is Not A Diet Book. She writes about food and other subjects for a wide range of publications including the Guardian and the London Review of Books. She has been named BBC Radio Four's Food Writer of the Year and Fortnum & Mason Food Writer 2018. She lives in Cambridge.