Eating to Extinction: The World's Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them

Description

A captivating and urgent exploration of some of the world's most endangered foods, Eating to Extinction is a thrilling journey through the history of humankind's relationship with food, which reveals a world at a crisis point. * Winner of the James Cropper Wainwright Prize 2022 * * Winner of the Fortnum & Mason Food Book Award 2022 * * Winner of the Guild of Food Writers Food Book of the Year 2022 * * Winner of the Guild of Food Writers First Book of the Year 2022 * * Andre Simon Special Commendation Award 2021 * * Shortlisted for the Stanford Food and Drink Travel Book of the Year * 'A book of wonders' Bee Wilson, Sunday Times, Books of the Year 'Dan Saladino inspires us to believe that turning the tide is still possible.' Yotam Ottolenghi 'I love this book... I wish the whole world could read it' Raymond Blanc Eating to Extinction is an astonishing journey through the past, present and future of food, a love letter to the diversity of global food cultures, and a work of great urgency and hope. From a tiny crimson pear in the west of England to great chunks of fermented sheep meat in the Faroe Islands to an exploding corn in Mexico that might just hold the key to the future of food - these are just some of the thousands of foods around the world today that are at risk of being lost for ever. In this captivating and wide-ranging book, Dan Saladino spans the globe to uncover the stories of these foods. He meets the pioneering farmers, scientists, cooks, food producers and indigenous communities who are preserving food traditions and fighting for change. All human history is woven through these stories, from the first great migrations to the slave trade to the refugee crisis today. But Eating to Extinction is about so much more than preserving the past. Eating to Extinction reveals a world at a crisis point- the future of our planet depends on reclaiming genetic biodiversity before it is too late.

Dan Saladino is a journalist and broadcaster. He makes programmes about food for BBC Radio 4 and BBC World Service. His work has been recognised by the Guild of Food Writers Awards, the Fortnum and Mason Food and Drink Awards, and in America by the James Beard Foundation. Eating to Extinction was awarded the 2019 Jane Grigson Trust Award. He lives in Cheltenham but his roots are Sicilian.

We all need to pay more attention to what we are (and are no longer) eating... Dan Saladino inspires us to believe that turning the tide is still possible. -- Yotam Ottolenghi A rallying cry to us all to protect the world's diversity before it's too late. But this is also a book filled with optimism; it captures the energy of a global movement of people dedicating their lives to saving the plants, the animals, the flavours and the food knowledge we must preserve. -- Alice Waters For anyone interested in Darwin, world power, and life itself, read on. -- Cerys Matthews Dan Saladino's brilliant book answers the questions we forgot to ask, and highlights the incredible diversity we stand to lose. A genuine masterpiece and a call to arms. Everyone who loves food and cooking should read this. -- Gill Meller This inspiring and urgent book is one of the few food books that has ever given me goosebumps... A love letter to the huge diversity of foods enjoyed by human beings, but it is also a call to arms to preserve that diversity and strangeness against the onslaught of a globalised industrial food system... It is a story full of both loss and hope. -- Bee Wilson