The Way We Eat Now: Strategies for Eating in a World of Change
Written by Bee Wilson
Narrated by Bee Wilson
4/5
()
Unavailable in your country
Unavailable in your country
About this audiobook
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.
Bee Wilson
Bee Wilson is a home cook, journalist and writer, mostly about food. Yotam Ottolenghi has called her 'the ultimate food scholar'. She writes for a wide range of publications including the Guardian, The London Review of Books and The Wall Street Journal. She is the author of six books on food-related subjects and she is the co-founder of the food education charity TastEd. She lives in Cambridge and has three children.
Related to The Way We Eat Now
Related audiobooks
Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Why You Eat What You Eat: The Science Behind Our Relationship with Food Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unprocessed: My City-Dwelling Year of Reclaiming Real Food Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Language Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise of Yeast: How the Sugar Fungus Shaped Civilization Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Year of No Garbage Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Red Sauce Brown Sauce: A British Breakfast Odyssey Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Eating Local Food As An Act Of Belonging Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fermentation as Metaphor: Follow Up to the Bestselling "The Art of Fermentation" Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Food Routes: Growing Bananas in Iceland and Other Tales from the Logistics of Eating Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Bad Food Bible: How and Why to Eat Sinfully Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5101 Ways to Go Zero Waste Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Once Upon a Time We Ate Animals: The Future of Food Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kiss the Ground: How the Food You Eat Can Reverse Climate Change, Heal Your Body & Ultimately Save Our World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lost Feast: Culinary Extinction and the Future of Food Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Wild: How Animals Learn to be Animals Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eat More Better: How to Make Every Bite More Delicious Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Christmas Chronicles: Notes, stories & 100 essential recipes for midwinter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Greedy Man in a Hungry World: How (almost) everything you thought you knew about food is wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Are All Greta Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What's Good?: A Memoir in Fourteen Ingredients Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOne More Croissant for the Road Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bite Back: People Taking on Corporate Food and Winning Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5On Spice: Advice, Wisdom, and History with a Grain of Saltiness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Infused: Adventures in Tea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Insta-Food Diet: How Social Media has Shaped the Way We Eat Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWomen in the Kitchen: Twelve Essential Cookbook Writers Who Defined the Way We Eat, from 1661 to Today Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cheddar Gorge: A Book of English Cheeses Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Food Essays & Narratives For You
The Best American Food Writing 2022 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Culinary Reactions: The Everyday Chemistry of Cooking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Spice: From Anice to Zedoary Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In Winter's Kitchen: Growing Roots and Breaking Bread in the Northern Heartland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jacques Pepin Art of the Chicken: A Master Chef’s Paintings, Stories, and Recipes of the Humble Bird Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef's Journey to Discover America's New Melting-Pot Cuisine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Freedom: A Cook's Story; Remaking a Life from Scratch Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hotbox: Inside Catering, the Food World's Riskiest Business Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cook, Eat, Repeat: Ingredients, Recipes, and Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Koshersoul: The Faith and Food Journey of an African American Jew Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gumbo Life: Tales from the Roux Bayou Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/599 Bottles: A Black Sheep's Guide to Life-Changing Wines Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Face on Your Plate: The Truth About Food Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5For the Culture: Phenomenal Black Women and Femmes in Food: Interviews, Inspiration, and Recipes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flavor: The Science of Our Most Neglected Sense Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Cheese: An Indulgent Odyssey Through the Artisan Cheese World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ingredienti: Marcella's Guide to the Market Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Women in the Kitchen: Twelve Essential Cookbook Writers Who Defined the Way We Eat, from 1661 to Today Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eat More Better: How to Make Every Bite More Delicious Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Taste and See: Discovering God among Butchers, Bakers, and Fresh Food Makers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Butter Toast: Rhymes in a book that help you to cook Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnvarnished: A Gimlet-eyed Look at Life Behind the Bar Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Her Daily Bread: Inspired Words and Recipes to Feast on All Year Long Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Reviews for The Way We Eat Now
38 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The bits where Wilson was talking to scientists and people in the food industry were fascinating. However, her own words were somewhat confused. Apparently it is problematic that food is stripped of the culture of its country of origin, yet conversely, we should all be revelling in the diversity of foods available to us from other countries. It was also rather irritating how she fetishizes foods and rituals that she deems 'good', with a particular paraphilia for beetroot, pickles and grapes with seeds in them. I sometimes wonder whether the book was just a love letter to her own varied, middle class diet.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5It's interesting enough but too often judgmental. It's a lot better when she lets food tell its story, instead of her giving her opinions about what we should be eating. Some is just slapdash, such as her saying we work fewer hours now. It's technically true, but doesn't account for the huge rise in women's paid labor or the huge variations in available time.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The book is a little scattered, but at least it's not full of misinformation, and it pulls together a lot of valuable social commentary on food consumption around the world and in recent history, and discusses how various influences determine how and what we eat. I was thankful that the author did not omit socioeconomic disincentives to cook the "cleanest" food--nor did she shrink from debunking the new puritanism surrounding food that gave rise to the idea that gluten is toxic, among other idiotic, cultish food ideas. The author concludes on a hopeful note for the improvement of nutrition and the resurrection of cooking. I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to my "foodie" friends.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5An extended rant on everything you could possibly find wrong with, well, the way we eat now. I didn't really learn anything, except a lot of Britishisms. "Clingfilm" for plastic wrap. "Veg" for vegetables - much preferable to the babyish "veggies" we say in this country. But anyway, lack of balance really bothered me, more in the beginning of the book than the end. For example, passing rants about increasing alcohol consumption - but a broad swipe like that has no meaning; alcohol consumption has to be the most varied of all food & drink intake habits across time and culture. There are cultures where alcohol has no traditional basis and was never heard of centuries ago; there are cultures where wine is a daily drink. There are American subcultures who are teetotalers; while colonial America was apparently drunk on hard liquor throughout the days of the founding fathers. There's no mention of any of this.It got more enjoyable and balanced towards the end. For example, she's actually tried and liked meal kits, so instead of rants, they get a balanced treatment. She's better when talking about her direct experience than when presenting history.