Eating to Extinction

A captivating and unexpected journey through the history of humankind’s relationship with food, with an urgent message for our times.In an age of mass extinction, intensive agriculture and the standardization of taste are not only wiping out many edible plants, but also the food cultures, histories and livelihoods that go with them.Inspired by a global project to collect and preserve foods that are at risk of extinction, Dan Saladino sets out to encounter these endangered foods and the people fighting to save them. Each food tells a story – some of them moving and personal, some of them urgent and timely – and collectively they span the history of civilisation and touch on many of the biggest issues of our time, from climate change to global inequality. From a humble pea transported to America on slave ships to a mysterious cheese made in the mountains of Albania, from the wild honey still harvested by a nomadic tribe in Tanzania to the genetic ancestor of all the world’s oranges in the mountain forests of India, each ingredient transports us to a different time and place. Spanning the globe in his search for the most endangered foods, Dan Saladino takes us on a thrilling tour of a disappearing world, and reveals the battles being fought for the future of the planet.]]>