When stumbling upon this book, I found the premise intriguing: a historical account of food and the impact on nations, people and ecology which connects the past to our present. Instead, a standard college student fare of the “history of the world” is given, sprinkled in with interesting bits of food.
After presenting this history lesson for 75% of the book, the author begins to delve into the current state of food. However, the second to the last chapter of the book begins to read off as a data dump of the myriad of global food-related issues ranging from starving children, deforestation to methane emissions. The final chapter gives recommendations on programs implemented throughout the world and life saving processes to eliminates different food problems.
“By nudging consumers away from UPFs isn’t enough. Only by encouraging the production of real food can the market do a good job; in a market flooded by UPFs, it can be difficult for many people to buy anything but junk, and recommendations to make healthy choices are often drowned out by the noise of Big Food’s advertising. “
Although there is much sustenance to be found in this manuscript, it feels as though the reader could be best served if this was actually two broken into two books:
- The history of food
- The current state of food and how to heal the world
Despite the hurried ending, Animal, Vegetable, Junk is a necessary read which should be consumed by anyone who eats food.
This ARC was provided to me by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
PhoebeJaneWrites 