From hunting and gathering to GMOs and ultra-processed
foods, this expansive tour of human history rewrites the
story of our species and points the way to a better future.
The history of Homo sapiens is usually
told as a story of technology or economics. But there
is a more fundamental driver: food. How we hunted and
gathered explains our emergence as a new species and our
earliest technology; our first food systems, from fire to
agriculture, tell where we settled and how civilizations
expanded. The quest for food for growing populations drove
exploration, colonialism, slavery, even capitalism.
A century ago, food was industrialized. Since then,
advancing styles of agriculture and food production have
written a new chapter of human history, one that’s
driving both climate change and global health crises. Best-
selling food authority Mark Bittman offers a panoramic view
of the story and explains how we can rescue ourselves from
the modern wrong turn.