Granta Books
The book takes a closer look at how our food choices and practices define our cultures and identities
February 07, 2025
Have you ever traveled to a new place — or even just sat at someone else's dinner table — and noticed the unspoken rules of eating — whether it’s the elaborate coffee ceremony in Ethiopia or the communal tradition of eating from a shared plate in Morocco? The way we eat tells the stories of our culture, history, and identity. In How the World Eats: A Global Food Philosophy, Julian Baggini unpacks these rituals, examining what food reveals about ethics, tradition, and the future of our plates.
Baggini travels from Tanzania to Japan, exploring everything from traditional food practices to the ethics of ultra-processed meals. He dives into sustainability, cultural identity, and the shifting landscape of global cuisine.
What sets this book apart is its breadth. Baggini doesn’t just romanticise age-old traditions or demonise modern food systems (or vice versa) — he examines them with nuance. The Hadza hunter-gatherers offer lessons in resourcefulness, while Japan’s kaiseki cuisine highlights seasonality and precision, and high-tech food innovations challenge our notions of ‘natural’. The result is a thoughtful, balanced perspective on what it means to eat well in a rapidly changing world.
If you’re interested in food beyond just recipes, this book is worth picking up. It’s an invitation to rethink our food choices — not just in terms of taste, but in their deeper cultural and ethical significance.