My 2024 'Future of Food' Reading List

In today’s world; what is the purpose of food??

You may think the answer is obvious – and you’d be right.?

Central to our cultural heritage, health, and future, food has always been and continues to be a basic necessity for life and a human right. Its purpose is to nourish, to fuel our progress, and to connect us with the natural world.? When we care for the food on our plates, we care not only for our own well-being but also for the entire ecosystem that sustains us. This care begins with the very foundation of our food system: the soil, which is the starting point of our food's journey and a crucial link in maintaining the Earth's delicate balance.

Yet, in 2024, the way we’re seeing food produced, consumed and distributed couldn’t be further from these truths: our relationship with food is broken. We have lost our values of food and nutrition. In the last 80 years, intensive and extractive agricultural methods have taken away what used to feed the soil.

Mass-produced, over-consumed, preservative-filled, and plastic-wrapped – these are the hallmarks of modern food culture. Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) fill our fridges and jeopardise our health and the planet’s.?

One recent study found links between UPFs and over 30 harmful health issues, such as increased risk of diseases including cancer, heart disease and diabetes, mental health problems, and even early death. It’s fair to say that the cost of eating UPFs is significant.

The stats are alarming.?

Research has found that over half of our total calories come from UPFs in the UK. In the United States reports show 73% of the national food supply is based on UPFs, and the average person consumes over 60% of their daily calories from UPFs – the highest globally.

How did we get here? Why do we continue to make such short-sighted food choices?? We’ve lost our way. But there is a way back to natural, nutritious, and affordable food.??

Some of the books I’ve read give us a solid starting point for us to move forward together.

Food for thought?

Sharing a series of compelling snapshots of our evolving relationship with food, each of these books explores the 21st century food landscape from a unique perspective.

They offer insights into how we ended up here; the impact of this food crisis on our bodies, minds, communities, and natural world. And – most importantly – a crucial roadmap to help our way back to a world where food is as it should be: natural, simple, sustainably-sourced, affordable, healthy, and nutritious.

Here’s my future of food reading list:

1. ‘In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto’ by Michael Pollan

“The shared meal elevates eating from a mechanical process of fueling the body to a ritual of family and community, from the mere animal biology to an act of culture.” ― Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto.

This book explores how “real food” has been replaced by unhealthy, processed and packaged “edible foodlike substances.” Challenging the modern Western diet, Pollan emphasises the importance of returning to unprocessed food and proposes a simple answer to what our diet should look like: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”?

2. ‘Ultra-Processed People’ by Chris van Tulleken

“UPF has a long, formal scientific definition, but it can be boiled down to this: if it’s wrapped in plastic and has at least one ingredient that you wouldn’t usually find in a standard home kitchen, it’s UPF.” ― Chris van Tulleken, Ultra-Processed People: Why We Can't Stop Eating Food That Isn't Food

It’s common sense that ultra-processed foods are unhealthy, but this book dives deeper into exactly why in a way that you cannot and should not ignore. These were a few of my main takeaways: UPFs are not real food; they’re linked to excess consumption and diet-related health problems; and always read the ingredients label.

3. ‘Salt, Sugar, Fat’ by Michael Moss

“They may have salt, sugar, and fat on their side, but we, ultimately, have the power to make choices. After all, we decide what to buy. We decide how much to eat.” ― Michael Moss, Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us

In a compelling account of how the world has become addicted to salt, sugar and fat, this book investigates the tactics used by well-known food industry giants to make their processed products irresistible and lucrative.?

4. ‘Food for Life’ by Tim Spector

“Top five tips to support your immune system. Eat fermented foods, which contain helpful probiotics. Eat foods rich in a variety of prebiotic fibres, such as leeks, onions, artichokes, and cabbages. Eat foods rich in polyphenols, such as colourful blueberries, beetroot, blood oranges, and nuts and seeds. Eat foods that dampen any inflammation after meals such as green leafy vegetables. Reduce consumption of meat and non-fermented dairy to occasional meals.” ― Tim Spector, Food for Life: The New Science of Eating Well

In a complex and confusing nutritional landscape, this book offers a salient and practical roadmap to navigate towards better health and well-being for our guts, minds, and bodies as well as that of the natural world.?

5. ‘Gastronativism: Food, Identity, Politics’ by Fabio Parasecoli

“Food can be wielded as a weapon in cultural wars that, at times, become all too real, with devastating consequences for their victims.” – Fabio Parasecoli, Gastronativism: Food, Identity, Politics

This book looks at society’s relationship with food from a different perspective: that of politics and identity. Exploring the evolving connection between food, politics, and identity, Parasecoli discusses a global phenomenon he calls “Gastronativism.”

A few quick tips

These books are excellent starting points to learn about UPFs and take control of your own health and well-being. To help you act now, I’ve summarised some of my key thoughts from my own learnings around UPFs, drawn from these books and other sources:

• Always check the ingredients list. Can't understand what's listed? It's not food. Real food has ingredients you know and use at home. If it sounds like chemistry, leave it on the shelf.?
• Care about what’s on your plate. Fill it with real, diverse foods. Go for natural and sustainably-sourced foods. When we eat we take the natural world into our bodies.?
• Recognise your power as a consumer and spark change. Eating real food diminishes the demand for UPFs and reduces their harmful impact. Every meal is a vote for the world you want and can drive significant change in a food industry controlled by the big corporations.?

I hope this motivates you to take action for yourself, for future generations, and for our planet. And if you have any book recommendations for me, let me know what I should add to my reading list!