Description

WINNER OF THE ANDRE SIMON FOOD BOOK AWARD 2023

SHORTLISTED FOR THE GUILD OF FOOD WRITERS AWARDS 2024

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

A Waterstones Best Book of 2023

‘Brilliant – a must read’ Tim Spector

‘Ravenous is a revelation: a fast-paced, entertaining and often jaw-dropping guide to the modern food system, why it is putting us all in danger, and how we can escape its clutches’ Andi Oliver, Chef and Broadcaster

‘An unputdownable, fast-paced, cracking good read … there’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that Henry Dimbleby’s book Ravenous could change the world, or at any rate the UK’ Prue Leith

A manifesto for revolutionising our food system

You may not be aware of this – not consciously, at least – but you do not control what you eat. Every mouthful you take is informed by the subtle tweaking and nudging of a vast, complex, global system: one so intimately woven into everyday life that you hardly even know it’s there.

The food system is no longer simply a means of sustenance. It is one of the most successful, most innovative and most destructive industries on earth. It sustains us, but it is also killing us. Diet-related disease is now the biggest cause of preventable illness and death in the developed world – far worse than smoking. The environmental damage done by the food system is also changing climate patterns and degrading the earth, risking our food security.

Few people know the workings of the food system better than Henry Dimbleby, co-founder of the Leon restaurant chain, government adviser and author of the radical National Food Strategy. In Ravenous, he takes us behind the scenes to reveal the mechanisms that act together to shape the modern diet – and therefore the world. He explains not just why the food system is leading us into disaster, but what can be done about it.

Publisher Review

A brilliant readable guide on how to reverse our food, obesity and climate crisis - a must-read -- Tim Spector Food should be a source of joy, but the way we eat is leading us into disaster. This is a delicious, highly digestible guide to building a better food system, for the sake of our bodies and our planet. -- Prue Leith We need a food revolution to ensure children don't go hungry, eat right, and reach their potential. Ravenous is a truly important book -- Tom Kerridge An important read that will change the way we look at food - for the better! -- Jamie Oliver Ravenous is a revelation: a fast-paced, entertaining and often jaw-dropping guide to the modern food system, why it is putting us all in danger, and how we can escape its clutches -- Andi Oliver, Chef and Broadcaster Emerging from Dimbleby's work on food supply chains during the pandemic, Ravenous explores the structures of the global food system and how environmental, health and nutritional concerns can harmoniously coexist -- 'The Books to Read in 2023' * Financial Times * What we eat is damaging not only our personal health, but societal and environmental health too - a triple whammy. This book provides not only a compelling diagnosis of the damage being done by our current food eco-system, but a brilliant prescription of how a different food strategy could transform our personal, societal and environmental health. Economists like me often say that, in public policy, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Henry Dimbleby's book provides not only a free lunch for the nation, but a healthy one -- Andy Haldane, former chief economist of the Bank of England Our food system lies in the centre of huge 21st century challenges, including global heating, mass extinction and public health. If we are to navigate these monster threats to civilisation then we need to move beyond our obsession with cheap food and illusory concepts of food security to embrace a genuinely sustainable food system. Shifting such a complex system isn't easy, but it is vital. Through the pages of Ravenous, Henry Dimbleby sets out with great clarity the why and how of the transition we must make -- Tony Juniper CBE, Chair of Natural England Praise for Henry Dimbleby's National Food Strategy * : * From field to fork, extraordinary work is being done to try and build a better food system for everyone ... [including] Henry Dimbleby's ambitions for safe, healthy and affordable food -- HRH King Charles III * Today * This is a compelling and overdue plan of action. If the Government adopts it, we will, at last, be putting our food system on the right path to health and prosperity -- Prue Leith Dimbleby has worked through an incredibly complex landscape and resulted in a set of comprehensive, eminently workable recommendations that are practical and will have a direct impact on our lives -- Tom Kerridge There is a nutritional gap between rich and poor in this country, and it's a slowly unfolding tragedy. Dimbleby not only recognises this - he has a plan to do something about it -- Dame Louise Casey Analytically tight, empirically thorough ... [Dimbleby's] recommendations are detailed, convincing, and would be entirely implementable if we cared about ourselves and the world around us -- Sir Partha Dasgupta, Frank Ramsey Professor Emeritus at the University of Cambridge and author * The Economics of Biodiversity *