Synopses & Reviews
A stunning photographic collection featuring portraits of 80 people from 30 countries and the food they eat in one day.
In this fascinating study of people and their diets, 80 profiles are organized by the total number of calories each person puts away in a day. Featuring a Japanese sumo wrestler, a Massai herdswoman, world-renowned Spanish chef Ferran Adria, an American competitive eater, and more, these compulsively readable personal stories also include demographic particulars, including age, activity level, height, and weight. Essays from Harvard primatologist Richard Wrangham, journalist Michael Pollan, and others discuss the implications of our modern diets for our health and for the planet. This compelling blend of photography and investigative reportage expands our understanding of the complex relationships among individuals, culture, and food.
Synopsis
Michael Pollan meets Anthony Bourdain in What I Eat, a portrait of 80 people from 30 countries—each photographed with all the food they eat in one day. Photos and profiles of a soldier, a sumo wrestler, a competitive eater, a world-famous chef (Ferran Adrià of El Bulli), a welfare mom and recovering addict, a Sudanese refugee, a model, a monk and more are accompanied by details of how old each person is, how tall and heavy, how active, and just how many calories he or she puts away in a day. The winning blend of stunning photography and sensitive reportage expands our understanding of the complex relationships among individuals, society, and food.
About the Author
“A fascinating, insightful look at what 80 people around the world eat in a typical day.”
—Publishers Weekly, The Best Cookbooks of 2010: Winner of Most Fascinating Food Book, 11/8/10
“The photographer/writer team behind Hungry Planet continues its engrossing examination of everyday life.”
—Mother Jones, Oct 2010
“What I Eat…does not judge. It simply presents. …Images of healthy people and catastrophically unhealthy people — you can’t get them out of your head. Somehow, without instructing you to think harder about the choices you make when you eat, this book makes you do exactly that. The reason: You wonder what your own portrait would look like.”
—Esquire, September 2010
“Photographer Peter Menzel and writer Faith D’Aluisio have produced a visual encyclopedia. ...What I Eat doesn’t treat its subjects like docu-drama puppet figures. Instead, Menzel and D’Aluisio make their points gently—by taking readers inside the lives of the people whose diets they document.”
—Energy Times, September 2010
“In their new and even more ambitious What I Eat, …Menzel and D’Aluisio dig deeper into what mealtimes mean to the workers and families who eat them. ...they are alive to the circumstances that make people eat what and when they do. ...fascinating way beyond the food.”
—Corby Kummer, The Atlantic, 9/7/10
“What I Eat is the sort of coffee table book you have to remove before the guests come over—at least if you want them to leave. The latest photo-journalism book from Menzel and D’Aluisio is as addictive as their equally engaging Hungry Planet. ...It’s all told so vividly, both visually and verbally.”
—LA Weekly, Squid Ink blog, 9/7/10
“a revealing and fascinating glimpse into the lives of 80 people from all walks of life and around the world.”
—Louise McCready, Huffington Post food blog, 9/6/10
“it’s hard to stop looking at it. ...Even if someone isn’t into food, the social, economic, and political implications of the photos are riveting.”
—Chow.com, 8/19/10
“The photographs are eye catching...you will be amazed.”
—The Epi-Log on Epicurious.com, 8/13/10
“It’s a fascinating presentation, and readers can certainly draw their own conclusions from the profiles.”
—Lynn Andriani, Publishers Weekly’s “Cooking the Books” e-newsletter
“[a] fascinating photojournalism book. ...The intimate portraits of natives and their food (and calorie counts) are not only a sample of regional cuisines but a look at how diet affects our health and out planet.”
—Conde Nast Traveler
“Through vivid photographs and descriptions… What I Eat offers a new perspective on nutrition, the relationship between diet and culture, and how globalization has changed how we look at food.”
—USA Weekend