Ravenous

How to Get Ourselves and Our Planet into Shape

By: Henry Dimbleby, Jemima Lewis

Narrated by: Henry Dimbleby

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, 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.

Longlisted for the André Simon Book Awards

©2023 Henry Dimbleby and Jemima Lewis. (P)2023 Bolinda Publishing

Critic reviews

"We need a food revolution to ensure children don't go hungry, eat right, and reach their potential." (Tom Kerridge, Michelin-starred chef)

"This is a delicious, highly digestible guide to building a better food system, for the sake of our bodies and our planet." (Prue Leith, judge of The Great British Bake Off)

"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." (Financial Times)

What everyone ought to know about the world’s food system

The earth hurdles towards an unsustainable future with most of us not even aware of this reality or opting to ignore it for any of a multitude of reasons, blinded by self interest or just not paying attention. Henry Dimblebly looks the problems dispassionately in the eye based on his decades of experience evaluating the benefits and downsides of the planet’s food system. This book is both a wake-up call and a call to action to put things right!