All Consuming: Why We Eat the Way We Eat Now

Hype restaurants. Allrecipes. The Great British Bake Off. Food dominates our every waking minute. In this dazzling cultural history, acclaimed food writer Ruby Tandoh traces the story of how--and why--we've all became foodies.

"Ruby Tandoh is a genius and All Consuming is everything." --Bryan Washington, author of Family Meal

"A fascinating, sometimes shocking, eye-opener that is also brilliantly funny." --Claudia Roden

How, in the space of a few decades, has food gone from "fact of life" to "national past time"; something to be thought about--and talked about--24/7?

In this startlingly original, deeply irreverent cultural history, Ruby Tandoh traces how our culinary tastes have been transformed; how they've been pulled into supermarket aisles and seduced by Michelin stars, transfixed by Top Chefs and shaped by fads. All Consuming is a deep dive into the social, economic, cultural, legislative, and demographic forces that have reshaped our relationship with food.

From the rise of the food writer to the dream of the modern dinner party; from the unlikely adoption of bubble tea to the advent of the TikTok restaurant critic, in these essays, Tandoh questions how our tastes have been shaped--and how much they are, in fact, our own.

Author: Ruby Tandoh
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
Published: 09/09/2025
Pages: 304
Weight: 1.25lbs
ISBN: 9798217207862


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 08/01/2025
Booklist 08/01/2025

About the Author
RUBY TANDOH is an author and journalist who has written for The New Yorker, The Guardian, Vittles, and Elle. A finalist on The Great British Bake Off in 2013, she has also written Eat Up!, a book about the pleasure of eating, as well as three cookery books, Crumb, Flavour, and Cook As You Are.