This book review was first published on my site: www.phoebejanewrites.com

When stumbling upon this book, I found the premise intriguing: a historical account of food and the impact on nations, people and ecology which connects the past to our present. Instead, a standard college student fare of the “history of the world” is given, sprinkled in with interesting bits of food.

After presenting this history lesson for 75% of the book, the author begins to delve into the current state of food. However, the second to the last chapter of the book begins to read off as a data dump of the myriad of global food-related issues ranging from starving children, deforestation to methane emissions. The final chapter gives recommendations on programs implemented throughout the world and life saving processes to eliminates different food problems.

“By nudging consumers away from UPFs isn’t enough. Only by encouraging the production of real food can the market do a good job; in a market flooded by UPFs, it can be difficult for many people to buy anything but junk, and recommendations to make healthy choices are often drowned out by the noise of Big Food’s advertising."

Although there is much sustenance to be found in this manuscript, it feels as though the reader could be best served if this was actually two broken into two books:

1. The history of food
2. The current state of food and how to heal the world

Despite the hurried ending, Animal, Vegetable, Junk is a necessary read which should be consumed by anyone who eats food.

This ARC was provided to me by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

On my bookshelf squats Mark Bittman's massive How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman, a companion to my life, and the prodigious Bittman has written six related cookbooks. Now, with "Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal," Bittman turns serious, and boy, how dark his intent is. This book is nothing less than an indictment of the entire thrust of humankind's journey through the world of food and diet. Particularly savage is the tale of modern (read: American) industrial agriculture, which, following in the footsteps of British and other colonial powers, has scrunched the small, traditional farmer, starved and abused farm workers, embraced monoculture, and ended up at our current point of history, in which much of what is eaten is now formally "junk" that makes us sick and kills us. I had read parts of this history and naturally, having turned vegetarian solely to cut carbon emissions, am well aware of the blight of our modern food practices on Earth's climate, but I had never seen the whole trajectory laid out before. The author is a smooth, engaging stylist and his carefully researched facts are expounded with fairness. His penultimate chapter, "The Way Forward," begins thus: "I realize that much of this book has been, let's say, not exactly uplifting," which describes the impact accurately. His descriptions of what he describes as minor corrective revolutions offered me some cheer but not much. What will be needed, he says, is massive systemic change: "Innovation from industry is not going to fix food and diet, and neither is 'buying right.'" Compendious and sweeping, Animal, Vegetable, Junk is a must-read for those of us who despair at the food terrain we gaze at.

Mark Bittman is a legend. I always learn something from his books. I wish I could eat as well as he would like me to.

Thank you to the author, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

While the subject matter interests me immensely, and I enjoy reading the author's columns in the NYT, I found this book hard going. The prose was very dense and dry, and much of it was too preachy and judgemental for me. I did appreciate the historic background given by the author, and the last few chapters where he shared perspectives on what is being done to help heal our environment and what we can do to support this and continue along the path of change.

Author Mark Bittman is a charming author of cookbooks and a respected writer/teacher for beginning cooks. He has taught many readers the basics of cooking, even creating cooking apps. ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, JUNK is exactly what the title states, it’s a serious history of human food usage and creation on planet earth. There is much to acknowledge, admire and loathe. Bittman acknowledges that the current situation is not a happy one. We face too many food-related diseases and a planet that is too hot and depleted, for the agricultural maladies humans have wrought. The book is useful for the historical perspectives it provides, as well as the overarching viewpoints. It suffers from the absence of Bittman’s characteristic charm; but, admittedly, the topic is not charming. There is a growing popular literature around this topic and Bittman’s voice is important. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

An essential reading.

In recent years in non-fiction, there was a trend of describing human history through one particular commodity or phenomenon: cod, chickens, cotton, mosquitos - you name it. While most of them bring an interesting new perspective and surprising facts, they are usually also shamelessly biased towards their subjects, overestimating their importance and influence.

That is not the case with “Animal, vegetable, junk”, because food unquestionably is one of the most important things that impacted our history (the only other example of such consequence that comes to my mind is that of infectious diseases). History of food means mainly the history of agriculture (or, later, "the Big Ag"), which maybe doesn’t sound too exciting but, believe me, it is. I would never think that I would be so fascinated with methods of soil treatment or farm industrialization.

Mark Bittman is a great storyteller and can make almost any topic interesting. His writing is clear, witty, opinionated, full of interesting anecdotes and colorful characters. But it is a pleasure mixed with dread, as you learn more and more about what kind of world we’ve all created and how we turned our food into junk. Thankfully, the last chapters leave us with some hope and a plan of counteraction.

Thanks to the publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and NetGalley for the advance copy of this book.

If you're familiar with Mark Bittman's work, you know that he's passionate about food, how and what we eat, and the future of the planet. If not, know that he's been committed to these issues for years and this is the culmination of a lot of his research over the years. Beginning with a history of agriculture in the US and continuing through to how we must look at it in the future, it is at times a book which might aggravate but it will always inform. You, like me, might not agree with some of his assertions (notably about feeding infanta and children) but his views are thought provoking. His journalistic style is well suited to the subject (which could have been either a screed or too intense in lesser hands). I've been a fan of his for years and have watched his evolution. This is a terrific addition to his library. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Informative and instructive, this is a must read for his fans and for those interested in the food industry.

Coming February 2nd Mark Bittman’s highly informative “Animal - Vegetable - Junk” was a fascinating read - highly recommended to any science nerds and history bugs out there, or anyone else since we all need and consume food every day.

Synopsis: The history of Homo sapiens is usually told as a story of technology or economics. But there is a more fundamental driver: food. How we hunted and gathered explains our emergence as a new species and our earliest technology. The quest for food for growing populations drove exploration, colonialism, slavery, even capitalism. A century ago, food was industrialized. Since then, new styles of agriculture and food production have written a new chapter of human history, one that’s driving both climate change and global health crises. Best-selling food authority Mark Bittman offers a panoramic view of the story and explains how we can rescue ourselves from the modern wrong turn.

Review: The book tackles the history of agriculture, how damaging it has been and continues to be, and how it can be reshaped to respond to climate change and a world population of 10 billion people. I thought it was very interesting, I love history books with different focus points and my history nerd side was fully satisfied by the analysis of developments from early times through Middle Ages to modern times and industrialized agriculture from subsistence farms to large scale monoculture. Bittman excels in writing an accessible and gripping account of the history of agriculture and food industry. Speaking truth to power where simple profit interests were the leading decision components.
Bittman does not come across as a radical, as suggested in some reviews, more as an observer and gatherer of scientific information. I thought the book was well researched and provided the background studies that statements relied on which is what I expect of scientific writing.
Bittman is not recommending a specific diet or specific steps but he is showing which initiatives are leading the way in a good direction for combatting hunger and environmental effects and ends the book on a hopeful note.

I have read other books by Mark Bittman and found everyone of them to be valuable. This book tackles a very broad subject going back in time to what is thought of as the beginning when people hunted and gathered their foods, that were consumed raw, to later times when people learned to use fire as well as grown their own food and raise animals for meat and milk. He continues on to cover each new advance until he gets to the present and adds some thought about where we are heading.

It is an interesting history and worth reading.

Mark Bittman gives himself the task of explaining the history of agriculture (with a special focus on American practices), how damaging it has been and continues to be (again, with a indictment of American industrialized farming), and how it can be reshaped to respond to climate change and a world population of 10 billion people. It's an ambitious project, and he mostly pulls it off.

He is writing for a general audience: his style is conversational and references are at the back of the book. It's also a survey of a very large topic - Bittman is trying to synthesize and summarize a lot of scholarship and research, and he pulls it together in a readable and compelling manner.

It's also a critically important subject - our food system is broken in many respects, climate change will only make it harder to grow food, and we will need to make substantial changes in agriculture and food distribution in coming years. Bittman makes a real contribution to this critical issue.

Animal, Vegetable, Junk is about the history of food, eating, and the food system. In it, the author gives myriad examples about how our food system came to be and where it needs to go next for sustainability and improved health. While the subject matter was interesting, I found the prose dense. I recommend it for those who are interested in food history, the food system, or are looking to make a personal change in diet.

**Thank you NetGalley and Houghton Miffin Harcourt for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This book is published Feb 2nd

I have read a few, of Bittman’s other books and I enjoyed them, sadly, this one fell a little short for me. I appreciated some of the history in the first few chapters. I’m talking about century old history that I was not aware of. I also appreciated the last two chapters where he shared what is being done now to help heal our environment and what we can do to continue down the path of change.

The middle section of the book felt a little dry and biased. It struggled to keep my attention though a large chunk of it. It felt very textbookish for me and I could only read it in small chunks. I also could have done without shaming pregnant mothers and families who choose to formula over breastfeeding. Essentially, it alluded to kids being picky eaters because of how the babies mother ate when pregnant and/or because of being given formula and pureed foods. I cringed when they talked about the “stoplight method” in regards to foods. Nothing makes a kid or person want food more than when you are told you can’t have it.

We do have issues with our food system. There is much that needs to change and this book does present some good ideas for that. So I guess my recommendation is read the first and last few chapters and call it a day.

A history of food. And of food politics. Bittman is an extraordinary guide, knowledgeable and insightful His frustration with today’s Agra-business, however, seems to feed a slightly conspiratorial mindset, and that slightly undercuts his authority on historical perspective. Much food for thought.

I'd enjoyed Mark Bittman's articles in the NY Times Food section. In Animal, Vegetable, Junk, Bittman argues how agricultural practices and the unequal distribution of resources (land, water, wealth/capital, energy, labor) have caused and are causing the production of "junk". Junk doesn't have the nutrients of regular food and is largely engineered substances of low nutritional value. The widespread consumption of the unhealthy junk instead of plant based whole foods has caused a public health crisis as well as further inequities. This is a familiar argument.
Bittman argues that Big Food is unsustainable. He argues that agriculture led to settlements and the development of communities as well as increased calories and greater brain development. It also led to development of agricultural techniques, irrigation, fallowing, crop rotation, etc and private lands, private property, class based societies, gender roles, conquest, primogeniture, fiefdoms, serfs, etc.
I had hoped to read more about food but the book is a larger discussion of agriculture, industrialization, capitalism and the inefficiencies and dangers of our current system.

Read if you: Want a passionate, eye-opening, and at times, severe condemnation of our food supply, both past and present.

Librarians/booksellers: Mark Bittman is a well-known name among those interested in food politics; purchase where interest is warranted.

Many thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Mostly Junk, Barely Any Meat. This anti-capitalist, anti-European, anti-agriculture screed is little more than a run down of a leftist view of world history (with concentrations in the post-Industrial Revolution world) as it relates to food . It often points to old and out-dated research in support of its claims, and its bibliography is both scant - barely 1/3 the size of similar nonfiction titles - and not cited in the text at all. (Instead, it uses a system of referring to a particular phrase on a particular page number inside the bibliography itself, rather than having a notation in the text of the narrative. Which is obfuscation intended to hide the text's lack of scholarly merit, clearly.) For those who know no better, it perhaps offers an argument that will at least confirm their own biases. But for anyone who has studied any of the several areas it touches in any depth at all, its analysis is flawed due to the very premises it originates from. All of this to say, this is a very sad thing. Based on the description of the book, I genuinely had high hopes for it, as food and its history and future is something that truly fascinates me and this could have been a remarkable text. Instead, it is remarkable only for how laughable it is. Not recommended.

I haven't come across Mark Bittman's work before, but 'Animal, Vegetable Junk' is a marvel of research and argument.

The book is chronological, beginning with a summary of the birth of agriculture. I scanned this bit, I'll admit - this period in history has already been well-covered in 'Sapiens' by Yuval Harari (who gets a mention).

Where Bittman excels is the history of agriculture and the food industry in the USA. Now, I'm British, but I didn't really have a problem with the American focus. I assume the American food industry has served as a model for much of the rest of the world. The book certainly answers the question of "just why does America have such an obesity problem?". And while Bittman's writing isn't at the same level as Yuval Harari's (but then again, that author is in a league of his own), it still comes with plenty of shocks and some great one-liners like: "Bread had become a vitamin pill in the form of a sponge cake".

Another thing to truly commend the book for is its exposure of structural racism. I knew, like anyone does, that food is just one of many issues wrapped up with racial inequality in the USA. But I had no idea just how powerful the collaboration has been between historical and modern racism, and the depravities of the American food system.

Essential reading - for those in America and beyond.

(Just one quibble - early on, the author says that primates are the only animals known to make tools - but corvids are also known to do this)

With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this ebook, in exchange for an honest review)