DEVOURING TOMORROW is a cli-fi anthology of stories from a myriad of Canadian authors. Thank you to the authors, editors @jjamesdupuis and A.G. Pasquella, @netgalley and the publisher @dundurnpress for the e-ARC.

"Everything we are begins with food, and perhaps that is how it will end."

This anthology strives to answer the questions, What will the future of food look like? What will we eat and how will we eat it? How will we prepare it? What will be considered ordinary that was once a delicacy and vice versa? How will the warming climate change the way we farm and plant?

The characters in these stories undergo devastating losses, become refugees, experience food loss and shortages, struggle through food wars and riots, strike out on culinary quests and endure technology jungles void of greenery. I was amazed by many of these stories but some of my faves include PLEASED TO MEET YOU by @catebush123 , SUCCULENT by @elanmastai , TIME TO FLY by @lisadenikolits JUST A TASTE by @agawilmot and RUBBER ROAD by @terrifavrowriter.

These stories explore the crevices of unexpected hope, community, spectacular and strange futures and future recipes all centered on our relationships with food. If you are a big fan of food culture and like science fiction short stories check this anthology out!

An interesting collection of short stories about our potential future relationship with food. The collection explores a variety of genre - science fiction, horror, dystopia, psychological etc. They are thought-provoking and speculative of what 'food' could be like many decades or centuries down the road.

A few of my favourites...

Written in between two feuding restaurant reviewers, I Want Candy by Dina Del Bucchia offers a glimpse into a seemingly... odd gourmet of the future for the privilege.

Succulent by Elan Mastai - "How about we do Ryan Reynolds for the Har Gow?" "You're not going to have Roast Brad Pitt at the holidays?" "So, it's better to eat an animal that can't consent to be slaughtered for meat? The celebrities who license for their genes for protein synthesizers get paid handsomely for it." A world where we now have consented synthesized celebrity flesh for meat instead of your ~traditional~ animals that we know nothing about - which one would seem safer?

And in the devastating world of Just A Taste by A.G.A. Wilmot we enter a world where the most accessible "fast food" are now inaccessible, where people would even kill to even get a taste of burger. Ok not even the actual taste of burger, but more so getting hands on the memory to get a vivid sense of how a burger tastes like. Sad.

Overall, 2.7/5.0 - stories are either a hit or miss as it's a compilation from various authors. There are the really good and interesting ones that I wish are elaborated novels by themselves, but then there are others that I'm just like uh, ok.

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Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the arc. This review is my own and completely honest.

Dear Reader: What’s the worst thing you’ve ever eaten?

We have a “delicacy” here, amacimbi/madora/mopane worms—edible caterpillars of the emperor moth (Gonimbrasia belina) that you find on mopane/iphane tree leaves in a particular season. Iphane grows in arid areas of southern Africa, so amacimbi are popular as they’re kind of “manna,” food found from foraging, and therefore accessible to the rural poor. I’ll spare you the details of how they’re prepared (or how they smell so fatty and greasy); suffice it to say, I have *never* eaten them and would leave the house whenever my family partook (which they eventually stopped doing because of me). But I am a squeamish eater in general; this is really just me, an anomaly in my part of the world. To answer my own question: The worst thing I’ve ever eaten is kangaroo—not because it tasted bad, because it really didn’t, but because I was tricked into it. And because it’s Skippy innit.

Anyway, it would seem like madora are a food of the future—along with crickets and possibly cockroaches, as well as other assorted bugs. And then there’ll be the stuff you grow in a lab—petri dish meat. Add to this the fact that fresh water may be hard to come by in our warmed Earth future? I will simply sign up for a quick death, I think.

A topic like “the future of food” can have really broad implications and interpretations; that’s what *Devouring Tomorrow* highlights. Stories in this imaginative and interesting collection include ones about—necessarily, as this is topical—cultured meat (cannibalism, anyone? This is how I may sign up to go out); futures where diets are even more class-based than today, sadly; the future of agrarian technology in the form of drone-aided pollination; memories of taste and flavour, because it’s becoming clear some foods will just no longer exist in the future (like coffee and chocolate—kill me now); and yes, water scarcity. For most of the stories, climate change is what haunts, and future means the absence of the abundance we are so reckless with now.

The collection as a whole has stories that lean towards sci-fi, horror, fantasy, as well as themes that defy genre classification. There’s a fun story about really rather unpleasantly rude dinner guests (Ji Hong Sayo’s *Novel Suggestions For Social Occasions*). There are people who generate food by “dreaming” (in Mark Sampson’s *Unlimited Dream*). There’s a deeply mournful story about the last fig tree (*Lorenzo And the Last Fig* by Eddy Boudel Tan). In one memorable story at the beginning of the collection, food is the protagonist (Catherine Bush’s *Pleased To Meet You*).

All of these stories are different visions of the end of the world (which, again, I am not going to stick around for). Come for imaginings of how the way we live today will impact tomorrow’s food. Stick around for some very dark humour, thoughts on the sociality around how we eat and also the taboos, and possible new ways we’ll make food. What food will you miss in the future? *Devouring Tomorrow* gets readers pondering.

Thanks to Dundurn and NetGalley for early DRC access.

this is such a cool concept for a short story collection, speculative fiction on what growing, accessing, and eating food might look like in a post-climate future. as with most short story collections, some stories were fantastic while others were okay.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- i want candy: told through yelp reviews. i want a prosecco ventilator!
- succulent: short and strange, my two favorite things
- you need a license: i wanted this to be longer
- just a taste: i need an entire book of this
- lorenzo: perfect, no notes

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- pleased to meet you: sentient meat!
- unlimited dream: i thought there would be more cannibalism but this was fun

⭐️⭐️⭐️
- pollinators
- a view worth
- novel suggestions
- rubber road
- marianne
- food fight
- the crane

⭐️⭐️
- time to fly
- recipe from the future

This was a unique collection of fiction stories all about the future of our food, and what that might look like. Often leaning into sci-fi/speculative and dystopian territory, many stories here give the reader a lot to think about. From stories discussing the lost art of agriculture, to a world where eating lab-grown "celebrity meat" is the norm, I mostly enjoyed my time with this one. As with all short story collections, some fell below average for me, but my personal favorites were:

-Marianne is Not Hungry by Jowita Bydlowska which touches on eating disorders, relationships (with humans, and with food) and is told from the perspective of food itself. (5 stars)
-I Want Candy by Dina Del Bucchia which is told through excerpts from a reviewing platform where two reviewers get into a tense back-and-forth dialogue. This one had themes of privilege, classism, and was perfectly satirical. (4.5 Stars)
-Just A Taste by AGA Wilmot in which our character is sent on a search for someone with existing memories of having eaten a real burger. (4 Stars)

My calculated average rating for this collection is 3.1.

fantastic short story collection, this had moments, characters, and fantastic settings. You should definitely check it out!

This is a really intriguing, fascinating and unsettling collection of dystopian short stories with the central theme of our future food and eating. I appreciate the commentary, there were so many takes and perspectives that I hadn't experienced before, though I do wish it went just a little deeper, some of the stories definitely could've been a little longer.
This collection is a thought-provoking look into not-so-distant possible futures that had me disturbed and enticed, I am intrigued to read from some of these authors again. I think Dupuis and Pasquella pulled together a great collection of stories from some incredible writers.

Thanks so much NetGalley and Dundurn Press for an eARC, I love short story collections :)

This is a brilliant collection of speculative/sci fi fiction stories. There's some things in here I've never come across and some of the stories properly freaked me out. This is truly one of those collections where I reckon people need to read it to believe it. Bizarre, indescribable but riveting.

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Devouring Tomorrow releases April 22, 2025

3.25

As a professional chef and someone who finds dystopian cli-fi a guilty pleasure to read, I was certain that I was going to love this speculative Canadian anthology about the future of food insecurity.
Either my expectations were too high, or most of these short stories missed the mark by lacking the right commentary that makes this specific subgenre so good.

Out of the bunch, my favourites were: Unlimited Dream, Just a Taste, I Want Candy, A View Worth All the Aqua in the World.


PLEASED TO MEET YOU
Lab-grown meat that becomes sentient.

I WANT CANDY
An online rivalry that sparks through a series of restaurant reviews showing the stark contrast and luxury of indulging in high-end food while the masses face food scarcities.

SUCCULENT
Cannibalism and dishes made with synthesized celebrity flesh.

POLLINATORS
A world in which there are no bees to pollinate crops.

TIME TO FLY
A long-term cruise ship that becomes a floating ecosystem and an old-age home for the rich, in which the drug addicted protagonist and heir to a canned food empire takes a trip in a centrifuge.

A VIEW WORTH ALL THE AQUA IN THE WORLD
A world in which water acts as a form of currency and sustenance.

YOU NEED A LICENCE FOR THAT
A single woman in a room full of families and pregnant couples who binge eats an entire cake.

NOVEL SUGGESTIONS FOR SOCIAL OCCASIONS
A raid and a feast to celebrate an engagement. This oddly read like medieval fiction rather than something in the future.

JUST A TASTE
Blackmail in exchange for the taste of a burger with real meat from a cloned memory.

RUBBER ROAD
Two sisters who come across an abandoned dog and use chewing gum as a way to curb their hunger.

UNLIMITED DREAM
A large-scale dream study that generates real pieces of food from its patients in quantities large enough to feed entire continents.

MARIANNE IS NOT HUNGRY
A woman with an eating disorder from the pov of her food. Way more sexual than it needed to be, and the graphic writing can be quite triggering to those with an ED. (cw: miscarriage)

LORENZO AND THE LAST FIG
A community finds a solitary fig tree and feel the need to scientifically study such a rarity instead of harvesting it, unaware that a boy from Italy has done exactly that.

FOOD FIGHT
Farmers protesting against larger corporations and those that keep raiding their stock.

THE CRANE
Anxious thoughts that lead to the protagonist wondering what a mechanical crane would eat.

RECIPE FROM THE FUTURE
Nonsensical dry humour.

This creepy little collection gave me major Black Mirror vibes but make it about food. Each story explores a different version of our food-insecure future: no more bees, water as currency, sentient lab meat, diseases wiping out staple crops. Super weird, sometimes gross, and totally fascinating.

Some favorites:
-The cruise/nuclear/centrifuge one — wild and memorable
-The off-world story about poverty and water money — wish it were longer
-“Marianne” — told from the POV of binge-eaten food (disturbing and brilliant)
-The fig tree one — beautifully written and nostalgic
-The dream story — messed me up in the best way

A lot of these deal with drugs, inequality, and how the rich vs. poor experience crisis differently. I would’ve liked even more stories from non-wealthy perspectives, but overall this was a thought-provoking and eerie read. Recommended for fans of speculative fiction with a dark twist.

This was a really strong collection of 16 short stories all focused around the theme of food that worked well as a collection but I found with a number of them that they felt a little too short - I wanted more story!

Overall really enjoyed the speculative / scifi / dystopian nature of the collection and is one that I would come back to in future to dip in and out of

Thank you to NetGalley and Dundurn Press | Rare Machines for a digital review copy of "Devouring Tomorrow" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

WOW I loved this collection of short stories inspired by the idea of future food insecurity. I am a social worker whose clients experience this now, and I often imagine how much worse things could get in the future with climate change and a lack of resources. These short stories were very well-written and creative. Highly recommend’

A good book but I don’t think I was the full intended audience as I got a little bored during this. Would recommend

Loved the concept but these stories just did not click for me. Sorry!

Thanks to the publishers and to NetGalley for the review copy.

To begin with, a thank you to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for the opportunity to read "Devouring Tomorrow" as an eARC.

That said, "Devouring Tomorrow" was a delicious anthology of sixteen short stories about the near and not-so-near future of food and nutrition and the societal changes as certain foodstuffs (or nearly all foodstuffs as the case may be) become little more than lingering memories. As I find fairly common with any anthology, there is a mixture of quality ranging from slightly less than mediocre to thoroughly enjoyable. Personally, I found the stories in the first half to two-thirds much more compelling, thought-provoking, and entertaining than the latter portion. However, I will also admit that of the sixteen authors who are all new to me, I will probably only seek out other works by only two to three which is below my usual new-to-me author ratio for short story collections. This should not be construed as a negative about the stories themselves of which I really did enjoy ten, but only two or three really hooked me enough that I will be searching out other works by the authors.

The stories do run the gamut from outright dystopias to moderately inconvenient aftereffects of political, social, or environmental changes. I found "Pollinators" and "Lorenzo and the Last Fig" perhaps the most hopeful of the stories, took some perverse pleasure in "You Need a License for That", and could almost see the worlds of "A View Worth All the Aqua in the World" and "Just a Taste" co-existing with ease. There is a true touch of horror in "Rubber Road", a very Mad Max-esque story with "Novel Suggestions for Social Occasions", "Succulent" was quite the interesting take on "cannibalism" (not quite sure that would be the right description), and "Unlimited Dream" was markedly surreal.

Overall, a true buffet of stories for a variety of tastes.

“You’re not going to have Roast Brad Pitt at the holidays?”
✮ 4 out of 5 stars
Thank you to Netgalley and Dundurn Press for the ARC.

Devouring Tomorrow is an anthology of speculative fiction regarding food in the future. The book contains 16 short stories revolving around differing dystopian futures with a food-insecure focus. The stories differs from extinction, new innovations for the future, cannibalism and how our culture is shaped by food.

Some years back I read Eating to Extinction by Dan Saladino; A non-fiction about some of the dangers our food sources face in our current use of the world. Food has always been an interest of mine; both on a cultural level, but also on a culinary level, so I was very intrigued by Devouring Tomorrow, and what it had to offer.

The thing I really enjoy about short stories is, that it’s a fun way to explore a bigger subject or an interesting take, without dragging it out too much. On the other hand I find a collection of short stories extremely hard to write a review on, because they differ a lot in writing style and plot; Some of the stories are more beloved than others. I did, however, love a lot of stories in this collection, and I found the premises very interesting and unique. One worry while reading an anthology from different authors is that some of the stories will be similar, but while some of these stories might’ve started with the same premise, they’re all executed in a way that makes them fully their own. Most of the stories are well written and well polished for the execution that’s a good story worthy.

I read “Pleased to meet you” by Catherine Bush back in October last year, and while it’s taken me a while to come back to finish up this book, my mind has sometimes wandered back to this story in the meantime. It’s like a friend that’s going to stay with me. The quote in the start of my review is from “Succulent” by Elan Mastai.

Short stories are a double-edged sword, and while I love a lot about the format, I also wanted for some of these stories to be longer. Because all of the short stories are standalones with their own premise, I also wanted more of a red thread that would’ve made it possible for me as a reader to better expect what tone the next story would be. Some of the short stories are kind of light-hearted, while others get very dark and dystopian, but it wasn’t always easy to determine what the next one would be.

If you enjoy stories with food in focus, I would recommend picking up this book for the different premises playing with the future of food. If you like dystopian futures, and just want bite-sized tasters of it, then this book is also worth picking up.

Devouring Tomorrow: Fiction from the Future of Food is a captivating anthology of short stories that explore the intriguing possibilities of food in the future. From lab-grown meat gaining consciousness to a planet lacking bees, these tales present a range of speculative scenarios shaped by technological advancements and climate change. The collection strikes a unique balance between humor, horror, and thought-provoking speculation, offering an engaging look at how we may nourish ourselves in the years ahead.

I wasn't able to finish this book. By the time I read the first four stories I felt like I knew how each one of them would end. After reading the synopsis I prepared myself for something that would force me to think deeper on the topic of food, innovation scarcity etc. Instead I read very surface level stories. Each one had an interesting concept, but it felt like this was their only value. These ideas weren't developed and didn't bring anything new to the conversation.
I wouldn't really recommend this book to anyone, unless someone was looking for fun concepts to inspire their own work.

This anthology of Canadian short fiction asks the reader to imagine a future world that sees food differently as a dire result of the greed, denial, and overconsumption of our current one.

Travel to the future with foragers in post apocalyptic wastelands, bounty hunters in futuristic landscapes, and explore virtual reality escapes. Imagine social hierarchies and new worlds where fruits and animals are either worshipped, cherished memories, or written off entirely as an ancient myth.

I thoroughly enjoyed these short stories and recommend it to anyone who loves horror and science fiction.

Thank you to Dundurn Press and Rare Machines for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

“Devouring Tomorrow” is a collection of short stories all revolving around food, in all of its aspects. Food permeates this book, growing into an obsession, a constant thought, driving people to do things they would never otherwise contemplate. As it is expected, most stories deal with food scarcity and the lengths humans would go to in order to procure some for themselves and for the people they love. I found most of the prompts of these stories brilliant and inventive: indeed, i greatly enjoyed most of the stories of this book, and the ideas that came from the writers who participated in the project, most of which deal with questions about our future and the inevitability of the ecological changes that will follow the current climate crisis. I enjoyed the stories in the first half of the book greatly, and still appreciated the ones in the second half, though i found them less polished style-wise. As it is expected of a collection, not every story was on the same level for me, but it didn’t hinder my enjoyment of the book as a whole.
Due to the nature of this book - of it not being one linear story but an amalgamation of shorter ones - it is difficult to review it in depth, but i found it to be cohesive in its amalgamation and definitely one to keep an eye out for when it is published (as it will certainly provide *food* for thought)!