The 2022 James Cropper Wainwright Prize — Winner for Writing on Conservation

A captivating and urgent exploration of some of the world’s most endangered foods, Eating to Extinction is a thrilling journey through the history of humankind’s relationship with food, which reveals a world at a crisis point.

From a tiny crimson pear in the west of England to great chunks of fermented sheep meat in the Faroe Islands, from pistachios in Syria to flat oysters in Denmark, from a wild honey harvested with the help of birds to an exploding corn that might just hold the key to the future of food – these are just some of the thousands of foods around the world today that are at risk of being lost for ever.

In this captivating and wide-ranging book, Dan Saladino spans the globe to uncover the stories of these foods. He meets the pioneering farmers, scientists, cooks, food producers and indigenous communities who are preserving food traditions and fighting for change. All human history is woven through these stories, from the first great migrations to the slave trade to the refugee crisis today. But Eating to Extinction is about so much more than preserving the past.

It reveals a world at a crisis point – the future of our planet depends on reclaiming genetic biodiversity before it is too late.

Eating to Extinction is an astonishing journey through the past, present and future of food, a love letter to the diversity of global food cultures, and a work of great urgency and hope.