All Consuming

Reviews / Votes

Brilliant and original -- Nigel Slater * Observer * It's entertaining, alarming, illuminating, alive - and, naturally, always beautifully written -- Nigella Lawson We are living in a TikTok world - and Ruby Tandoh is the translator and tour guide we desperately need... A funny and freeing read -- Pandora Sykes * Sunday Times, Style Magazine * A joyous blend of curiosity, intelligence and generosity * Observer * Tandoh peels back the layers of modern food culture with precision and wit, revealing the many forces that have shaped global eating habits -- Angela Hui * Vogue * Fascinating.... Tandoh's conversational tone belies an impressive amount of historical research.... Written with warmth and humour... All Consuming will make you think differently about why you eat what you eat * TLS * A razor-sharp look at our edible world... All Consuming has deft observations that, once stated, you kick yourself for not noticing * Irish Times * On boats, in hotel rooms, during turbulence: I'll read anything that Ruby Tandoh writes, anywhere. Her latest book dissects food culture with her usual forensic style -- Gabriella Bennett * The Times * I loved this book and nodded empathically through each chapter -- Anna Jones, author of EASY WINS A fascinating, sometimes shocking, eye-opener that is also brilliantly funny -- Claudia Roden, author of THE BOOK OF JEWISH FOOD Fascinating, funny and devastatingly honest - a must-read on modern food culture -- Felicity Cloake, author of COMPLETELY PERFECT Witty and profound, informative and original. I loved this book -- Bee Wilson, author of CONSIDER THE FORK A major new history of contemporary food culture, written with a deft and humorous touch that belies the depth of its research -- Rebecca May Johnson, author of SMALL FIRES Bubble tea, 'trad' wives, and the CREAMIEST pasta you've ever tasted; no food-adjacent trend gets past Ruby Tandoh without warranting careful examination * Glamour * A brilliant and engrossing investigation of what really shapes our desires -- Fuchsia Dunlop, author of INVITATION TO A BANQUET Brilliant. It's everything I want in a book about food culture. This book is for anyone who loves food, and wants the curtain lifted on why we love the things we do -- Rukmini Iyer, author of THE ROASTING TIN Sharp, insightful, and wildly refreshing, All Consuming rewires how you think about food culture and changes the way you crave and consume food today. -- Angela Hui, author of TAKEAWAY Tandoh highlights the exciting and absurd in this must-read book for foodies the world over * Women's Own * Thoughtful, provocative and often hilarious, full of tasty little nuggets. Brilliant. -- New Palmer, author of A CHEESEMONGER'S HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLES An absolutely brilliant analysis of modern eating that delves into some of the most outrageous, controversial and funny aspects of today's food world and takes us on a mind-blowing journey through recent-ish history to explain how we got here. I loved it -- Melissa Thompson, author of MOTHERLAND The smartest, most thoughtful, most interesting book on food I've read in an age. It's sure to become an instant classic -- Olivia Potts, author of BUTTER A sharp and funny dissection and skewering of how modern ideals have shaped out tastes * The Bookseller * An entertaining, endlessly instructive look at why we like what we do in our "anarchic web of desire -- *Starred review* * Kirkus * Her fascinating cultural history traces the social, economic, political, and technological forces that determine how we discover new foods, who we listen to, how we shop, and how (and if) we cook. An entertaining and informative read for foodies and non-foodies alike. -- *starred review* * Booklist * A bold, wry, exacting, and rip-roaring ride through our modern food culture..Tandoh is a marvellous and mischievous writer and thinker -- Chitra Ramaswamy From Viennetta to wellness elixirs, this fascinating volume looks at the way our tastes and appetites have changed over the past 75 years and explores the complexities and absurdities of our modern food culture in entertaining prose. -- Non-fiction you need to read in 2025 * Waterstones * Completely dazzling in its scope, rigour, wit and savage, enlivening intellect. As a tour guide, Tandoh is brutally unsparing but infectiously passionate; forensically obsessive but self-aware -- Jimi Famurewa, author of SETTLERS and PICKY Her inventive angles of enquiry, her curiosity and comic genius for showing the absurd, cynical and tender ways our food culture has evolved are gripping -- Amy Key, author of ARRANGEMENTS IN BLUE Effervescent, sharp and full of heart, this is essential reading for anyone curious about what fuels today's food culture. I devoured it -- Mallika Basu, author of MASALA A completely new perspective on food culture in contemporary life -- Lucy Dearlove, creator of LECKER podcast Intimate and universal at once; carefully researched and reported but full of wit and opinion; of-the-moment and timeless -- Tom Lamont, author of GOING HOME Ruby Tandoh takes us on a journey into the new global pantry that is as gripping, surprising and expansive as if she had opened the door to Narnia -- Dan Hancox, author of INNER CITY PRESSURE A smorgasbord of thought-provoking commentary. Everyone from the most ardent foodie to the cultured gourmand will find morsels here to savour -- Mary-Anne Boermans, author of DEJA FOOD A real treat: somebody thoughtful and sharp taking a subject that everyone has to think about but rarely does so deeply -- Imogen West-Knights, author of DEEP DOWN A tour de force. Ruby's extensive research and wonderful prose reveal everything you never knew about the evolution of current global food culture, in all its (often bonkers) forms -- Aggie MacKenzie, broadcaster and former head of Good Housekeeping Institute Extraordinary. Ruby Tandoh is a genius and All Consuming is everything -- Bryan Washington, author of MEMORIAL A wonderful read, whatever you eat -- Reni Eddo-Lodge The perfect Christmas gift for foodies * Suffolk Magazine * The modern history that Tandoh tracks is a vital and largely hidden one, a behind-the-scenes look at how food gets onto our plates. Tandoh breaks down the mechanics and economics of these phenomena in wry pages that are as incisive as they are amusing -- Kyle Chayka, author of FILTERWORLD Tandoh wades through the chaotic food world of the 2020s armed with delightful snark and historical analysis in equal measure * New York Times *