Food Nation

To a degree both engrossing and alarming, the story of fast food is the story of postwar America. Fast Food Nation is a groundbreaking work of investigation and cultural history that may change the way America thinks about the way it eats.

The avocado is the quintessential symbol of aspirational living, a ubiquitous agricultural favorite, and the driver of an $18 billion global industry. How did this regional Latin American staple become a star of Super Bowl ads and a byword for wellness? Documenting more than a century of cross-cultural cooperation, cutting-edge science, and savvy marketing, Green Gold tells the remarkable story of the fruit's rise to prominence as both a culinary and cultural juggernaut.

Kosher? That means the rabbi blessed it, right? Not exactly. In this captivating account of a Bible-based practice that has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry, journalist Sue Fishkoff travels throughout America and to Shanghai, China, to find out who eats kosher food, who produces it, who is responsible for its certification, and how this fascinating world continues to evolve.

America’s ever-expanding waistline—we see it, we hear about it, and we worry about it, but can anything be done about it? We know all the usual suspects: red meat, dairy, white flour, refined sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, a lack of exercise, too much television—the list goes on and on. It seems simple, right? Not really. There’s a lot more going on below the surface when it comes to what America is eating for dinner—and breakfast and lunch and in between.