Eating to Extinction is a celebration in the form of eclectic case studies.

At a time when many of us are staying closer to home, it is exhilarating to join the author on a pilgrimage to some of the last strongholds of traditional food culture. The book is an immensely readable compendium of food history, cultural lore, agricultural science, and travelogue. There are new flavors to imagine and places to visit on every page.

Saladino’s method is digressive, and all the better for it.

Saladino has an 18-year-old backpacker’s willingness to light out for remote destinations far from the usual food-writer feeding troughs.

... impressively researched.

The book’s overarching theme is the rapid decline in the diversity of human foods over the past century.

However utterly despairing these tales read, Saladino profiles those who are finding ways to regenerate these foods against implacable odds.

Saladino traverses the globe to find out what scientists, conservationists and food experts are doing to dial back the increasing sameness in our diets. His journalistic skills are key as he interviews a wide range of people, from food corporation executives and government officials to botanists and farmers.

Through a narrative that weaves science and history with stories spanning every corner of the globe, Saladino makes an urgent call to protect the world’s rare foods.

An illuminating survey.

Fascinating descriptions of Indigenous and mostly disappearing foods, plus an alarming message.