Ruby Tandoh's funny and forensic bestseller explores modern food culture - from TikTok to cookbooks

WINNER AT THE FORTNUM & MASON FOOD AND DRINK AWARDS 2026 SHORTLISTED FOR A GUILD OF FOOD WRITERS AWARD 2026 AN OBSERVER, FINANCIAL TIMES, NEW YORK TIMES AND BLACKWELL'S BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025 Longlisted for the André Simon Food and Drink Book Award 'Entertaining, alarming, illuminating, alive' Nigella Lawson 'Laugh-out-loud funny' Vogue 'Delightful snark' New York Times Why do we eat the way we eat now? The food landscape is more expansive and dizzying by the day. Recipes, once passed from hand to hand, now flood newspaper supplements - if they aren't being engineered for social media virality. Our cravings are perfected in factories, hacked by supermarkets and influenced by Instagram reels. Exploring the evolution of the cookbook and light-speed growth of bubble tea, the advent of TikTok critics and absurdities of the perfect dinner party, Tandoh's laser-sharp investigation leaves her questioning: how much are our tastes, in fact, our own?

"Brilliant and original" - Observer

"A book that pays serious attention to the pop-culture side of food... Most chapters have the heft of an academic dissertation, but delivered with the easy, narrative charm of a great magazine writer." - FT, Books of the Year

"We are living in a TikTok world - and Ruby Tandoh is the translator and tour guide we desperately need... A funny and freeing read" - 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" - 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" - The Times

"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

"Tandoh highlights the exciting and absurd in this must-read book for foodies the world over" - Women's Own

"A sharp and funny dissection and skewering of how modern ideals have shaped out tastes" - The Bookseller

"In theory, the internet has democratised food, but in practice, it all too often turns it into garish performance art, a trajectory Ruby Tandoh charts with acuity and wit in All Consuming" - FT

"An entertaining, endlessly instructive look at why we like what we do in our "anarchic web of desire" - 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." - Booklist

"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." - Waterstones

"The perfect Christmas gift for foodies" - Suffolk Magazine

"Tandoh wades through the chaotic food world of the 2020s armed with delightful snark and historical analysis in equal measure" - New York Times