Food For All: What We Eat and Where It Comes From

Here is a beautiful hardback for everyone to enjoy, and which delves into a subject affecting us all. As soon as I saw the gorgeous and tempting endpapers, I knew I was in for a treat!

This inclusive and diverse book is well laid out and structured with a different topic on each spread. It starts with sections on growing food and looking at what plants and animals need, followed by how the food gets to humans and what is a balanced diet. Later chapters inform the reader about food waste and climate change before ending with suggestions as to how the world can feed itself both now and in years to come.

The inclusion on each spread of the little outer space creature is a great idea: it pops up with a speech bubble asking questions of the reader and adding interesting pieces of information. There are very attractive drawings and tables by illustrator Ros Asquith which work well with the interesting text of Mary Hoffman. They are a great team and this shines through the pages. I think the table on page 25 of all the different vitamins and which foods contain them is particularly helpful, as is the glossary at the end of the book. The pages entitled, ‘All around the world’ on pages 30-31 explain about national dishes and there are some brilliant illustrations of tea in different countries alongside popular foods from the four corners of the globe.

I highly recommend this publication for home and school libraries. It will answer all the questions about food that the curious youngster has, and I am sure readers will enjoy the cartoon-style illustrations. This is the ideal book for adults to share with children and might just spark a child’s interest in a career in this area.