Intrepid journalist Melanie Warner writes a fascinating, cutting-edge exploration of the science and history of processed food and shows how technology transformed wholesome meals into an extruded, hydrolyzed, textured, gun-puffed product that doesn't quite resemble food, taking us inside the labs and ultra-modern facilities that churn out the cheapest, most abundant, most addictive, and most nutritionally deficient food in the world.

From breakfast cereal to frozen pizza to nutrition bars, processed foods are a fundamental part of our diet, accounting for 65% of Americans’ yearly calories. Over the past century, technology has transformed the average meal into a chemical-laden smorgasbord of manipulated food products that bear little resemblance to what our grandparents ate.

Despite the growing presence of farmers' markets and organic offerings, food additives and chemical preservatives are nearly impossible to avoid, and even the most ostensibly healthy foods contain multisyllabic ingredients with nearly untraceable origins.

The far-reaching implications of the industrialization of the food supply that privileges cheap, plentiful, and fast food have been well documented. They are dire. But how did we ever reach the point where "pink slime" is an acceptable food product? Is anybody regulating what makes it into our food? What, after all, is actually safe to eat?

Former New York Times health columnist Melanie Warner combines deep investigatory reporting, culinary history, and cultural analysis, to find out how we got here and what it is we're really eating. Vividly written and meticulously researched, PANDORA’S LUNCHBOX blows the lid off the largely undocumented world of processed foods and food manipulation. From the vitamin "enrichments" to our fortified cereals and bread, to the soy mixtures that bolster chicken (and often outweigh the actual chicken included), Warner lays bare the dubious nutritional value and misleading labels of chemically-treated foods, as well as the potential price we--and our children--may pay.

* CHARTS NEW GROUND: Building on the foundation of Michael Pollan and Mark Bittman, who have established their careers on advocating for the merits of eating real food, Warner is the first writer to fully lay bare how food processing actually works. She exposes the nutrient-stripping mechanical processes and harmful chemical additives that make it into even foods we think of as "healthy". PANDORA’S LUNCHBOX pushes the conversation beyond nutrition to expose the larger systemic food processing practices that impact our diet and overall health.

* BLOCKBUSTER CATEGORY: In the tradition of Fast Food Nation, The End of Overeating and The Omnivore's Dilemma, PANDORA’S LUNCHBOX unearths the truth behind what really goes into our food.

* IMPORTANT, STAGGERING CONCLUSIONS FOR PARENTS: Melanie has spent years researching and writing about the impact of food processing. Her journey began as a mother: she was concerned about feeding her kids the cheese singles that remained more or less intact after languishing in her refrigerator for two years. What are we feeding our kids? Her conclusions will be of immense interest to parents and change the way they think about packing their children's lunchboxes.

* VIVID FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT FROM AN ACCOMPLISHED JOURNALIST: Former New York Times health columnist Melanie Warner conducts exclusive interviews and visits to food research centers, chemical plants, and farms around the world, providing an eye-opening--and sometimes disturbing--account of the sights, scents, tastes and textures of processed food. She reaches startling conclusions about the profound health implications--and lack of regulation behind--the packaged foods we eat on a daily basis.

* PROFOUND HEALTH IMPLICATIONS: The book offers a rare glimpse inside the monumentally complex edifice of our food manufacturing industry and presents a case for why understanding the implications of our high-tech, Byzantine system of food processing is of profound importance to an overweight and chronically ill population.

* EVEN SO-CALLED HEALTHY FOODS ARE PROCESSED: Warner goes beyond McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets and the food that most readers know is bad for us, and she lays bare the invisible processing that goes into even whole grain cereal and "all-natural" energy bars. David Kessler demystified the Cinnabon in THE END OF OVEREATING. In PANDORA'S LUNCHBOX, Warner punctures the assumptions and biases associated with foods that line the aisles of Whole Foods. She analyzes the Subway sandwich that Men's Health deemed the "healthiest sandwich in America," for example, and it contains hundreds of ingredients that would be hard to construe as healthy.

* THE SCARY TRUTH ABOUT WHAT WE'RE REALLY EATING: Warner gives readers background on why soy is such a prevalent ingredient in processed foods and discusses some of the frightening health implications of eating as much soy as we do. Anyone who reads this book will look twice at the label and think twice before eating a preservative-laden snack.
 

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W sprawie materiałów recenzenckich prosimy o kontakt z Justyną Czechowską pod adresem justyna@literatura.com.pl 

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