All Consuming: Why We Eat the Way We Eat Now

by Ruby Tandoh

The iconic New Yorker and Vittles food writer asks: Why do we eat the way we eat now?

Being into food - following and making it, queuing for it and discussing it - is no longer a subculture. It's become mass culture.

The food landscape is more expansive and dizzying by the day. Recipes, once passed from hand to hand, now flood newspaper supplements and social media. Our tastes are engineered in food factories, hacked by supermarkets and influenced by Instagram reels.

Ruby Tandoh's startlingly original analysis traces this extraordinary transformation over the past seventy-five years, making sense of this electrifying new era by examining the social, economic, and technological forces shaping the foods we hunger for today.

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?

Genres: Nonfiction, Food, History, Essays, Audiobook, Cooking, Health

303 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 9, 2025

About the author

RUBY TANDOH is an author and journalist who has written for The New Yorker, The Guardian, Vittles and Elle. A finalist on The Great British Bake Off in 2013, she has written Eat Up!, a book about the pleasure of eating, as well as three cookery books, Crumb, Flavour, and Cook As You Are. She is also the author of All Consuming, a book about the highs and lows of modern food culture – out now.

Reviews

[Stephen the Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being a child of the sixties and seventies and growing up in family that grew their veg, baked, bottled, pickled , preserved - out of necessity rather than fad or fashion , I've always loved food, sharing food and talking about food with family and friends. I don't think we'd had called ourselves foodies - just an innate desire to find pleasure from food.

Over the years food has changed, the veggies grown in the garden have changed and the dialogue has changed...the world of consuming food, buying food, connecting to food has dramatically moved on... ( but I guess it always has over the decades/centuries)

What drew me to this book ... a feeling of needing to connect and understand the paths that eating and drinking has taken.... I am an older demographic and I have had bubble tea, eaten a variety of 'street food"( good and very bad) and for a short period tried to engage with insta reels..but still have felt bewildered and a bit isolated or maybe left out of what is happening ...or does it not even matter when things disappear in the flick of a influencer's eyes or tastebuds?? But trying to understand the changes occurring is fascinating ( is it needed is another question - especially if you don't live in a metropolis?)

Ruby Tandoh's ' All Consuming' is a brilliant read- a very personal discourse on the world of food and its evolution in relation to certain aspects.
This is a book that is written from the heart; it's informative; it opens questions; it broadens understanding and also leaves you wondering whether the connection to food and its origins and the fashionable ever-evolving love of food is getting wider and wider.

The range of exploration and questioning ranges from cookery bookies, online recipes, the dinner party, food critics, the world of fizzy drinks, the world of Viennettas and Magnums and even the good old Wimpy.

Ruby's style is instantly engaging and this book was devoured ( no pun intended) over a few days- it could be a book to dip into and then come back to- each theme stands alone. I was hooked and the flow and pace had me hooked.

There is a wonderful sense of curiosity and exploration in the prose- sometimes tongue in cheek, sometimes a sense of annoyance, sometimes just a beautiful acknowledgement that good food is good food regardless of it being home made, supermarket purchased or eaten after queuing for an age.

There are many other themes that could have been explored that open up the discourse further and wider . This is primarily an anglophile or English speaking/focus - UK/USA exploration as how to food is consumed and has developed- it would be intriguing to know what has happened / is happening in other cultures but in an ever increasingly homogenised - phone addicted world the stories may well ( albeit sadly) end up with similar outcomes in future years .- one big global feast! The impact of food consumerism and climate change is another chapter in the making for all of us.

But " All Consuming" is fantastic read - for food lovers ( not just foodies) and is highly recommended. I dare you not to learn at least three or facts to share at your next "dinner party "!!

Thank you to net galley and serpent's tail for the advance copy

[Ygraine]

reads like some of my favourite long afternoon conversations w beloved friends who know a great deal more than i do abt a great many v interesting things; no truer pleasure in the world to me than listening to someone who wears their knowledge so comfortably.

[Debbi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am from cookbooks without pictures, Julia Child, Alice Waters, MFK Fisher and Gourmet Magazine. Ruby Tandoh is from the internet, glossy food photos, Instagram and influencers. While it is easy to write off the new food culture as over the top, the author has an interesting perspective and often delivers her thoughts with humor. Cynical at times this is a book to read if you feel you need an update on the food world.
I love good food writing. This book was more about ideas than great writing. I think All Consuming is geared to a new audience...I still miss Gourmet Magazine.

Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to read and review an advance copy

[Lucy Ellis-Hardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

All Consuming, by Ruby Tandoh is extremely readable; the words just flow across the page, making it such a compelling read. It’s clearly very well researched and absolutely fascinating. I loved learning about how recipe sourcing has evolved over the years, along with the shifts in our eating habits and food trends. There's a brilliant analysis of food history, recipe books, food critics, influencers, TikTok trends, and so much more.

I kept stopping to tell my husband all the interesting facts I was learning! It really made me think about what we eat, why we eat it, and how that’s changed over time. I found myself smiling at the start of lots of chapters as familiar foods and themes were explored. It’s also well structured, and I was really pleased to see suggested further reading and recipe books in the epilogue.  I’ve really enjoyed this book and now want to read more by Ruby Tandoh. Fully recommend! I received an advance review copy and this is my honest review.

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredibly fascinating look at how our food culture got to be so *gestures wildly*. As an avid cookbook collector, I was obviously paying extra close attention to those chapters.

[Lina Serrano · Rating 1 out of 5]

When I started this book excited to learn about our relationship with food, I didn’t realize I’d stop at 25% through the book.

All Consuming focuses on how the different forms of media we’ve interacted with have formed our relationship with food and taste. Coming off another informational book, I was very excited to read all about the little details that draw us into the recipes we choose. Instead:

1. We get a book with a lot of internet slang which, I like, but will really date the book in 1-3 years. So many terms go in and out of style, and i doubt many people will remember Kieth Lee in 5 years, much less 10 years from now.
2. I was very confused as to whether we were discussing food media in the UK or US for a lot of the time, and it consistently switched between the two, and without enough explanation of the food culture on either side of the world.
3. We jump around to different time periods so often, it was difficult to keep track of when our tastes for presentation changed and into what.

Overall, I ended up wondering who this book is really for. With the constant 2020-25 terminology mixed in with the grandiose verbiage, it really just feels like it’s made for some millennial food critic wannabe. Nonetheless, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bit devastated there is no more new Ruby Tandoh for me to read. I love her writing, would happily buy and read her shopping list.

[Violet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book so much! I vaguely remember Ryby Tandoh on the Great British Bake Off, and she is so much more than a (talented) baker - this book was a little gem. It's so well-researched and so interesting, well-written...

I have read a lot of food books recently and the recent ones are often focused on either learning about cooking, trying new (to the writer) food, or chasing food memories from the author's childhood. What Ruby Tandoh does here is radically different - it's essays about food, but also about food in 2025, about TikTok food reviewers, about the constant trends (the cronuts, the matcha, the bubble tea...), about what it means to think about food in the age of the internet. There's a whole chapter on how cookbooks have changed since the internet started - how you are more likely to search for "mushroom tomato wine sauce chicken" than for "poulet chasseur", how Allrecipes started and how many people use it... There's a chapter on ice cream, and one on bubble tea and how it became so popular in the West, after being a popular drink in Asia.

It reminded me of Jia Tolentino's Trick Mirror in its format and commentary. I learned a lot about food and I found it so enjoyable.

Free ARC sent by Netgalley.

[Helen Arnold · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really excited to read this, I love following Ruby Tandoh and her first book Eat Up! has stayed with me, and I've always taught extracts from it! I found this a little less personal than Eat Up and read more like a series of long form, incredibly well researched, essays on food culture in the UK. I actually think, at times, Ruby's voice got a bit lost amongst all the research and reading she did for this. Reading it, at times, felt like drinking an oolong boba tea infused with spelt milk and chrysanthemum bubbles with 30% ice and 30% sugar and maybe Id be interested to have less off all that and more of the actual tea.
I'm giving this 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. And this is a happy 4 because it reminded me in places of Because, Internet by Gretchen Mccolluch in the way that Tandoh explores and rejoices in internet culture; how it has changed the way we eat, how recipes are developed, how it's both incredibly democratic and scary all at the same time!

[Izzie Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

i feel like she wrote this specifically for me

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 - i listened to this on my runs and im not usually an audiobook person but i enjoyed hearing ruby read it! im not sure i followed the flow of this necessarily (maybe bc of how i listened to it) but enjoyed the chapters individually and her thoughts on the world of food

[Siobhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

All Consuming is a book about the history of how we choose what to eat, as Ruby Tandoh investigates how over the past century many forces have changed what influences what we eat, especially in Britain and the US. The sections explore things like the changing face of recipes and cookbooks, the role of the critic before and into the social media age, and how trends like bubble tea and burgers took off in the UK.

If you have any interest in food culture in the UK (and the US), this book provides an interesting look into what influences our food choices, whether that is through celebrities, critics, recipes, supermarkets, or more. As someone who enjoys watching videos online of people trying different food, I liked this chance to reflect on what some of the food trends mean, and look into the history of certain areas. I particularly liked the part where Tandoh picks out some big name cookbooks in the UK and discusses what they say about cookbook and recipe culture.

I found myself wanting to share her thoughts with other people (I particularly liked her point about how if you start queuing for some hyped food, you cannot actually queue ironically, you are just part of that hyped queue) and the book covers something I've not seen other books or videos discuss, making it feel original and fresh. The book is an exploration rather than arguing a particular point and I like the space it offers to think about why we choose food, as well as a lot of suggested follow up reading if you want to keep exploring.

[Rory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished while eating a fried panettone mincemeat sandwich from a Nigel Slater book, which felt appropriate.

[Laura Birnbaum · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit like reading jia tolentino - the observations are interesting in passing, but not sharp enough to leave an impression

[Courtney Townill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listening to All Consuming felt like having a smart chat with a friend who is just as chronically online and confused as you.

These essays felt well researched and uniquely sparked by Ruby Tandoh’s observations about how confusing the food landscape is right now. Why are people swarming in droves to simple strawberries bathed in chocolate? Why is there a rise in aspirational trad wife cooking? How did Keith Lee, a man who admittedly knows little about food, become more popular than any food critic in the papers? Would bubble tea be as popular as it is now without social media?

I feel like this will have an impact on the way I interact with food content and think about the way things rise in popularity. Enjoyed this so much!

*thank you to the publisher for a free audiobook copy for review.

[Kate Henderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked Ruby Tandoh's previous book so was intrigued by this one - unfortunately I was left really disappointed.
I found it to be a bit all over the place - I was unsure what the actual purpose and point to the book was, and what I was supposed to get from it.

There were definitely some bits that were more interesting, but a lot of the book was just meh.
Still unsure of what Ruby Tandoh was trying to do with this book.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

"...the more I think about it, the more I wonder whether I've had an original craving in my life."

A fun romp through the wild world of contemporary food culture; I wish that these essays were longer and less numerous -- several seemed to cut off abruptly when things were just starting to heat up.

[Astrid Krueger · Rating 3 out of 5]

this should have been so squarely in my alley but felt like just a bunch of observations of online behaviour but w/out analysis. I liked the supermarket chapter!

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

God what an interesting read. Tandoh writes about how we eat what we eat. It makes me think of the free will debate in philosophy, in that, how much of what we eat and even crave is determined by environmental/outside factors? For Tandoh, it's a strong push toward most of our food culture is determined. 

And you have to think: you eat what is available to do, and what you grew up with. So coffee. I love to grab a coffee as a treat - coffee is a marketed comfort treat, coffee shops are widely available in comparison to tea shops, and tea didn't quite take off in the US due to anti-British sentiment. Coffee is a familiar beverage in my family also. I really like it, but how much of my consuming of it has to do with all those cultural factors? 

From tantalizing food recipe videos and viral reviews (Keith Lee), dinner parties, wellness fads, bubble tea's global takeover, Sainsbury's iconic packaging, cookbooks, adult-marketed ice cream (not just for kids!), fast food and automats (Horn and Hardart of NY) , food writers: Jane Grigson, Margaret Costa, Duncan Hines (KY!), Victor Hugo Green (or safe restaurants for black folks)

Food is an all-consuming (ha!) obsession and currently one I am always on about - what am I going to feed myself that isn't garbage but tastes good but is cheap enough and interesting enough and connects me to the wholeness of the world and my ancestors. How can I impress at potlucks and friendsgiving? Etc , etc.

Really enjoyed unpacking why our food culture is what it is and hope to continue reading and thinking about this, in a return to appreciation sans bullshit. Also obsessed with a quoted line:  "The aromatics of cathedral incense" in describing a well seasoned black pepper steak. Tandoh's writing is just as enticing. Highly rec!

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

*This book was received as an Advanced Reviewer's Copy from NetGalley.

I haven't read any of Tandoh's other works yet. But I did watch her season on GBBO. If you're looking for more of that, this isn't it. What this is is a close look at how the food landscape has changed over the years and what is driving that change. It's serious and funny all at the same time and I can definitely say that I enjoy Tandoh's style of writing.

While I did find her views to be a bit contrarian for the sake of being contrary at times (almost every chapter had her looking down on a fad, going to partake in that fad, and fully realizing that she was there despite her feelings on it). I get it - there's certain things you just roll your eyes at and want to try anyway, I just wish there were more uplifting thoughts about where are food trends are headed. But maybe there isn't a lot to find in the crush.

The chapters covered a myriad of different fads and changes over time (and it was European-centric although the United States slipped in as well). From Americanized burger-joints, automats, to tik-tok fads and food reviews, the evolution of food is well covered. I especially loved the chapter on bubble tea as I can recall just a few years ago when they were seemingly everywhere. They seem here to stay (although maybe not quite as many locations) and while I don't partake as often (the calories!!), I do love a good bubble tea.

Overall this was an interesting book. I have one of her others on my to-read list and I will definitely look forward to it.

Review by M. Reynard 2025

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting exploration of why we eat the way we eat today, charting the influences and huge transformation during the last 75 years. The food landscape has changed so much since I grew up in the seventies and eighties. My family’s food was mostly homegrown and meals were always homemade, apart from occasional fish fingers, tinned baked beans and Heinz tomato soup. Supermarkets sold the staples and some junk food, though not nearly as much as is available today, there were tv dinners too I suppose, but I do not remember seeing them. Now the landscape is vastly different, and food is available everywhere.

I’ve drunk bubble tea, visited burger chains and tried a range of street food, and I consciously limit my consumption of ultra-processed food treats and drinks over recent years. We have more temptation than ever before and far more opportunities to spend our money on food wherever we go.

Ruby’s focus on why we eat the way we eat now is mostly centred on the UK and USA, and homes in on trends and mass advertising, the power of TikTok and Instagram, the way television, social media and supermarkets and crucially food development labs are influencing what we eat. It’s well written and readable, I have found myself absorbed and frequently quoted facts to anyone in the vicinity.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

[Jade · Rating 5 out of 5]

full disclosure that i’m a big fan of vittles and the late eater london, two publications Tandoh has contributed essays to. i’m also born in the late 90s so i’ve unfortunately had ‘horny food content’ slung my way, and jesse burgess looks like very similar to the present-day version of a boyfriend i had when i was 16. so this book was always going to be for me.

i’d expected this book to be a complete haters’ manual, a slam dunk of the often charlatan nature of food media, particularly the influx of yoo-KAY baggy-cord waltzing posh boys who have made it to everyone’s feeds, subsequently creating a feedback loop with other posh boys to suggest the blue posts as a suitable date spot as it’s ever-so-close to barrafina and clapham’s just three stops away. in some parts, it was - tastemakers is a wonderfully crafted section dedicated to quite a lot of that.

however, the crust in the book for me lies with its tenderness - Tandoh is clearly a person who loves food, loves food media and knows that while it’s fun to be hater, it’s even more fun to put your hater hat to one side and truly examine why you feel that way. it is also something that people will always have a nonlinear relationship with, and something that is inherently social but also at the whim to mechanisms beyond ourselves, as Tandoh argues. the book did feel like having a conversation with someone who’s very passionate about something in a kitchen at a party that you remember for weeks.

i also really enjoyed how well researched this was, with sources from different mediums shining - it tapped into the essays i used to write to maintain a recurring dream from a life i used to live, from a life i sometimes want to live but talk myself out of for rational reasons (distance, money, fucking academia). and on thinking about that, as well as all the ways i’ve ever daydreamed about my dream home with any of the boys who have slung ‘horny food content’ my way (ew), i went through the final chapters of this book going through a sudden dissolution of a relationship with my own baggy-cord-waltzing posh boy.

and that might be where a line in the book has really floored me: ‘to really love something is to allow it the space to be complicated - that is as true for cooking as it is for people’. and again that’s how the book, in combination with the love shown in some of these chapters (allrecipes.com is an archive of love, sorry), shows its hand.

i might feel a different way about the book when the dust settles. i might feel a different way about any of the ‘horny food content’ boys when the dust settles.

at the end of the day we’re just here for the ride and a place to find our wimpy pleather banquette to enjoy our brown derby. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's really interesting to listen/read this around Christmas when we're making traditional recipes from Church Cookbooks, backs of food packaging (Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chips, Jet Puffed Marshmallows, etc.), and family recipes from generations ago. To know that cooking behavior throughout the rest of the year is usually Google Searches with AllRecipes results or random blogs really goes to show exactly what this book is explaining.

It was less of a Food Writing Book and more about the history of food over the last few hundred years. Overall: pretty cool!

[Sasha Mottaghi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating analysis/discourse on food and on our tastes and interests, reflecting how they've evolved over time and the forces that drive it. It was genuinely laugh-out-loud funny on many occasions whilst also being thoughtful and curiosity provoking.

Highly recommended to all interested in the books subtitular question (why we eat the way we eat now) and to those generally interested in popular culture and food.

[Libby Elliott]

I don’t rate non-fiction or non-memoir on here but I must go on the record to confess I’m eternally jealous I didn’t write this book myself. So much so that I even tried to convince myself I didn’t enjoy it, but I went to see Ruby talk about tonight at a bookshop event and she is equally as wonderful and witty as the book.

[Janet Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars rounded up. An endlessly fascinating and never less that entertaining look at the history of foodie culture and food trends.

[Beth Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was so so so extremely enjoyable. i learnt so much and was also very entertained. ruby tandoh is an incredible writer.

[Karla Hartmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting commentary on the food industry and how it shapes societies’ diet with a UK perspective highlighted.

[Alexis Petty · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars. definitely read if your social media algorithms are largely food focused like mine. this is well researched and well written. I throughly enjoyed listening to the audiobook which is narrated by the author. probably my favorite non-fiction book this year!