Breadfruit: Three Global Journeys of a Bountiful Tree

by Russell Fielding

Breadfruit trees are staples of the tropics, bearing cantaloupe-sized green-skinned fruits whose taste and texture resemble potatoes. More than three thousand years ago, breadfruit fueled the Pacific voyages of discovery that settled islands throughout Oceania. In the late eighteenth century, the British expedition that ended with the mutiny on the Bounty aimed, but failed, to introduce breadfruit to the West Indies as food for enslaved African laborers on sugar plantations. A later voyage resulted in the fruit’s widespread distribution and complicated role within modern Caribbean food cultures. In recent years, breadfruit has been touted as a tool for sustainable development and as a “superfood” with both health benefits and culinary versatility.

Russell Fielding tells these stories and many others, exploring breadfruit’s fascinating global history and varied present-day uses. Bringing together extensive research and vivid travelogues, including learning directly from local agriculturists, chefs, scientists, and holders of traditional knowledge, he provides an immersive narrative of breadfruit’s contributions. Fielding argues that breadfruit’s history comprises two first, from its origins in Southeast Asia across the Pacific; and second, its transplantation to the Caribbean. Today, a third journey is taking place, one that is spreading breadfruit throughout the world.

Engagingly written and compellingly argued, this book draws timely lessons from breadfruit’s past to forecast its future potential.

Genres: Food

304 pages, Paperback

Published December 2, 2025

About the author

Russell Fielding is an environmental geographer whose research focuses on sustainable food systems in the coastal and island settings of our changing world. A former Fulbright scholar at the University of Prince Edward Island’s Institute of Island Studies, Fielding holds graduate degrees in geography from Louisiana State University and the University of Montana, as well as an undergraduate degree from the University of Florida. Fielding is the author of two books: The Wake of the Whale (Harvard University Press, 2018) and Breadfruit (Columbia University Press, 2025), as well as numerous academic and popular articles. He is currently an Associate Professor at Coastal Carolina University with a joint appointment in the Department of Anthropology & Geography and the HTC Honors College while holding a research position with the Ocean Nexus Program at the University of Rhode Island.

Reviews

[Denise Ruttan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew very little about breadfruit before I picked this book up and indeed have never even tried it, but I am interested in botany and agriculture, and I was intrigued by the social and cultural history of the fruit by this author, who is an agronomic researcher. It definitely delivered on analyzing the cultural impact of the breadfruit.

This is a far-ranging survey that at times felt too broad as the author travels to the far corners of the globe to investigate the journey of breadfruit. It jumps between science, botany, agriculture and anthropology. The three journeys are to the Pacific, the Caribbean and what I thought was going to be Ghana, but Ghana played very little role in the third part. The third journey was about changing attitudes toward breadfruit and bringing it broader awareness and attention, as well as reclaiming its past stigma as a slave food.

Breadfruit is a bland, fleshy fruit that can propagate easily, once viewed by colonialists as a means to make Pacific Islanders lazy because it was seen as an easy replacement for bread, which was hard work to produce. Either that or it was viewed as a cheap food source for enslaved people; racist white settlers couldn't make up their minds about it. I really appreciated how the author didn't shy away from or sanitize breadfruit's brutal past and its legacy in upholding the abhorrent institution of slavery.

I also appreciated the author's many interviews with chefs, farmers and breadfruit enthusiasts that depicted the ways in which breadfruit still had cultural significance. Through these scenes that added color and spice to an otherwise dry, academic narrative, I could see breadfruit being prepared by local chefs as it was meant to be eaten.

It was also intriguing, despite its short shelf life due to its fragility to cold temperatures, how breadfruit is being used as a gluten replacement and in the fight against climate change. Even the lumber from breadfruit trees can be used to make surfboards. Not a single part of this versatile plant went to waste. Its bland taste could be also seen as a blank canvas for a chef's imagination.

This book made me want to try breadfruit, maybe breadfruit chips to start since it is still hard to find fresh in the U.S.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Brice Montgomery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley & Columbia University Press for the ARC!

Russell Fielding’s Breadfruit: Three Global Journeys of a Bountiful Tree is a giddily exhaustive look at its titular fruit, pairing science fair enthusiasm with travelogue creativity.

Do you remember the last time a food blew your mind? Like where the first bite expanded your palate so much that you could taste the smallness of your worldview?

For me, that happened with Nepali momo. For Russell Fielding, it was breadfruit. He’s a better man than me, though. I just kept eating, whereas he chose to learn everything about the fruit that he possibly could. The results are delicious.

The book’s title references the tree’s journey, but Fielding smartly centers his own experience researching it. While that might usually be cause for concern, here it gives the book an animated impetus—we’re learning alongside the author, and there’s a real lack of ego as he explores breadfruit as an anticolonial artifact, a “superfood,” and a historically racist dogwhistle. He introduces a colorful cast of scholars, farmers, and chefs with a gratitude that feels generous. It’s impossible to not share the curious joy of his quest, and that feeling is heightened by a playful written voice. Consider, for example, the following line:

“In 2018, European researchers proposed that something called ‘cockroach milk’ be considered a superfood, and I think we should end our list right there.”

I giggled.

That said, there’s a thin line between excitement and exoticism, and it could be argued that Fielding occasionally crosses it. The mobility afforded by scholarship inherently forces a certain perspective, and to me, there were moments where the author’s enthusiasm felt questionably fawning—just a slight vibe of, These people know so much more than our modern minds can imagine. Other readers may not feel the same, but I am curious to see how/if this book is received outside the circles of White academia.

Additionally, some chapters are more (bread)fruitful than others. Fielding excels at sensorially rich descriptions of different dishes, and he effectively builds engaging historical narratives. In particular, “Fruits of the Creole Kind” is a fascinating look at the innate tension of a food that sustains people only after it stops being marked as “the other.” Unfortunately, the author’s commitment to contextualization also causes parts of the book to feel a little shaggy. For instance, each time Fielding dips into the climate-enriching potential of breadfruit, it feels perfunctory and obligatory, as if he is unconvinced but feels like he should comment. Similarly, when he writes about the difficulties of distributing such a fickle fruit, Fielding fills pages with soon-to-be anachronistic cost comparisons from different websites, and the specificity actually makes the writing seem unsure of itself. When so much of the book is carefully curated, any unnecessary information sticks out like a sore thumb. As a final note here, there are a few instances of repeated quotes, so I wish an editor had maybe pushed for a tighter rein on redundancy.

Despite these critiques, I loved Breadfruit. It’s been a long time since I’ve been so immediately hooked by a book of this ilk, and it’s a testament to Russell Fielding’s scholarship that he knows how to find the story behind every (potentially) dry detail. Each time he points at where breadfruit intersects with selfhood, statehood, or sustenance, it’s an intuitive and nuanced connection. This is a book where the author writes toward his own irrelevance, using the distinction of his voice to encourage readers to seek out other voices. I spent literal hours googling the dishes, people, and concepts that Fielding introduces, and to me, any author that has so expanded his readers’ world has succeeded.

Now I’ve just got to figure out how to obtain some breadfruit without going broke.

[Book Club of One · Rating 4 out of 5]

Breadfruit: Three Global Journeys of a Bountiful Tree explores the history of Breadfruit and its modern uses and cultural complexities. The fruit has many names, fruit a pain (French), sukun (Indonesia and Malaysia), kapiak (New Guinea), kuru or mei (Pacific islands) and ulu (Hawai'i, Samoa and part of Fiji). Russell Fielding offers a micro history that is both historic narrative and modern travelogue as he explored the spread and usage of breadfruit.

The three journeys form the narrative structure of the book, beginning with the spread of breadfruit as one of the "canoe crops" that fueled the Lapita exploration and settlement of Pacific islands. Fielding discusses the strengths of the plant and the skill and success of the Lapita in both navigation and food ways. The second section, surprisingly draws in the ill fated voyage of The Bounty and its goal to bring breadfruit to the Caribbean. This section rely expands upon the colonial systems that have given breadfruit its mixed reputation. As a cheap and plentiful source of food, it was an easy way for European to make sure slaves were fed, giving it a negative connotations that it still battles.

The third journey is breadfruit in the modern world. As a food that is both plentiful and highly nutritious, it has the right qualification to become a (not very well defined or categorized) super food.
Though with a major caveat, it does not travel well and needs to undergo processing to be transportable, but this is being undertaken as flours or snack foods. As part of this section, Fielding details how the changing environment means the breadfruit's growing locations are slowly creeping North, now possible to be grown in the US, though mostly just in Florida.

In each of these journeys, Fielding conducts interviews and site visits to talk to chefs, scientists, knowledge keepers and local farmers. It provides much more of a human touch, and has Fielding learning about the different ways to prepare and eat the fruit, surf(!) or learn about the different approaches to growing or honoring the fruits of the tree.

A welcome food based journey that touches on many key historical events.

Recommended to readers of food history, cultural studies or modern travelogues.

I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.

[Nicole Perkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Columbia University Press for the review copy of Russell Fielding's fascinating book "Breadfruit: Three Global Journeys of a Bountiful Tree!"
I read Russell Fielding's microhistory on the heels of a history of a food I am very familiar with. Conversely, my knowledge of breadfruit was limited to knowing that it is an edible tropical plant. Breadfruit has a complex history. It is related to jackfruit, which I have tried and decided it is an acquired taste, and that I definitely need to learn how to cook it correctly. The plant originated in Southeast Asia and supported Polynesian exploration throughout the Pacific before being used to fuel Imperial colonialism and the slave systems of the Caribbean.
This book reads like a travelogue more than a history text, as Fielding visits many locations where breadfruit is grown and consumed. He introduces readers to farmers and chefs that are working to preserve the heritage of this fruit, beloved to many cultures and virtually unknown to others. Having read this book, I really want to try breadfruit, but living in the northeastern United States makes this difficult. This region is not a climate in which the trees can grow, and the fruit is very perishable and does not travel well. Polynesian explorers brought saplings on their travels to plant and colonize islands. Future travels may offer the opportunity to try this intriguing fruit. In the meantime, Russell Fielding's book will feed my curiosity.