Food Bites: The Science of the Foods We Eat

by Richard W. Hartel, AnnaKate Hartel

Food Bites is an easy-to-read, often humorous book on the scientific basis of the foods we eat, and answers those pesky, niggling questions such Is the quality of beer really affected by the type of water used? and Processed good or bad? Readers will be captivated by this superbly written book, especially so as their guides are Professor Richard Hartel, professor of Food Engineering at UW-Madison, along with his daughter, AnnaKate Hartel. Professor Hartel has for the last four years penned a witty and illuminating column on all aspects of food science for the Capital Times of Madison, and his weekly wisdom has now been collected into a single publication. With a huge and growing interest in the science of food, this treasure trove of knowledge and practical information, in 60 bite-sized chunks, is sure to be a bestseller.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Food

190 pages, Hardcover

First published August 19, 2008

Reviews

[Elana · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was written for someone who has never seen food in their entire life.

I swear I laughed out loud when I saw the goodreads description of the book included the prhase "superbly written".

I have to preface my review by stating that I read this book because it was assigned as our "textbook" in a food science class I am taking in college.

I have never read something so poorly written in my entire life. I didn't even finish it. The chapters are essentially short essays on a type of food or ingredient which answer questions such as "why do we need packaging" among other incredibly stimulating discussions. This book is excruciatingly boring.

I would imagine this book would be really well suited to a high school student trying to break into the world of food science.

Overal, if you know NOTHING about food science and like things explained to you simply and as if someone were talking to you, then by all means this book would suit your needs beautifully.

But if you've seen food before, and maybe even eaten it, it's time to graduate.

[Charlotte · Rating 1 out of 5]

This books is almost laughably bad. It has a very attractive cover and I'm always interested in food in science so it was hard to resist in the library. By page two, though, I was checking the back flap to see who the author was and why he was so invested in promoting the commercial processing of food. As it turns out, he has ties to the industry and I have my suspicions that the food industry is also the group that got the book published in the first place. For all that, the propaganda turned out to be very poorly done. It is written in an overly-simplistic manner and, whatever the author may think, telling me about how strawberries are irradiated or that dead pets can be kept by freeze-drying them in the same way that foods are freeze-dried does not whet my appetite.

[Stef · Rating 2 out of 5]

Series of short essays about modern methods of food production, manufacture, and distribution, with forays into the science and history of same.

Hartel is a bit more enthusiastic about the safety and benefits of high-volume food processing/production than might be warranted. In one essay he makes what seem to me to be excessive claims about how our food is safer than it ever has been in the past.

He avoids discussing butchering or meat processing and mainly sticks to discussions about the production of candies and snacks, methods for preserving freshness, and so on.

I learned some interesting information, but for me it was only barely worth slogging through the cutesy writing style.

[Helen Lind · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first half was pretty interesting, but then it seemed like the author ran out of ideas and wrote several really dull chapters (like "What is gelatin?". I actually skipped the last three chapters and returned it.

[Jie Xuan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Actually i give up on the half way of reading.

It seem interesting but actually not.

Plus, since i am taking food science course for my degree, the information in this book is just too familiar and shallow.

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

There weren't as many fascinating facts in this book as I was expecting. It was a pretty boring book overall.

[yamiyoghurt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Easy to read, but no content.