The Hungry Empire: How Britain's Quest for Food Shaped the Modern World

In 20 meals The Hungry Empire tells the story of how the British created a global network of trade in foodstuffs that moved people and plants from one continent to another, reshaping landscapes and culinary tastes.

To be British was to eat the world. The empire allowed Britain to harness the globe's edible resources from salt beef to sugar. By the 20th century the wheat to make the working man's loaf of bread was supplied by Canada, and his Sunday leg of lamb had been fattened on New Zealand's grasslands.

Lizzie Collingham takes us on a wide-ranging culinary journey, revealing how virtually every meal we eat still contains a taste of empire.