Michael Pollan

The author, plantsman and rhododendron expert selects his favourite books on botanical exploration and explains his passion for plant hunting

The co-founder of the Leon chain of healthy fast food restaurants describes his growth as a chef through books, from Orwell to Jacques Pépin

Do you know what’s in the food you eat, and how it gets from field to plate? The author of an acclaimed exposé of American agribusiness tells us where to look if we want to become better-informed consumers

The campaigner and historian says that Western countries waste more food than they consume. Believe him: he survives off food scavenged exclusively from supermarket bins

‘The wood that frames our houses, holds up our furniture, and gives us paper arrives with signs of its ecological history purged.’ We’re a long way from the campfire where our relationship with trees got going. Here, David George Haskell takes us back, deep into the forest.

Food is an affirmation of who we are. Paul Rozin, food psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, deconstructs the cheeseburger and busts myths about food consumption: not only is our food budget controlling what we eat, but also the expensive organic foods we’re pressured to buy may not even be healthier—let alone better-tasting—than their alternatives.