The Food Lover's Handbook

Staying away—and standing apart—from subjective discussions about taste and topical debates around health and nutrition, this book clearly and concisely explains why the cheapest to the most expensive foods cost what they do. At the beginning of this millennium, for the first time in our history, more people lived in towns and cities than in rural areas. Fewer people farm, and the industrialization of the food supply chain is ever growing. As a result we, as consumers, are often seeking the best deals from our supermarkets and asking why the cost of our food can vary so much from one supplier to another, yet we seem able to accept these discrepancies in other industries, from fashion to broadband providers. Building on his decades of experience in the grocery business, Mark Prices' aim is to de-bunk some widely held myths about the price of our food and to offer a balanced reference guide for shoppers, explaining how and why factors including location, production, packaging, and morals all contribute to the varying price of products such as caviar, tea, and salmon.

Mark Price is the Managing Director of Waitrose. A self-confessed foodie, he has been dubbed "the chubby grocer" by the press, and is passionate about all things food-related.