Tom Standage is business editor at The Economist and the author of The Turk, The Neptune File, The Victorian Internet, and A History of the World in Six Glasses (Atlantic, 2006). He lives in Greenwich, London.

'This is a clever book. It shows how many hidden forces are at work - political, social, economic - when you sit down for dinner.' The Times 'Not a history of any one food but a history through food... With Standage it is not what changes in food that matters, but rather what food changes. And it's not just one food lifting and guiding history, but what Adam Smith might have called the invisible forkA" of food economics.' New Scientist 'Highly readable, thought-provoking' Scotsman 'Erudite and thoughtful - An important contribution to the debate on food - A book of real significance.' Scotland on Sunday