The Quest for Food

The Quest for Food: A Natural History of Eating is a collection of essays that surveys eating through Time from the perspective of a biologist.

The quest begins in prehistoric times with religions and the connection between food and sex leading to an investigation of the deep links between food and culture and exploring the basic question of "what is eating?" - The second section embarks on a biochemistry-oriented travel tracing the path of a food molecule through the central carbon pathway until it is decomposed into CO2 and H2O and a lot of ATP. The third section delves into the evolution of eating systems beginning with the elements of Life of the primordial soup through the birth of single cell organisms such as prokaryotic cells. The fourth section continues to follow this evolution through higher developed organisms: from the first organisms in the oceans to the ones on land. The fifth section explores the stories of food from a behavioral viewpoint, first with animals and then with humans, leading the reader through from animals to early hominids into human history. The final section takes apart anthropocentric view of the world by presenting Man as prey for the oldest predators: microbes.

This book catalyzes discussion between scientists working on one side in food science and on the other side in biological and biomedical research.