How Food is Made

First book in the world to lift the lid on the mysteries of processed foods

An invaluable resource for educators, parents, children and anyone curious about food.

In her latest work, How Food is Made: An illustrated guide to how everyday food is produced, Australian illustrator and designer, Ayla Marika, demystifies how common processed foods are manufactured using plain language and step-by-step entertaining graphics.

Researched and compiled over two years, How Food is Made answers the big questions of how food is created on an industrial-scale. Using illustrations, infographics and simple language, the informative book guides readers through the entire process of how popular factory-made foods such as sugar, coffee and chocolate are concocted, from raw ingredient to final packaged product.

How Food is Made is an invaluable and fascinating resource for educators, children and parents – in fact anyone curious about food.

The contents include chapters on grains and starches (eg pasta, potato chips and cereal); condiments (eg salt, vinegar, mustard, yeast extract spread and soy sauce); dairy and oils (eg yoghurt, cheddar cheese, margarine and butter); meat products (eg bacon, hot dogs, fish fingers, seafood extender and eggs); plant proteins (eg tofu, tempeh, peanut butter and vegan cheese); sweets (eg liquorice, chewing gum and soft serve ice cream); and beverages (eg wine, beer, whisky, orange juice and baby formula).

Inspiration for the book came from Ayla Marika's desire to educate her daughter and young people across the globe about food production, in an era when youth and adults alike are overwhelmingly disconnected from the origin of the food they eat.

"With almost 1,000 hand-drawn illustrations, I've covered 60 favourite foods," said Ayla Marika. "It presents the bare facts without bias to allow readers the freedom to form their own ideas about the food they choose to buy and eat.

"My vision is to reduce confusion caused by food advertising, empower people to think differently about the food they eat, and spark conversations. There's no other book like this in the world and I think it's important we educate ourselves and others in how the food we eat has been made."

How Food is Made: An illustrated guide to how everyday food is produced is now available from online book retailers including Amazon, Booktopia, Barnes & Noble, Fishpond and Apple Books. It has RRPs of $32.99 (paperback) and $17.99 (eBook).

Review Quite an interesting read for anyone curious, includes many graphical explainations to appeal to all levels.