A stunning photographic collection featuring portraits of people from 30 countries and the food they eat in one day. In this fascinating study of people and their diets, 80 profiles are organized by the total number of calories each person puts away in a day. Featuring a Japanese sumo wrestler, a Massai herdswoman, world-renowned Spanish chef Ferran Adria, an American competitive eater, and more, these compulsively readable personal stories also include demographic particulars, including age, activity level, height, and weight. Essays from Harvard primatologist Richard Wrangham, journalist Michael Pollan, and others discuss the implications of our modern diets for our health and for the planet. This compelling blend of photography and investigative reportage expands our understanding of the complex relationships among individuals, culture, and food.

Nepal's Kumari, or living goddess, adjusts her ornament as she watches the Rato Machindranath chariot Festival in Lalitpur, Nepal, Friday, April 24, 2015. Nepal's living goddesses are young pre-pubescent girls considered by devotees to be incarnations of a Hindu goddess. Selected as toddlers, living goddesses usually keep their positions until they reach puberty. (Photo by Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo)

Close Encounter of the Insect Kind: “Check out the awesome face on this praying mantis. I can't get over the mouth, it's like something from a science fiction movie. Of all photographic styles macro is definitely my favorite. I am constantly amazed, in every photo that I take, by the intricate level of detail that exists on even the smallest of creatures. It's a stark reminder that a very complex and infinitely beautiful world exists just beyond our human-sized level of perception. Photo taken in Donnybrook, Queensland, Australia” – Andrew Young. (Photo by Andrew Young/National Geographic Photo Contest via The Atlantic)

Indian young men wearing traditional folk dance “Bhangra” attire of Punjab, sit on see-saws and sip on soft drinks at a park before their performance during the Khalsa College International Folk Festival 2017 in Amritsar, India, 29 November 2017. The festival is aimed to promote cultural ties between India and participating countries. (Photo by Raminder Pal Singh/EPA/EFE)

A woman cools off at a fountain in central Cordoba, southern Spain, 11 August 2021. Andalucia was put on orange alert for high temperatures, with a new heatwave forecast to reach temperatures of over 41 degrees Celsius in the region. (Photo by Salas/EPA/EFE)

Hot-air balloons float over the Oka River during the Russian Sky International Balloon Festival in Ryazan Region, Russia on July 26, 2021. (Photo by Alexander Ryumin/TASS)

A woman wearing a protective mask is seen behind a girl dressed in a Plague Doctor Mask in Western-Ukrainian city of Lviv, Ukraine, 22 March 2020. Ukrainian Designer Anastasia Markovska sewed protective masks looking like Plague Doctor Masks, the traditional costume of Venice Carnival, for herself and her friends due to the ongoing pandemic of the COVID-19 disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. In Ukraine had been 47 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19, including three deaths and one recovery as Ukraine's Health Ministry announced. (Photo by Pavlo Palamarchuk/EPA/EFE)

Locals dress up as Mazcaras to celebrate Entroido on February 21, 2023 in A Xironda, Spain. Entroido is an ancient rural carnival celebrated in Galicia during the previous days of Ash Wednesday. Each town has its traditional characters and costumes. In the small village of A Xironda, locals dress up as Mazcaras with their characteristic masks, cowbells at the waist and whips, and then run through the streets. (Photo by Brais Seara Fernandez/Getty Images)