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.

An Afghan woman walks with a child in the old city of Herat province, Afghanistan on October 15, 2018. (Photo by Mohammad Ismail/Reuters)

“Kopi luwak (Malay pronunciation), or civet coffee, is one of the world's most expensive and low-production coffee. It is made from the beans of coffee berries which have been eaten by the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) and other related civets, then passed through its digestive tract. ...

The sun rises over the Baltic Sea and a pier with a tea house in Timmendorfer Strand, Germany, Sunday, August 7, 2022. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

A visitor carries a cat wearing sunglasses during the Malaysia's Pet Exhibition in Kuala Lumpur on June 23, 2023. (Photo by Mohd Rasfan/AFP Photo)

Afghan children play on the remains of a Soviet-era armored personnel carrier on the outskirts of Jalalabad on February 15, 2016. Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan on February 15, 1989, after ten years of fighting against Mujahidin militiamen. (Photo by Noorullah Shirzada/AFP Photo)

A Taliban security personnel stands guard as Afghan burqa-clad women wait in queue in the midst of a downpour to receive food supplies donated during the Islamic holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Kabul on March 25, 2025. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar/AFP Photo)

An Afghan hunter shoots at a duck in Laghman province, Afghanistan on May 30, 2018. (Photo by Reuters/Parwiz)