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.

A young tiger tries to get at poultry parts hidden in a pumpkin at Magdeburg Zoo, Germany on October 30, 2025. The zoo is celebrating Halloween from October 31, 2025 to November 1, 2025. In addition to the puppet theater, children's carousel and children's train, visitors can carve their own pumpkins, which are then distributed to the zoo animals and serve as food. (Photo by Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert/Avalon)

Is it strange to party in a cemetery, do you think? Thousands, many elaborately dressed and made up, thronged the Hollywood Forever cemetery on October 30th to celebrate the Day of the Dead with music, dancing, food and artistic renditions of family altars, all among the graves of Rudolph Valentino, Marion Davies, Tyrone Power, Douglas Fairbanks and Johnny Ramone.

A cook grills chicken during the Festival des Grillades, in the yard of the Culture Palace of Abidjan, September 5, 2015. The two day festival was iniated in 2008 to promote Ivorian cuisine, which revolves around grilled food. (Photo by Luc Gnago/Reuters)

One morning, this Redditor woke up to his front porch completely riddled with holes. It looked like some gang members spewed buckshot at his doorstep during a drive-by. These holes were made by acorn woodpeckers. The little birds created their own granaries or “acorn trees” to store their food. They do so by drilling holes into whatever they can, sometimes resulting in this kind of damage.

People search for shells on a beach in Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar, 17 September 2020. International Coastal Cleanup Day is observed annually on the third Saturday of September and will occur on 19 September this year. (Photo by Nyunt Win/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Men sleep at a 24-hour McDonald's restaurant in Hong Kong, China November 10, 2015. A large number of homeless people sleeping on the street has long been been a problem in Hong Kong mainly due to its high rent and soaring property. In recent years, McDonald's 24-hour fast food shops opening all over the city have become popular alternatives for people, know as McRefugees or McSleepers, to spend the night in a safer and more comfortable way than on the street. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)