Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss

Salt Sugar Fat

Subtitle: How the Food Giants Hooked Us

Author: Michael Moss

Genre: Nonfiction, Health

Publish Date: February 2013

Read: December 2024

Favorite Quote: The biggest hits—be they Coca-Cola or Doritos or Kraft’s Velveeta Cheesy Skillets dinner kits—owe their success to formulas that pique the taste buds enough to be alluring but don’t have a distinct overriding single flavor that says to the brain: Enough already!

Synopsis: If you want to answer the question of “Why do we eat so much processed and ultra-processed food?” or “Why can’t I stop eating junk?” this is the book for you. In Salt Sugar Fat, Moss provides a powerful history of non-farmed food and why it has a chokehold on the Western world. Through interviews with former food execs and explorations of scientific advancements in flavor and nutrition, Moss explores the history of processed food through taste.

Why does this book beguile? I’m constantly fascinated by food, flavor, and the evolution of the Standard American Diet (SAD - ironic, n’est pas?). While this book came out in 2013, the history of food giants like Kraft, General Mills, and Nestle remains fascinating. I do think the information from 2013 to 2024 has vastly improved regarding health and the choices individuals can make. However, I also strongly believe the capitalistic quest for profit has driven some very poor outcomes for the consumers. The battle still rages and you and I are caught in the crosshairs.

Rating: 4/5

Link*: Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss

If you’re interested in this, read*: The Hacking of the American Mind by Austin Perlmutter & David Perlmutter