A rising number of people around the world have a diet high in animal proteins and refined carbohydrates. In Diet for a Large Planet, Chris Otter investigates how this “Western diet” (p. 2) has emerged over time and explores its social, health and environmental consequences. He focuses on Great Britain, the country that has played a decisive role in shaping this diet since the early nineteenth century. As the dominant power in the world economy throughout that century, it took control of vast food resources over a large part of the planet, providing its inhabitants with increasing quantities of meat, wheat and sugar at affordable prices. The western diet became a symbol of power and progress in Britain, and then spread more widely around the world...