Salt Sugar Fat, by Michael Moss

This is a fabulous book, a must-read.   The sub-title is "How the food giants hooked us," and this is serious journalism.  Mr. Moss won the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting in 2010, and was a finalist in 1999 and 2006.  I wouldn't be surprised if this (2013) book made the short list as well.

I know what you're thinking:  b o r i n g !    But that's the beauty of Mr. Moss' writing.   The entire book is told in stories based on his extensive research and personal interviews with key players in the US food industry.   So it is really a fast read.

It also seems to me that the publisher may have been the energy behind the sub-title.  Because Mr. Moss seems pretty careful to not take sides, other than on objective science.  He wasn't on a witch hunt, and in some sense that sub-title is a bad thing if it makes the book seem less of fair journalism than it is.

Strongly recommended.

Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us