First Bite: How we learn to eat by Bee Wilson

It is so liberating to be able to say to myself, whilst lifting a forkful of cheesecake to my lips, “you don’t have to feel guilty about this”. Before reading this book I would give myself such a hard time when eating certain foods, as if they were inherently bad and I was a weak, disgusting individual for ‘indulging’ in them. It does seem silly when you think about it, to label some foods ‘good’ and others ‘bad’. Food is just food, it’s our relationship to it that really matters.

I always thought my relationship with food was pretty normal. For the most part I eat healthily, though I have a sweet tooth and sometimes I do attempt to eat my feelings. Bee Wilson suggests that our eating habits are a learned behaviour and the question of how we learn to eat is the key to how food, for so many people has gone wrong. When I look back at my childhood, and the treats that we would get in the form of sweets or chocolate, it makes perfect sense that I would grow up into someone who feels that no desert is practically a human rights violation.

First Bite reads like a novel, the science is very well researched and accessible and I found it compulsively readable. Although a large section of the book covers how eating behaviours are formed during childhood, Wilson suggests that if you are a fussy eater as an adult there is still hope that you will be able to change, as long as the desire is there.