REAL FOOD FAKE FOOD is a new hardcover release from Algonquin. It asks the big question: What Are You Really Eating?

“The world is full of delicious, lovingly crafted foods that embody the terrain, weather, and culture of their origins. Unfortunately, it’s also full of brazen impostors that are hard to identify. In this entertaining and important book, Larry Olmsted helps us fall in love with the real stuff and steer clear of the fraudsters. I’ll never look at a menu the same way again.”

-KIRK KARDASHIAN, author of Milk Money: Cash, Cows, and the Death of the American Dairy Farm

You’ve seen the headlines: Parmesan cheese made from sawdust. Lobster rolls containing no lobster at all. Extra-virgin olive oil that isn’t. Fake foods are in our supermarkets, our restaurants, and our kitchen cabinets. Award-winning food journalist and travel writer Larry Olmsted exposes the pervasive and dangerous fraud perpetrated on unsuspecting Americans.

Real Food, Fake Food brings readers into the unregulated food industry, revealing the shocking deception that extends from high-end foods like olive oil, wine, and Kobe beef to everyday staples such as coffee, honey, juice, and cheese. It’s a massive bait and switch where counterfeiting is rampant and where the consumer ultimately pays the price. Restaurants and retailers are equally suspect.

But Olmsted does more than show us what foods to avoid. A bona fide gourmand, he travels to the sources of the real stuff, to help us recognize what to look for, eat, and savor: genuine Parmigiano-Reggiano from Italy, fresh-caught grouper from Florida, authentic port from Portugal. Real foods that are grown, raised, produced, and prepared with care by masters of their craft. Part cautionary tale, part culinary crusade, Real Food, Fake Food is addictively readable, mouthwateringly enjoyable, and utterly relevant. Larry Olmsted convinces us why real food matters.

Real Food, Fake Food is a New York Times and Washington Post bestseller, and a bestseller in Canada. It has been profiled by the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Time.com, Forbes.com, Men's Journal, Outside, Men's Health, New York Magazine, People Magazine, and many other news outlets.

Advance Praise For Real Food, Fake Food

Named one of “Summer’s Biggest Books” by Apple iBooks.

“Do not take another bite or swallow another sip of anything, for your sake and the sake of your children, before reading Real Food, Fake Food. ¬ The content blows the doors of the kitchen.”

-MICHAEL PATRICK SHIELS, Award winning broadcaster, author of numerous books, and newspaper columnist.

“Olmsted makes you insanely hungry and steaming mad in this provocative account . . . A must-read for anyone who cares deeply about the safety of our food and the welfare of our planet.”

-STEVEN RAICHLEN, TV host and James Beard Award winning author of the Barbecue Bible series.

“A striking look at the food industry.”

-MING TSAI, James Beard Award winning chef, author, restaurateur and host of PBS’s Simply Ming.

“A must-read for anyone with an interest in, well, eating.”

-DAN DUNN, journalist, radio host, and author of American Wino.