Books
Kids Nonfiction
Food around the World (Welcome to My World)

Food around the World (Welcome to My World)

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Author(s)

Ellen Lawrence

Publisher

Ruby Tuesday Books

Genre(s)

Age Range

Release Date

August 01, 2025

ISBN

978-1788565400

Buy This Book

Would you like to eat termites and giant land snails? Perhaps you might enjoy some durian fruit that tastes like a mixture of custard, cheese, and onion? Or maybe you would enjoy a cup of warming tea made from water, tea leaves, salt, and yak milk butter?

In this beautiful photographic book, young readers will meet children from around the world and discover the many different foods they eat.

Readers will learn all about colorful bento boxes that Japanese moms make for their children's school lunches.
They will join an Indian family to make homemade sweets for Diwali and join Muslim families for a special iftar meal during Ramadan.
And, in a sensitively handled section, they will learn that many children around the world have nothing to eat.
The book includes a world map that pinpoints where every story in the book comes from.

Supported with stunning, detailed photos, this book is an engaging nonfiction read and a fascinating exploration of different foods, traditions, and customs.

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Editor review

1 review

What's for dinner?

November 11, 2025 (Updated: June 19, 2026)

Overall rating

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

4.0

Learning Value

4.0

I was entranced by Menzel and D'Aluisio's 2011 What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets and What the World Eats, so was excited to see this overview for elementary aged readers.

While there are many foods that are particular to certain areas, like durian, this book also talks about rice, which is eaten all over the world. There's information about how it grows as well as some of the ways it is consumed. There's a fun spread about Japanese bento boxes with really cute food, and yummy looking treats for Diwali. Information about hunting and gathering food will be news to US students who rarely have that opportunity or necessity. Yak meat and fish and chips get a mention, as does the iftar meal for Ramadan. There is also an explanation about world hunger, and how not all children are fortunate enough to have sufficient food to eat. There is a map, glossary, and index at the back.

Good Points

The photographs are so helpful that I was a little suprised to check the credits and found they were not purposely taken just for the book. Considering the scope of the area covered, this is not a surprise, so I wonder if the photos were chosen first! Despite the presence of an all white Swedish group on the cover, there is a good effort to include people from different cultural backgrounds and abilities.

The sidebars offer useful information, although I almost expected a recipe somewhere in the book. Having seen a bento lunch box at the thrift store, I am half tempted to try to do some cute things with my lunch and may need to look into a cookbook for my library that includes some directions.

Kids love to read about food and learn what others in the world eat. Pair this with Curtis' What's For Lunch? : How Schoolchildren Eat Around the World or Butterfield's Food Around the World for a complete meal!