One of the oldest and most controversial debates of our time centers on what foods will lead to slim, healthy lives. Americans have waged national campaigns against fat and carbohydrates, tried every conceivable diet, and taken multivitamins in an attempt to satiate our hunger. And yet all our attempts continually fail us, why? Because we’ve left our brains out of the equation.

In his latest book The End of Craving: Recovering the Lost Wisdom of Eating Well, Mark Schatzker explores why Americans crave more but enjoy less compared to other nations, and how we can get back to a more healthful and pleasurable way of eating.

Schatzker traces the origin of our dysfunctional relationship with food to the turn of the last century when a mysterious pandemic called pellagra was raging simultaneously in the American South and the north of Italy, food addiction, binge eating, and real food vs fortified food.

Mark Schatzker is the author of The End of Craving, The Dorito Effect, and Steak. He is a writer in residence at the Modern Diet and Physiology Research Center, which is affiliated with Yale University, living in Toronto.