Food is a fundamental need for all of humankind, but it can also take the form of one of society’s utmost luxuries. Caviar for €20,000 a kilo or a dry slice of bread are both things we put in our mouth, either for necessity, or because we take pleasure in it.

With every culture having cultivated their own ways to eat, humanity has developed a complex relationship with food over the years. This topic is explored in depth in a new publication, Munchies, which is all about the ceremonies around eating.

The book is the latest release from Nuda, a Scandi avant-garde publisher that produces two hardback publications a year, each of which explores a different theme through visual culture and science. Previous editions have covered everything from motherhood to the beyond.

The process of bringing Munchies to life started in much the same way as Nuda’s previous editions: as a series of conversations between co-editor-in-chiefs Nora Arrhenius Hagdahl and Frida Vega Salomonsson.

“We always just sit at Frida’s place or talk over the phone and brainstorm back and forth what kind of world we want to spend the next six months in,” says Hagdahl.

“At the time when we started working on the book, we were in the middle of the pandemic and the only way to hang out with friends or just socialise had become over dinner, so naturally it felt like a growing interest. Food can be so many things, comfy, sexy, luxurious, sad or just delicious, and it’s a thing that everybody has a strong connection to.”

The publication features interviews with Lykke Li about her relationship with alcohol and David Shrigley about his wife’s homegrown vegetables, while Honey Dijon gets into conversation with fellow DJ Kornél Kovács about the best restaurants they visited when they were touring the world pre-pandemic.

It also explores Wolfgang Tillmans’ foodie still-lifes, how the pandemic has limited our lives to the domestic sphere, the do’s and don’ts of dinner table etiquette, and even more niche subjects such as cannibalism.

“Hopefully it is both a bit of fun, a bit of smart and a bit of beautiful,” says Salomonsson. “In the book, we’ve invited artists, philosophers, designers, superstars, scientists, eccentrics, families and strangers to contribute their knowledge on the subject, so I think there is really something for everybody in there.”

Munchies is out now. Find out more and buy a copy here