This book unearths Sydney's lost commercial agricultural landscapes since colonisation in 1788 to assess the city’s metropolitan food futures. The story of Sydney’s food landscapes is one of dramatic transformations of First Nations managed landscapes and ecosystems amidst jostles for land, power and wealth. Sydney’s agriculture spans diverse cultural influences—from Indigenous heritage to British pastoralism, Chinese cultivation of ‘Sydney’s backyard vegetable garden’ and southern European activities spawning multi-million and billion-dollar empires. Discussion spans Sydney's cultural food history, while crossing planning, policy, geography, heritage, art, design and technology. Moreover, Sydney’s food landscape history is much larger than the city itself.

This work explores the dynamics and tensions between urban growth and food production mirrored in countless cities worldwide, and offers a methodology replicable in other regions. Richly illustrated, the book contains 270 images in 110 figures, including an array of dedicated metropolitan-scale mappings of Sydney’s food landscapes.