He began his career as a reporter before serving as a correspondent in Western Europe for the Chicago Tribune and other international media outlets. He specialised in politics, the environment, and culture before focusing his work on exploring history through food.

He gained international renown with Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (1997), a groundbreaking work that demonstrates how a single foodstuff can shed light on centuries of history, trade, and geopolitics. Since then, he has published more than thirty books, including Salt: A World History, The Big Oyster, The Basque History of the World, Milk! and Birdseye. These books have been translated into dozens of languages and have become seminal works in gastronomic and non-fiction literature.

Combining journalistic rigour with accessible storytelling, Kurlansky explores the relationship between food, culture, economics and politics, revealing how food has shaped societies, conflicts and identities. His work has broadened our perspective on gastronomy, establishing it as a vital means of understanding world history.