As 21st century consumers, many of us have resigned ourselves to the fact that there are chemicals in our food which will forever remain unpronounceable mysteries. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, for example, might as well be the name of an Icelandic volcano.

But we don’t have to stay in the dark about them. These chemicals are the subject of Ingredients: A visual Exploration of 75 Additives and 25 Food Products, the new book by photographer Dwight Eschliman and writer Steve Ettlinger. The two men, who bonded over former independent projects that both focused on dissecting the ingredients in a Twinkie (see Eschliman’s and Ettlinger’s) decided to team up for a bigger project: Ingredients. “This book,” they say, “is for