The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth

Lore & Background

The novel is divided into three books. Books I and II, "The Discovery of the Food," introduce research chemist Mr. Bensington, who specializes in "the More Toxic Alkaloids," and Professor Redwood, who studies reaction times and takes an interest in growth. Redwood's suggestion that the process of growth probably demands the presence of a considerable quantity of some necessary substance in the blood causes Bensington to search for such a substance. After a year of research, he creates what he initially calls "the Food of the Gods" but later dubs Herakleophorbia IV. Their first experimental success is with chickens that grow to about six times their normal size on an experimental farm at Hickleybrow, near Urshot, Kent. The hired couple, Mr. and Mrs. Skinner, eventually allow the substance to enter the local food chain, causing other creatures—plants, wasps, earwigs, and rats—to grow to six or seven times their normal size. The chickens escape and overrun a nearby town. A civil engineer named Cossar organizes a party to destroy the wasps' nest, hunt the vermin, and burn the farm. Children are given the substance and grow to enormous size: Redwood's son, Cossar's three sons, and Mrs. Skinner's grandson, Caddles. The massive offspring reach about 40 feet in height. At first tolerated, restrictions are imposed as they grow further. Bensington is nearly lynched and retires to Mount Glory Hydrotherapeutic Hotel.

Reader's Guide

Book III, "The Harvest of the Food," depicts a man released from prison after 20 years, shocked by how much everything has changed. British society has learned to cope with occasional outbreaks of giant pests, but the coming to maturity of the giant children brings a rabble-rousing politician, Caterham, nicknamed "Jack the Giant Killer," into power. Caterham promotes a program to destroy the Food of the Gods and begins to execute his plan. Caddles rebels against working in a chalk pit and sets out to see London, where he is surrounded by thousands of tiny people and confused by everything. After refusing to return to his chalk pit, he is shot and killed by police. A romance between the young giant Redwood and a princess blossoms as Caterham launches an effort to suppress the giants. After two days of fighting, the giants, taking refuge in an enormous pit, hold their own. Their bombardment of London with shells containing Herakleophorbia IV forces a truce. Caterham employs Redwood père as an envoy to propose a settlement demanding the giants live apart and forgo reproduction. The offer is rejected; one of Cossar's sons expresses a belief in growth as part of the law of life: "We fight not for ourselves but for growth, growth that goes on for ever." The world ends on the verge of a long struggle between the "little people" and the Children of the Food. The novel has been adapted to film multiple times, notably by Bert I. Gordon in Village of the Giants (1965) and The Food of the Gods (1976), the latter receiving a Golden Turkey Award for Worst Rodent Movie of All Time. A 1989 sequel, Gnaw: Food of the Gods, Part 2, deals with giant lab rats. Comic book adaptations include Classics Illustrated #160 (1961) and Marvel Classics Comics #22 (1977).

Did You Know?

• Wells called the novel 'a fantasia on the change of scale in human affairs' and said he hit upon the idea while working on his book Anticipations (1901).
• The substance created by Bensington is initially called 'the Food of the Gods' but later renamed Herakleophorbia IV.
• The 1976 film adaptation The Food of the Gods received a Golden Turkey Award for Worst Rodent Movie of All Time.
• The novel's first comic book adaptation was in Classics Illustrated #160 in January 1961.