Understanding and predicting foraging requires considering animals’ intrinsic (physiological) state, extrinsic (environmental/ecological) context, and the reciprocal interplays between these that shape feeding and behaviour. In particular, interactions between nutritional requirements (macronutrient balance) and ecological context are key determinants of foraging. Understanding these dynamics is especially critical in trophic keystone species, like marine top predators. Yet challenges in spatiotemporal observation and insufficient information on marine prey nutritional variability have limited knowledge of marine predator nutritional ecology so far. Here I explore the intrinsic and extrinsic drivers and outcomes of foraging in the white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), an ecologically important, threatened top predator that epitomizes the research challenges above. Using stomach contents, I provide the first diet assessment for white sharks in eastern Australia, identifying differences in prey use from other populations (South Africa) and size-based nutritional niche variation. I develop and apply a new framework leveraging stable isotopes to establish time-integrated nutritional niches and reveal how individual white sharks may specialise on functionally different (benthic or pelagic) but nutritionally complementary prey mixes to achieve similar nutritional goals. Using biologging I identify new functional bases for fine-scale white shark behaviour and recovery following capture and release, offering critical information for conservation and management. Finally, I quantify interspecific and spatiotemporal variation in prey proximate compositions to examine the nutritional landscape of eastern Australian white sharks and suggest new links to prey preference and movement. My thesis advances our understanding of the nutritional and ecological aspects of white shark foraging and develops new adaptable frameworks to enhance field studies in nutritional ecology generally.