Avocado Anxiety cover art

Avocado Anxiety

And Other Stories About Where Your Food Comes From

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Avocado Anxiety

By: Louise Gray
Narrated by: Louise Gray
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About this listen

 Bloomsbury presents Avocado Anxiety written and read by Louise Gray.

WINNER OF THE GUILD OF FOOD WRITERS INVESTIGATIVE FOOD WORK AWARD 2024
JAMES BEARD FOUNDATION BOOK AWARDS NOMINEE 2024
SHORTLISTED FOR SCOTLAND'S NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS 2023
A TIMES ENVIRONMENT BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023

‘This is fantastic’ THE TIMES
‘Deeply relatable’ SPECTATOR
‘Rigorous, incisive, warm and brave’ LUCY JONES
‘Essential reading for anyone that eats’ JAKE FIENNES
‘Universally urgent. Everyone should read it.’ CAROLINE EDEN

The food stories behind your favourite fruits and vegetables.

Have you ever wondered who picked your Fairtrade banana or how far your green beans travelled to reach your plate?

We are all part of a complex food system. Trying to make sense of it, environmental journalist Louise Gray tracks the stories of our five-a-day, from farm to fruit bowl, and discovers the impact that growing fruits and vegetables has on the planet. Visiting farms, interviewing scientists and trying to grow her own, she asks important questions to dig up the dirt on familiar items in our shopping baskets. Are plant proteins as good for us as meat proteins? Why can we buy so-called ‘seasonal’ fruits like strawberries all year round? And is the symbol of clean eating, the avocado, fuelling the climate crisis?

As pressure grows to share our healthy, environmentally friendly lives on social media, Avocado Anxiety is also a personal story of motherhood and the realisation that nothing is ever perfect.©2023 Louise Gray (P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Diets, Nutrition & Healthy Eating Environment Fitness, Diet & Nutrition Food & Wine Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science Conservation Wine

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Critic reviews

A portrait of a food system that has become miraculously proficient at giving us cheap produce whenever we want it but at the expense of so much else. (Ben Cooke)
From farmers regenerating their soil and scientists battling a banana pandemic, this is essential reading for anyone interested in the global impacts of what we eat. (PD Smith)
In a global food network, there are no black and white answers ... In the meantime, here are some food stories to munch over. (Boudicca Fox-Leonard)
Packed with insight, impeccably researched, and skilfully narrated, this book is attuned to the contradictions and possibilities of the contemporary diet and ripe with appreciation for the visceral importance of plants. (Rob Percival, author of The Meat Paradox and Head of Food Policy, Soil Association)
All stars
Most relevant  
I really enjoyed this . The writing is brilliant , beautifully balanced and entertaining, the whole book gave a fascinating and fresh perspective on the whole debate about where our food comes from and what we can do about something that is so very important. Louise Gray understands how we live, cook, and need to shop and eat and reads her book so engagingly, that you hang off her every word . There is nothing preachy about it - It is funny , nuanced , incredibly informative and at times very moving too.
I CANNOT recommend this more highly to everyone who has ever eaten fruit and veg. Or who might in the future . Brilliant .

Fantastic in every way !

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Really enjoyable follow-up to Louise's previous book; The Ethical Carnivore. And very appropriate right now with the current fruit and veg shortages in the UK.

Louise does a great job of showing just how complex our food systems are. We all need to be more aware of where our food comes from, and how it's produced. But most attempts at this just scratch the surface. Louise uses a series of stories and real-world examples to show just how complex even the foods we think of as 'simple' are.

Unlike a lot of similar books I've read on the topic, it doesn't seem to come with an agenda. This isn't pro or anti industry/meat/veggie etc, it simply gives a balanced view of the 'grey' area that most food issues come with.

Very enjoyable and well narrated read/listen covering a lot of stuff we should all be trying to learn more about. If you like this one, I'd also recommend The Ethical Carnivore.

Great exploration of complexities behind our food!

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loved this! great conversations and explorations around the backstory of what's on the shelves in the shops

thoughtful and thought provoking

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A fascinating dive into to where our food comes from with the a comforting personal perspective.

Beautifully written and very informative.

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Good in parts. I found out a number of interesting things about the food we all eat and buy at the supermarket.

Interesting

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