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Avocado Anxiety by Louise Gray
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Avocado Anxiety

and Other Stories About Where Your Food Comes From

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Narrator Louise Gray

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Length 8 hours 26 minutes
Language English
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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.

Louise Gray is a freelance writer based in Scotland. She trained with The Press Association and was a staff writer for The Scotsman. She covered UN climate change talks, GM foods and the badger cull during five years as the Environment Correspondent for The Daily Telegraph. Louise specialises in writing about food, farming and climate change. In recent years, she has written for The Sunday Times, Scottish Field, the Guardian and The Spectator, among others. She has also appeared on BBC television and radio.

Louise is passionate about environmental issues, increasingly focusing on how individuals can make a difference through the choices they make, such as the food we eat. Her first book, The Ethical Carnivore, won best Food Book and Best Investigative Work at the Guild of Food Writers Awards and was shortlisted for the Fortnum and Mason Food Book of the Year.

@loubgray / louisebgray.com

Louise Gray is a freelance writer based in Scotland. She trained with The Press Association and was a staff writer for The Scotsman. She covered UN climate change talks, GM foods and the badger cull during five years as the Environment Correspondent for The Daily Telegraph. Louise specialises in writing about food, farming and climate change. In recent years, she has written for The Sunday Times, Scottish Field, the Guardian and The Spectator, among others. She has also appeared on BBC television and radio.

Louise is passionate about environmental issues, increasingly focusing on how individuals can make a difference through the choices they make, such as the food we eat. Her first book, The Ethical Carnivore, won best Food Book and Best Investigative Work at the Guild of Food Writers Awards and was shortlisted for the Fortnum and Mason Food Book of the Year.

@loubgray / louisebgray.com

Illustration of person sitting

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Start gifting
Phone showing make the switch message

Limited-time offer

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Now’s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new one credit per month membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, we’ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.

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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. In a global food network, there are no black and white answers ... In the meantime, here are some food stories to munch over. 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. Engaging stories and lively sanity for veg-forward eating in our complicated times. [Explores] the nuances and complexities in a deeply relatable way. Essential reading for anyone that eats, Avocado Anxiety takes you on a journey through food and its impact on our planet. Brilliant, just brilliant! In a quietly confident manner, Avocado Anxiety makes you think for yourself on matters that can only be described as universally urgent. Everyone should read it.’ A fascinating book full of surprising facts that will force you to reconsider everything you thought you knew about fruit and vegetables. Truly, this is food for thought. Fascinating and informative. How what we eat every day has an impact on us and on the world, and the ways in which we can eat better ethically and gastronomically. By turns fascinating, moving and funny, Louise Gray gives readers the knowledge they need to make more informed choices about what to eat. Gray makes an overwhelming topic digestible. … Avocado Anxiety encourages understanding the science behind one’s food and demonstrates the global impact of every meal. Gray, a journalist who specializes in food and environmental issues, is not afraid to get her hands dirty… With comprehensive research and intelligent, fair-minded writing, this is an informative, optimistic read. Each of the stories is an engaging essay written with punch and flair … an intriguing read. 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. Fascinating … Gray helps us to work out what’s worth worrying about and what’s not. Expand reviews
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