Avocado Anxiety

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

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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

Prologue - Roots
Chapter 1 - Old Beans
Why plant protein will save the planet
Chapter 2 - Bananageddon
Why you should eat Fairtrade bananas
Chapter 3 - The Valuable Esculent
Why we should look after the soil
Chapter 4 - Miciri
Why food miles are not that bad
Chapter 5 - Humblebees
Why bees are important on farms
Chapter 6 - Nightingale Farm
Why birds are important on farms
Chapter 7 - The Taste of Summer
Why seasons are not that important
Chapter 8 - The Space Zucchini
Why gardening is good for mental health
Chapter 9 - Magic Berries
Why foraging is magic
Chapter 10 - The Orchard
Why diversity matters
Chapter 11 - Perfectly Imperfect
Why we have to cut food waste
Chapter 12 - Avocado Anxiety
Why simply being anxious won't solve the problem
Epilogue - Roots