Avocado Anxiety: and Other Stories About Where Your Food Comes From | Louise Gray

In Avocado Anxiety, Louise Gray takes us on a deeply personal journey from the accusative supermarket aisles – ‘proper mothers cook for their children’ – back to her family roots in a vibrant Edinburgh greengrocers. At a time when we have become so thoroughly divorced from the food that sustains us and its impact on the planet, Gray digs the dirt on organic potatoes, greenhouse tomatoes and the surprising delights of UK-grown fava beans. Each chapter answers a question about a familiar item in our shopping basket. Is plant protein as good as meat? Is foraged food more nutritious? Could bees be the answer to using fewer chemicals?

‘When I write about fruit and vegetables,’ Gray tells us, ‘I am really writing about an effort to be a better person, to leave a lighter footprint on the world.’ This colour-filled and engaging book is a must for everyone who loves food, and loves the planet. – Sandy Winterbottom