Avocado Anxiety

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. 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

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.

• Prologue - RootsChapter 1 - Old BeansWhy plant protein will save the planetChapter 2 - BananageddonWhy you should eat Fairtrade bananas Chapter 3 - The Valuable EsculentWhy we should look after the soilChapter 4 - MiciriWhy food miles are not that badChapter 5 - HumblebeesWhy bees are important on farmsChapter 6 - Nightingale FarmWhy birds are important on farmsChapter 7 - The Taste of SummerWhy seasons are not that importantChapter 8 - The Space ZucchiniWhy gardening is good for mental health Chapter 9 - Magic BerriesWhy foraging is magicChapter 10 - The OrchardWhy diversity mattersChapter 11 - Perfectly ImperfectWhy we have to cut food wasteChapter 12 - Avocado AnxietyWhy simply being anxious won’t solve the problemEpilogue - Roots