Frostbite

How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves

By: Nicola Twilley

Narrated by: Nicola Twilley

"Engrossing...hard to put down."—The New York Times Book Review

“Frostbite is a perfectly executed cold fusion of science, history, and literary verve . . . as a fellow nonfiction writer, I bow down. This is how it's done.”—Mary Roach, author of Fuzz and Stiff

An engaging and far-reaching exploration of refrigeration, tracing its evolution from scientific mystery to globe-spanning infrastructure, and an essential investigation into how it has remade our entire relationship with food—for better and for worse

How often do we open the fridge or peer into the freezer with the expectation that we’ll find something fresh and ready to eat? It’s an everyday act—but just a century ago, eating food that had been refrigerated was cause for both fear and excitement. The introduction of artificial refrigeration overturned millennia of dietary history, launching a new chapter in human nutrition. We could now overcome not just rot, but seasonality and geography. Tomatoes in January? Avocados in Shanghai? All possible.

In Frostbite, New Yorker contributor and cohost of the award-winning podcast Gastropod Nicola Twilley takes listeners on a tour of the cold chain from farm to fridge, visiting off-the-beaten-path landmarks such as Missouri’s subterranean cheese caves, the banana-ripening rooms of New York City, and the vast refrigerated tanks that store the nation’s orange juice reserves. Today, nearly three-quarters of everything on the average American plate is processed, shipped, stored, and sold under refrigeration. It’s impossible to make sense of our food system without understanding the all-but-invisible network of thermal control that underpins it. Twilley’s eye-opening book is the first to reveal the transformative impact refrigeration has had on our health and our guts; our farms, tables, kitchens, and cities; global economics and politics; and even our environment.

In the developed world, we’ve reaped the benefits of refrigeration for more than a century, but the costs are catching up with us. We’ve eroded our connection to our food and redefined what “fresh” means. More important, refrigeration is one of the leading contributors to climate change. As the developing world races to build a US-style cold chain, Twilley asks: Can we reduce our dependence on refrigeration? Should we? A deeply researched and reported, original, and entertaining dive into the most important invention in the history of food and drink, Frostbite makes the case for a recalibration of our relationship with the fridge—and how our future might depend on it.

©2024 Nicola Twilley (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“[Nicola Twilley] tells the fascinating story of refrigeration and tracks its effects on eating habits, family dynamics and much else. Along the way, she skillfully introduces us to the people who helped make refrigeration a key feature of everyday life and who now work at the chilly front lines of the modern economy.”—Wall Street Journal

“Just the fact that we can keep things cold—food, ourselves, drink—changes everything about the way we live . . . It’s smart and it’s fun . . . A book about cold is the perfect summer book.”—Science Friday, Best Science Books of Summer 2024

“Twilley’s style weaves storytelling with a series of well-timed narrative combination punches . . . This is bravura technique. You read through once, not unappreciatively, and then—boom—you go back and read it again, your mind racing to embrace the ramifications . . . Still, Frostbite wears its politics lightly, trusting the reader to conjure their own indignation. The style is accessible, informative and infectiously readable. Yet all the time, the book is quietly inspiring a desire for change. You will not know you’ve been evangelised but you will reach a point where you walk into the fruit and veg aisle on your weekly shop, look at a carton of 'fresh' orange juice or pick up a vac-packed chicken and feel ​overcome with a kind of despairing nausea.”—Financial Times

So interesting

Great book! Highly recommend to those who love learning about food and history. Enjoyed the performance as well.

A shock of brilliant fun!

Such a great mixture of narrative drive and surprising counter intuitive insights, all delivered in mellifluous prose! The cold chain is a hidden landscape that defines our lives, and Nicola Twilley is its Shakleton!

very informative

enjoyed contents for this book I learned about the podcast which is one of my favorite podcasts

Great Intro to the True Value of the 'Cold Chain'

Very much enjoyed this book. Have been looking forward to it since Ms. Twilley spoke of its publication on the Gastropod podcast, which she co-host. A lot of very interesting facts on the creation & value of the 'cold chain'. I had never thought how different perishable items are better preserved at differing temperature/humidity levels or how shelf life can be enhanced by storing an item in an environment/medium more closely resembling the item's growth period. I gave the "performance' a 4/5 as I feel Ms. Twilley's delivery is much better suited to 'short form' presentation, such as the podcast she co-host. Their are other persons that are simply better at 'long form' delivery.

Incredibly fascinating

There are so many pearls of knowledge in this book: a deep and thorough analysis into a topic we all take for granted.

Excellent listen. So much depth

The author, who is also the narrator, is an excellent and entertaining communicator. I have been a long time of the podcast Gastropod, which she is a cohost of, and this was a very enjoyable deep dive into a topic that she is clearly very passionate about.

Professional approach

I liked the way the author links science, social developments and politics to make images of the future from the point of view of different actors

The content of the book stood out the most.

Fascinating and exhaustive report/story of refrigeration - the pros and cons and the dangers to our environment. I listened to the audio book, read by the author. It’s a must read for anyone who’s notice or is aware of climate change and who also enjoys an ice cold beer. Sometimes there are more details than I could absorb, but that’s ok because overall it’s important info for us all.

They should have hired an actor

I DNF'd after two chapters. This book was a chore to listen to because of the author's awful pronunciation and pacing of words. It's like her accent is one third British, one third American and one third robot. I don't think it's too much to ask for someone who can read like a BBC presenter.