Keen On

A couple of days ago, America’s most controversial regenerative farmer, Joel Salatin, came on the show to explain how industrialized farming is killing our soil, our bodies and our souls. Today, the Los Angeles based food writer and podcaster Nicola Twilley offers a more nuanced account of the impact of industrialization on our food, our planet and ourselves. In her excellent new book, Frostbite, Twilley explains how industrialized refrigeration technology has revolutionized every aspect of the food cycle - from farm to table. Acknowledging its self-evident benefits (year round bananas, tomatoes & ice cream), Twilley also warns of the dark side of the refrigeration revolution, particularly its environmental impact which, she argues, is the central cause of global warming. Modify our refrigerated food economy, Twilley says, and the planet will cool down. Chilling.Nicola Twilley* is author of Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves (Penguin Press, June 2024), and co-host of