Frostbite - How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves

"Engrossing...hard to put down." —

“Mary Roach, author of

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
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,

Product details

• Authors: Nicola Twilley, Twilley Nicola
• Publisher: Penguin Books USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 24.06.2025
• EAN: 9780735223301
• ISBN: 978-0-7352-2330-1
• No. of pages: 400
• Dimensions: 139 mm x 208 mm x 22 mm
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Natural sciences (general); Non-fiction book; SCIENCE / History, biotechnology, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Agriculture & Food, History of Science, Food & society, Food & beverage technology, Food and beverage technology, Cultural studies: food and society