Meet author Nicola Twilley when we discuss her winner of the California Book Awards’ 2024 gold medal in nonfiction, Frostbite, via Zoom. 

In this book, we learn about how refrigeration, which we take for granted in our daily lies, changed how we eat as well as the effects on our health and the environment. Twilley, co-host of the “Gastropod” podcast, investigates the “cold chain” that connects farms to our refrigerators, revealing how artificial cold has reshaped everything from the availability of bananas to the taste of tomatoes, and created a world where nearly three-quarters of our food is processed, shipped and stored under refrigeration. 

Twilley provides an engaging exploration of refrigeration, tracing its evolution from scientific mystery to globe-spanning infrastructure. This book makes us consider how different our relationship to fresh food would be without this vital innovation.