A ‘Global Cold Rush’ Is Reshaping the Planet, and How the World Eats
The “cold chain” that delivers our food is inconspicuous but vast. The US alone boasts around 5.5 million cubic feet of refrigerated space (that’s 150 Empire State Buildings!) and three-quarters of the average American plate has spent some time in a commercial fridge. Now, the developing world is catching up.
Nicola Twilley, author of Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves, says this expansion of the world’s “distributed winter” has wide-ranging climate implications.
“Food waste is often touted as the reason to build a cold chain,” Twilley says on the week’s Zero podcast. “The problem is that in the developed world, we are throwing away 30 to 40% of our food at the retail and consumer end.”
Twilley sat down with Zero host Akshat Rathi to talk about what reliance on the “cold chain” means for our palate and our planet.