The cold, hard truth about refrigeration

Sep 19, 2024

In this insightful discussion, Nicola Twilley, an author focused on food, culture, and technology, reveals how refrigeration has transformed our eating habits. She shares the historical skepticism surrounding refrigerated food and how trust has evolved. The conversation dives into the 'cold-chain' revolution, highlighting both its conveniences and environmental impacts. Twilley also explores how our fridges shape our identities and culinary choices, prompting a reflection on the fine line between freshness and food waste.

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Intro

00:00 • 2min

The Impact of Refrigeration on Identity and Culinary Practices

01:43 • 2min

The Battle Against Spoilage: Human Defenses and Delicious Solutions

03:20 • 2min

Chilling History: Food Preservation Before Refrigeration

05:40 • 9min

The Psychological Transformation of Food Through Refrigeration

14:20 • 3min

The Cold Chain Revolution

17:37 • 13min

The Impact of Refrigeration on Our Lives and Choices

30:27 • 3min

In the early 1900s, people didn’t trust refrigerated food. Fruits and vegetables, cuts of meat… these things are supposed to decay, right? As Nicola Twilley writes, “What kind of unnatural technology could deliver a two-year old chicken carcass that still looked as though it was slaughtered yesterday?”

But just a few decades later, Americans have done a full one-eighty. Livestock can be slaughtered thousands of miles away, and taste just as good (or better) by the time it hits your plate. Apples can be stored for over a year without any noticeable change. A network called the “cold-chain” criss-crosses the country, and at home our refrigerators are fooling us into thinking we waste less food than we actually do.

Today, refrigeration has reshaped what we eat, how we cook it, and even warped our very definition of what is and isn’t “fresh.”

Featuring Nicola Twilley.

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LINKS

You can find Nicola’s new book “Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet and Ourselves,” at your local bookstore or online.

CREDITS

Our host is Nate Hegyi.

Reported and produced by Nate Hegyi and Taylor Quimby.

Mixed by Nate Hegyi

Editing by Taylor Quimby

Our staff includes Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, Kate Dario and Marina Henke.

Executive producer: Taylor Quimby

Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio

Music by Blue Dot Sessions. Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio

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