Feijoa, Kate Evans
Feijoa, Kate Evans
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Feijoa
A story of obsession and belonging

Author: Kate Evans

Narrator: Kate Evans

Unabridged: 8 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Moa Press

Published: 03/26/2025

Categories: Nonfiction, Nature, Plants


Synopsis

'Read this book - the micro-history you didn't know you needed, even if you don't like feijoa!' Liv Sisson, author of Fungi

Inspired by a personal obsession with this singular exotic fruit, Feijoa is a sweeping, global tale about the dance between people and plants - how we need each other, how we change each other, and the surprising ways certain species make their way into our imaginations, our stomachs, and our hearts.

The feijoa comes from the highlands of Southern Brazil and the valleys of Uruguay, where it was woven into indigenous and Afro-Brazilian cultures. It was scientifically named in Berlin, acclimatised on the French Riviera, and failed to make its fortune in California. Today, it is celebrated by one small town in the Colombian Andes, and has become an icon of community and nationhood in New Zealand.

Of the world's roughly 30,000 edible plant species, only around 150 are now cultivated for human consumption. Most of those were domesticated hundreds or thousands of years ago, but feijoas are among only a handful of plants that have made this journey from the wild to the orchard in the last few generations, providing a rare opportunity to watch, up close, the myriad ways plants seduce us.

Feijoa is a book about connection. Between people and plants, between individuals, between cultures, across disciplines - it celebrates the ways our lives and loves intersect in surprising ways.

About Kate Evans

Kate Evans is an award-winning journalist and nature writer from New Zealand. Her work has been published in The Guardian, The Observer, Scientific American, National Geographic, Undark, and BioGraphic. She is a regular contributor to New Zealand Geographic magazine and has won multiple national media awards for science and environmental journalism and feature writing. She has also worked as a television producer and video journalist for the BBC, ABC, TVNZ, and the Washington Post, reporting from West Africa, Indonesia, the Whanganui River and the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Eily on May 17, 2024

A considered and exciting journey chasing the feijoa across continents and to meet fascinating knowledge holders of this obscure fruit. To me this book has the perfect balance of exploration and reflection, of scientific and indigenous histories and ideologies. Congrats to the author for such a rich......more

Goodreads review by Carol on September 07, 2025

I was worried there might be too many dull facts and figures in this book, meaning that I might not have the patience to finish it (despite my love of feijoas), but although there are definitely many facts and the history of the feijoa is comprehensively laid out, the book was written in such a way......more

Goodreads review by Julie on December 08, 2024

I am a Kiwi who grew up eating backyard feijoas. Just like the fruit itself, this book won't be to everyone's tastes but I absolutely loved it. Well-researched, beautifully written and nostalgic in the best ways, this book answered questions about feijoas that I didn't know I had. Much more than a b......more

Goodreads review by Lesley on March 22, 2024

Kate Evans has taken me on a wonderful journey of discovery in her book Feijoa which is a story of obsession and belonging . Her research has taken her all over the world as she searched for the oldest living Feijoa tree and attempted to establish when the fruit trees arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand......more

Goodreads review by Ruthita on December 04, 2024

A discovery of the origin of the Feijoa, which takes us, the reader from Brasil, Colombia, France, Australia and New Zealand. We Journey with Kate as she introduces us to many Feijoa aficionados around the world. I’m definitely looking at the 2-3 year old Feijoa trees in the garden with a new-found k......more


Quotes

Read this book - the micro-history you didn't know you needed, even if you don't like feijoa!