Sarah Allaback & Monique F. Parsons Author Talk • Green Gold

Sarah Allaback is an author and historian specializing in architectural and landscape preservation. She grew up in Carpinteria, California and lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Monique F. Parsons is a journalist, an award-winning audio producer, and an avocado farmer. A native of Carpinteria, California, she lives in suburban Chicago.  

Cara Mangini is an award-winning author, chef, and restauranteur with a mission to put vegetables at the center of the American plate. Her first book, The Vegetable Butcher, won two IACP Cookbook Awards and was nominated for a James Beard Award. She was the founder of Little Eater, a produce-inspired food company based in Columbus, Ohio with restaurants, catering services, and a product line of signature salads. As executive chef of Little Eater, she was named one of the top 50 plant-forward chefs in the world by the Culinary Institute of America. Her recipes have been featured on the Today Show and in the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Telegraph, The Chicago Tribune, Better Homes and Gardens, Glamour, Vegetarian Times, and Oprah.com. Her latest book, The Vegetable Eater: The New Playbook for Vegetarian, is a seasonal guide to turning vegetables into complete meals that delight and satisfy every eater at the table.

Green Gold - The avocado is the quintessential symbol of aspirational living, a ubiquitous agricultural favorite, and the driver of an $18 billion global industry. How did this regional Latin American staple become a star of Super Bowl ads and a byword for wellness? Documenting more than a century of cross-cultural cooperation, cutting-edge science, and savvy marketing, Green Gold tells the remarkable story of the fruit's rise to prominence as both a culinary and cultural juggernaut.

Anchored by the story of two exceptional trees that stood out among hundreds of rivals, Green Gold is a spirited and often surprising behind-the-scenes look at how dedicated avocado enthusiasts in Mexico and California developed an ideal fruit to sell to the world. Navigating the Depression, two world wars, Mexican revolutions, violent drug lords, drought, and disease, these pioneers were driven by the avocado's potential to captivate the palates and hearts of consumers across the globe. Their efforts, inspired by the success of California citrus, launched today's lucrative industry and helped the avocado win a place among such supermarket staples as oranges and bananas.

Set against the rise of Southern California as an economic and cultural powerhouse and featuring recipes (including vintage versions of guacamole and avocado toast), Green Gold is an entertaining and far-ranging exploration of the avocado's journey to a central place in the American diet and global imagination.