The book goes into detail about how to lower your carbon footprint by being conscience of how you consume and purchase food. The chapters are well organized and informative with Robert Downey Jr. chiming in with tips and tricks.

This book really inspired me to change the way I consume and purchase foods. I've been using food kits for years, so I was glad to learn that though the items are shipped, they lower your carbon footprint because it wastes less food. Buying local and seasonally will also lower your carbon footprint.

While the narration is excellent, I would recommending purchasing the book as a better resource. There was a mention of an attached pdf, but I did not receive this with the ARC.

I chose to listen to this book in audio format for the added bonus of Robert Downey Jr. narrating this book he co-authored. While I feel there was a lot of good information in this book, I did struggle to retain a lot of what I was listening to due to the fact that there were a lot of tidbits of information throughout, including recipes, that made it difficult for me. I ended up checking out the print edition at my library to read along with and serve as an additional resource, and I found the book to be very helpful and interesting.

If you're looking for a light entertaining book on sustainability with the bonus of Robert Downey Jr,'s narration, then I would highly recommend the audio version, as he integrates his personality and fun quips throughout. If you're looking for solid information and be able to refer back easily, I would recommend the print version for sure!

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this e-audiobook.

I do care about the environment, but one of the main reasons I asked for this was because Robert Downey Jr is one of the writers/narrators. The only problem with the audiobook was that I felt like there was too much information, and I will need to go back through and take notes. Because there really was a lot of information that I am interested in, and I plan to revisit it.
There was a lot of discussion about different kinds of food, their benefits, and their effects on the environment. I particularly enjoyed the advice on how to become more mindful and waste less food, because it was so practical. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to make serious healthy changes. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this.

Cool Food: Erasing Your Carbon Footprint One Bite at a Time by Robert Downey, Jr. and Thomas Kostigen is packed with information about the ways in which our food choices impact our carbon footprint. The first couple of chapters were a little boring to me, but once the book got going, I learned a great deal of new information I was surprised to learn that some of my favorite foods are planet-friendly. This book includes lots of practical and easy ways to help ease the climate crisis through the foods we choose to put on our plates

The audiobook is narrated by the authors along with Deepti Gupta. The narration was good, but Downey's interjections of food facts were a little annoying.

Thanks to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for a review copy of the audiobook format of this book.

📚 2024 #37: “Cool Food” by Robert Downey Jr & Thomas Kostigen

📕 This book is all about the foods we eat, how they impact the planet, and the choices we can make to minimize our carbon footprints. You'll learn how to read produce SKU codes, what fruits and veggies are in season when, whether it's actually better to eat local, and a lot more. The authors have an optimistic approach to positively affecting our planet through choices we make everyday, especially when they add up to signals that affect the choices made my restaurants, grocery stores, big businesses, and farmers.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5: I'm a bit torn on the easy-going tone of this book. Sustainability and food choices are super important to me (and I think to the authors too), but it seems they're trying to appeal to the masses with low commitment suggestions. Getting someone to add a scoop of beans or lentils to their hamburger mixture is much easier than asking them to cut out meat altogether. I'm firmly of the belief it's better to have everyone make small changes than a few people make drastic changes, so a lot of the advice in this book is helpful for that. There are also a bunch of other cool facts about food that have nothing to do with cutting out meat, such as the real weight of food transport in emissions, buying fresh vs frozen vs canned, and carbon footprint labels on foods. A couple fun facts: Dates, apples, seaweed, and ancient grains are some of the most carbon-friendly foods! Farming and production are often 50-80% of emissions for food items, while packaging and transport can be as low as 5%. People tend to focus on the latter, but eating a locally-grown steak will never be as sustainable as importing exotic produce from across the planet.

🤓 You should read this if you're interested in sustainability, especially as it pertains to food (no need to be a vegan/vegetarian to get something out of this -- RDJ is pescatarian!). If you liked "Ultra-Processed People" by Chris van Tulleken, you'll probably like this.

🥰 Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Cool Food was the perfect audiobook selection for Earth Day, informative as well as entertaining. While I can't say I am totally on board with the cool food movement as explained in the book, I did learn some tips for becoming more aware of the ecological impact of my food choices, and will implement several new practices as a direct result of listening to this book. The authors describe several types of 'cool food' or food that has a relatively low carbon footprint, and what factors should be considered when choosing foods to reduce the CO2 impact of what we eat. Their choices lean toward vegetarian/vegan eating, and there are not many recipes described in the audiobook (perhaps there are more in the extra printables?)

The audiobook is read primarily by Robert Downey Jr.'s co-authors with Downey interjecting 'fast facts' periodically. The production was well done, although I did not find the fast-paced interjections to be as cute as intended.

I think that if I were more in tune with the philosophy behind the book, I would get a print copy as a reference after listening, as the lists and such are sometimes lengthy and would be difficult to remember.

Thank you to Netgalley and Blackstone Audio for the audio review copy of Cool Food: Erasing Your Carbon Footprint One Bite at a Time by Robert Downey Jr. & Thomas Kostigen, narrated by the authors and Deepti Gupta. The opinions in this review re my own.