Feijoa history!

Feijoa - A story of obsession and belonging.

Nine years ago today Kate Evans set out for Uruguay for one of her first feijoa research trips. She went to visit chef Laura Rosano on her small farm near Montevideo to learn about her efforts to foster and reclaim a national cuisine for Uruguay: to restore feijoas and other native fruits to their rightful place in Uruguayan culture. She was 6 weeks pregnant with Amalia, and didn't yet know how she would turn her deep curiosity about feijoas, their story and their meanings into a book.

Today, she’s beyond thrilled to announce that her debut book, FEIJOA: A Story of Obsession and Belonging, will be published in New Zealand and Australia by Moa Press Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand on 27 February 2024. The book spans the feijoa's evolution, its human history from 4,000 years ago to today, its future, and the unique ways it tickles our brains.

She will take you with her from archaeological sites in Brazil, to rediscovering a century-old lost garden on the French Riviera, and to be a guest judge at the feijoa desserts competition at the Festival of the Feijoa in Colombia. We'll go deep into the Ureweras, behind the scenes in the Berlin Natural History Museum, and learn the bizarre story behind the feijoa's unusual name. It's full of beautiful line drawings by Ruby Watson and six brand-new feijoa recipes, including one by Laura.