Planet Palm: Jocelyn Zuckerman and Ruth Reichl at Greenlight Bookstore
May 27, 2021
- 7:30 PM
Greenlight Bookstore

James Beard Award-winning journalist Jocelyn C. Zuckerman comes to Greenlight (virtually!) to present her urgent new book, Planet Palm. This groundbreaking work of first-rate journalism compels us to examine the connections between the choices we make at the grocery store and a planet under siege. Worldwide, palm oil production has nearly doubled in just the last decade: oil-palm plantations now cover an area nearly the size of New Zealand, and some form of the commodity lurks in half the products on U.S. grocery shelves. But the palm oil revolution has been built on stolen land and slave labor; it has swept away cultures and so devastated the landscapes of Southeast Asia that iconic animals now teeter on the brink of extinction. Fires lit to clear the way for plantations spew carbon emissions to rival those of industrialized nations. Zuckerman spent years traveling the globe, from Liberia to Indonesia, India to Brazil, reporting on the human and environmental impacts of this poorly understood plant. The result is Planet Palm, a riveting account blending history, science, politics, and food as seen through the people whose lives have been upended by this hidden ingredient. Zuckerman is joined in conversation by the bestselling and award-winning journalist, author, and broadcaster, the final editor-in-chief of Gourmet Magazine, Ruth Reichl.