Feed Us with Trees: Nuts and the Future of Food

What if the future of food grew on trees—and had been with us all along?

From acorns to chestnuts, hazelnuts, and beyond, discover the ancient staple crops that could nourish people and heal the planet.

What You'll Learn in Feed Us with Trees

In this groundbreaking and hopeful book, food writer Elspeth Hay reveals how nut trees can transform our diets, landscapes, and future. Drawing from Indigenous knowledge, cutting-edge science, and conversations with farmers and foragers, Hay shows how we can reclaim our role as a keystone species by tending perennial food systems that regenerate rather than deplete the Earth.

Inside, you'll discover:

• Ancient wisdom, modern solutions — how cultures across the Northern Hemisphere once relied on nut trees as staple foods, and why this matters today.
• Nutrient-dense, climate-smart foods — nuts are packed with protein, healthy fats, and resilience for a warming world.
• Practical pathways forward — from agroforestry and permaculture to backyard food forests, learn how you can be part of the shift.
• New stories for a thriving future — how rethinking what we eat can help us reimagine our place in Earth's ecosystems.

Why This Book Matters

Agriculture as we know it is one of the largest drivers of climate change, water depletion, and biodiversity loss. Yet Hay uncovers a forgotten truth: we don't need to choose between feeding ourselves and sustaining the planet. By restoring perennial food systems centered on nut trees, we can build a future that is abundant, equitable, and resilient.

Whether you're an environmentalist, regenerative farmer, permaculture enthusiast, agroforester, locavore, or simply hungry for change, this book will inspire you to imagine food differently—and give you the tools to start.

Whatever are we going to eat on this cramped, ever-hotter planet of ours? …The trees just might have our backs.—Paul Greenberg, author, Four Fish and A Third Term

If you care about food security, climate change, or the health of future generations, this book belongs on your shelf.

Buy Feed Us with Trees today and discover how nut trees can help us rewrite the future of food.

Elspeth Hay is a writer and the creator and host of the Local Food Report, a weekly feature that has aired on Cape Cod’s NPR station since 2008. Deeply immersed in her own local-food system, she writes and reports for print, radio, and online media with a focus on food, the environment, and the people, places, and ideas that feed us. She lives in Wellfleet, MA.