The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket

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Kernel of Truth

SKU: 9780553459418 Category:

Reading about the many, many pleasures of food, wine and travel is intoxicating but most of us can’t experience it every day. For us, there’s the daily slog to the grocery store, but this book explores the complex and fascinating world of how we put food on the table.

The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket

Product Description

“A deeply curious and evenhanded report on our national appetites.” —The New York Times

In the tradition of Fast Food Nation and The Omnivore’s Dilemma, an extraordinary investigation into the human lives at the heart of the American grocery store

The miracle of the supermarket has never been more apparent. Like the doctors and nurses who care for the sick, suddenly the men and women who stock our shelves and operate our warehouses are understood as ‘essential’ workers, providing a quality of life we all too easily take for granted. But the sad truth is that the grocery industry has been failing these workers for decades.

In this page-turning expose, author Benjamin Lorr pulls back the curtain on the highly secretive grocery industry. Combining deep sourcing, immersive reporting, and sharp, often laugh-out-loud prose, Lorr leads a wild investigation, asking what does it take to run a supermarket? How does our food get on the shelves? And who suffers for our increasing demands for convenience and efficiency? In this journey:

  • We learn the secrets of Trader Joe’s success from Trader Joe himself
  • Drive with truckers caught in a job they call “sharecropping on wheels”
  • Break into industrial farms with activists to learn what it takes for a product to earn certification labels like “fair trade” and “free range”
  • Follow entrepreneurs as they fight for shelf space, learning essential tips, tricks, and traps for any new food business
  • Journey with migrants to examine shocking forced labor practices through their eyes

    • The product of five years of research and hundreds of interviews across every level of the business, The Secret Life of Groceries is essential reading for those who want to understand our food system–delivering powerful social commentary on the inherently American quest for more and compassionate insight into the lives that provide it.
    Binding Type: Paperback
    Author: Benjamin Lorr
    Published: 11/09/2021
    Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
    ISBN: 9780553459418
    Pages: 336
    Weight: 0.70lbs
    Size: 8.20h x 5.40w x 1.00d