The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket by Benjamin Lorr. Benjamin is writing about an amazing resource that impacts our lives: the grocery store. For the most part, the amount of research Benjamin spent over a period of five years pays off most handsomely.
Consequently, The Secret Life of Groceries allows readers to look deeply across supply chains that impact everyone across this country and most industrial nations.
Benjamin begins with a history of American grocery stores. Certainly interesting to read about the founder of Trader Joe’s, how a Texas oil company launched 7-Eleven, and why shopping carts were a late addition in 1937.
I believe the history of change would be most appealing to readers as we today take for granted so many elements within our local grocery stores.
However, amazing as it sounds grocery stores had to hire men to push the cards as women were shopping. The globalization of stores and supply chains are addressed. I also really enjoyed learning about the the grocery story supply chain from many points of view. For this purpose, from Texas to Tokyo: 7-Eleven is a 2005 subsidiary of Seven-Eleven Japan Company which runs over 1,700 stores across 17 countries. Food is an amazing global business.
Trucking industry
The chapter that I especially found interesting was Part II: Distribution of Responsibility. It begins: Three A.M. Outside the Aldi Distribution Center in Oak Creek, Wisconsin and certainly does not disappoint. In fact, Benjamin was actually riding with a truck driver to learn all about her world. Amazing how trucking companies prey upon people promising the sky yet leaving many in debt for decades.
Modern slavery in the Thai shrimp business
At the same time the discovery of modern slavery in the Thai fishing industry is the most horrific story to read. This is certainly making me rethink my purchasing of shrimp. America consumes most of it’s shrimp from Thai shrimping companies.
How shrimp got big
Not to be overlooked, Benjamin reveals how shrimp moved from a limited availability food to a mass consumer product:
“It turns out for as of yet biologically unexplained reasons, a female shrimp who loses a single eyeball gets fast-tracked through puberty, her ocular loss unleashing a cascade of hormones that begets ovaries in as little as three days. This was not predictable, nor does it fit with some grand anatomical theory of shrimp endocrinology, but it is very real. And some supremely attentive farmer noticed it and began snipping eyeballs off by hand in an attempt to replicate it. Soon, the process was studied and verified in the lab, and although nobody could quite explain “eyestalk ablation,” the quirky stride of science skipped merrily forward, pushing shrimp aquaculture into a new age.
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Whole Foods
Benjamin even writes a detailed chapter about taking a job at the fish counter at a Whole Foods in New York for almost a year. In some ways Benjamin is writing about modern exploitation of people that is invisible to society.
Food Startups
Part III: Self-Realization Through Snack is addressing new entrepreneurs in the food industry. How challenging it is to break into your local grocery store! Generally speaking, positive reviews coming out from national food trade shows helps break the ice with buyers. Therefore, Benjamin is focusing on the launch of Slawsa as an example.
In conclusion, The Secret Life of Groceries is a fascinating read about a service that touches all of our lives. You will learn the inside stories how some of the food you bring home finds its way to your local grocery store.
Kevin Coupe | MNB Interview: Benjamin Lorr
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Evolve_AG | A fireside chat with Benjamin Lorr