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The Secret Life of Groceries
- The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket
- Narrated by: Benjamin Lorr
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
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Publisher's Summary
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 American supermarket is an everyday miracle. But what does it take to run one? What are the inner workings of product delivery and distribution? Who sets the price? And who suffers for the convenience and efficiency we’ve come to expect? In this rollicking exposé, author Benjamin Lorr pulls back the curtain on this highly secretive industry. Combining deep sourcing, immersive reporting, and compulsively listenable prose, Lorr leads a wild investigation to:
- 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 “rain forest friendly” and “fair trade”;
- 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 result is a compelling portrait of an industry in flux, filled with the passion, ingenuity, and inequity required to make this piece of the American dream run. The product of five years of research and hundreds of interviews across every level of the industry, The Secret Life of Groceries is essential listening 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.
What listeners say about The Secret Life of Groceries
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Paname toujours
- 16-02-2023
Investigative story-telling, dark & big hearted
Lorr does a lot of research and does a lot of story telling. There was a lot of information to digest, at speed, so I felt like x1 speed was x1.2 speed. The information is damning and difficult to digest. ultimately, humanity needs to change radically. Convenience must not be king. Are we ready to take a good hard look at ourselves? Food for thought indeed.
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- Adam
- 24-09-2022
Omg this is such an addictive listen!!!!
I thought that learning ‘the secret life of groceries’ would be the most boring thing I had ever done. BUT IT IS ACTUALLY ASTONISHING. The supermarket and grocery store is taken for granted today, but it is actually something that was almost wholly established between 1890 and 1960. I have only just started this book but I’ll probably finish it within a few days!!!
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- Nathan H
- 07-06-2023
Entertaining, educational and insightful
I found this book to be very interesting. I particularly enjoyed the historical information provided at the start giving us the history of the supermarket system and will definitely be re-listening to that portion for its historical value. The plight of the people followed later in the book was also informative but unfortunately not the first time I’ve heard of many of these injustices.
Overall this book was very enjoyable and I have taken away some hysterical knowledge from it. Additionally it makes me yearn for a simpler time with shorter food miles where the food is produced and you can see its whole production line.
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- ANONYMOUS
- 28-03-2022
Not my kind of book
I listened for four minutes and 15 seconds in Chapter 1 before I had enough.
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