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

Very interesting deep dive into how food gets onto the supermarket shelf.

I write from the perspecitive of a forty year experience in the consumer / grocery industry from sweeping floors in supermarkets to CEO of brand manufacturers. This book is an honest, unbiased and well reported primer on the agri business industry. If you are looking for a "hit job" it's not here, just well constructed opinions and facts. Nothing new to me in this work yet I found the book to be a very interesting read. I enjoyed the personal character vignetes. They add character, substance and verification. They are overdrawn at times but are a fine substitution from the typical, dry, academic tropes on this subject. One important missing part, the real story, is financial structure and motivation. This global industry is highly and redundantly over levereged. This is not a domestic industry in any way. This is not a "food" business. This is and has been for decades a cash & financial yield mangement machine. Actually management of the Whole Foods seafood case is an apt metaphor; well merchandised and entertaining in the morning, by the end of the day it requires a thorough cleaning out. All said Lorr does a great job. The chapter on aqua culture in SE Asia is overdrawn relative to the subject of the book. He obviously worked hard and long to give this topic exposure. I'd like to see him leverage the knowledge he has gained and take on the $$$ side. Well done!

Such great writing and blends so many stories of our humble grocery shelves into something more. Satisfies a wonderfully curious itch. Shares some of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Eye opening. Lots of original research and personal stories making for great pieces of narrative nonfiction. Definitely look forward to future publications from this author!

This is a great book. Very eye opening. I work in the CPG industry and this book provide alot of great insights on the different functions of the business. I learned alot.

The first two chapters are intriguing, informative, and immersive. However, the author seems to veer off topic, moving from discussing the grocery store experience to the logistics of getting products on the shelf, and then into a critique of cheap food production and imports. The book starts to feel like a collection of loosely connected essays, and it gives the impression that the author might have run out of interview material, resulting in the blending of unrelated subjects just to reach the 250-page mark. Moreover, while the author is clearly confident in their humorous and sarcastic writing style, this confidence sometimes comes across as excessive. The frequent use of humor and sarcasm stretches the narrative unnecessarily, making the book longer than it needs to be. At times, it even becomes difficult to grasp the author’s main point because of the overdone tone. Overall, the book could benefit from tighter focus and a more concise approach.

I bought this book in the hope, based on the title, that it would be an account of the complex system by which our food gets from source to kitchen. Instead, it's a series of disconnected vignettes about individuals working in some aspect of food production, distribution, and sales. For example it goes into great detail about the founder of Trader Joe's, stopping decades ago when he sold out to the current owners. But the book has nothing on the growth of a few corporations that own most of the big supermarket chains. The chapter on food distribution is about a female long haul truck driver. Interesting, but only a small slice of the distribution issue. My point is not that i would be satisfied only by a highly technical account. Years ago, I read a book in which the author traced the path by which the steak on his table got there. The gimmick was that he actually bought one cow and arranged to literally follow it (or its body) from ranch to feedlot to slaughterhouse to warehouse to local store. Sadly I can't remember the title or author.)

Ever wonder why the food we buy is so much cheaper than its true cost of growing or making or butchering? This book explores that question, first how the industry works (with a fascinating history of Trader Joe’s) and then looks into on whose backs we eat for cheap. Who’s cutting corners and, more importantly, who’s getting exploited? The truckers? The Thai shrimp farmers? The independent food entrepreneurs? The low wage grocery store workers? This book is incredibly researched and amazingly written. The writing is clear, succinct, funny, insightful. And the content completely illuminating. Not all horrifying (although some certainly is), all fascinating. 2024 update: I still think and talk about this book ALL THE TIME.

This is a fun and excellent book. (I argued with myself about whether to say fun or excellent first.) It answers so many questions and raises so many more. The reader will never look at groceries, or I should say ‘product’, the same way again. Thank you, Mr. Lorr!

From the history of 7-11 to Amazon buying Whole Foods, this book is an in-depth look at how grocery works and the issues surrounding what we eat. The author speaks with a trucker going broke, a woman trying to break into the condiment business, many people managing companies and stores, people involved in Thai slave fishing and many others, and gives us some idea of the real truth without talking down to the reader or his sources. Well worth your time.

Si te interesa o algún vez te has preguntando sobre el mundo del retail actual este libro es muy interesante. Sobre todo lo que vivió el autor para escribirlo. Habla de todo el proceso de crear un alimento hasta el consumidor final.

Learned a lot from this book. Also very well written and formatted perfectly.

I found this to be fascinating and insightful and also an entirely entertaining read. I wanted to learn more about "big food" and this was far more enjoyable than trawling through the industry blogs and so on. Theres some real characters in this book, brought to life beautifully by the author. Everybody should read this.

This book begins with a short history of the development of the American supermarket and reveals some of the key 19th century innovations that sped the development along. Innovations include banal things like the cardboard box and carboard packaging for things like cereal and biscuits. The book then tells the story of Trader Joes and the innovations it brought to the supermarket. Whole Foods is also discussed extensively. In addition to discussing the supermarkets themselves, the author provides a discussion of the truck drivers who transport what ends up on the store shelves. It also talks about the abuse of workers in the Thai fishing industry. Particularly interesting was the story of how one woman worked to get a new food onto the shelves of supermarkets. The book is interesting but very selective in what it covers. It is also focused exclusively on the US market. It is, nevertheless, an eye-opener and will change how you view any supermarket you enter in the future.