GROCERY The Buying and Selling of Food in America

Why We Love It: For nearly everyone who grew up in the United States, visiting the neighborhood grocery store – Publix or Winn-Dixie in Florida, Jewel in Chicago, Safeway in the west – is a shared experience that many take for granted. For author Michael Ruhlman, he examines the American grocery store through the lens of the family-run Midwestern chain Heinen's in his hometown of Cleveland. GROCERY does more than share information about what makes these businesses tick – their slim margins, the thousands and thousands of products – he also looks at how food manufacturers have shaped our eating habits and our health, and goes on some well-argued rants on fat-free half-and-half and how so many don't know how to cook. But even in the face of Instacart and online shopping, Ruhlman remains optimistic about the future of the grocery store.