The Dark Miracle of the Supermarket with Benjamin Lorr
About this episode
Benjamin Lorr discusses the hidden complexities and ethical implications of modern supermarkets.
We walk into our local grocery store and most likely barely consider what's on display in front of us. Forty thousand items. Stacked, uniform, produce. Cuisine from around the globe. Open often 24 hours. As author Benjamin Lorr points out, that can be considered a miracle. In The Secret Life of Groceries [https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-secret-life-of-groceries-the-dark-miracle-of-the-american-supermarket-benjamin-lorr/b63ced1eddaac64f], Ben dives deep into the hidden machinery behind that miracle. He spent years inside the system, working behind a Whole Foods fish counter, riding cross-country with long-haul truckers, and tracing supply chains all the way to shrimp boats in Thailand. What he found is a system that delivers abundance, convenience, and quality at historically unprecedented levels. But it does so by squeezing every inefficiency out of the chain, and often squeezing workers and ecosystems along with it. In this episode, we dive into: • Why the modern supermarket truly is miraculous • How deregulation reshaped trucking and the invisible logistics backbone of food • What "just-in-time" efficiency means for grocery workers • The hidden labor dynamics behind…
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