Grocery Story by Jon Steinman

I give this book 10 out of 10 acorns!

Grocery Story by Jon Steinman does a superb job of "deconstructing' big food and the grocery giants" and demonstrating that "the most solid security to be found in the future of our grocery stores is entirely in our hands."

As with most good books, Grocery Story is well-organized. It starts with an overview of how grocery stores came into existence, how they evolved over time, and where they are now. I appreciate teh in-depth discussion of the history and development of grocery stores, because it enlightens me as to why the current system works the way that it does. Then. the book details what a food cooperative is, the history behind food cooperatives, and what food cooperatives are doing now. The discussions on food cooperatives utilize a few cooperatives are primary examples of different properties or aspects of food co-ops. The focus on sharing a few stories as examples helps to keep things organized, so that I have a better idea of what the difference between these co-ops are. In particular, I liked the sections about how co-ops fight to stay relevant and maintain their space in a local community. I also loved the ending of the book, too!

"Much of what this book boils down to is trust in the marketplace, trust in our communities — being able to enter into our grocery stores without feeling that we’re somehow entering into battle. It shouldn’t be all that much to ask for — trusting that the people providing our families with food have our highest interests and values at heart. With the option of consumer-owned grocery stores, each of us has a wonderful opportunity to abandon the need to “demand” and “fight” for what we want, and to instead create a space that feels genuine, honest, and right."

That kind of ending really gets me! I find that inspiring and empowering!

Also, with regards to organization of the book. I like how each chapter starts off with picture of a grocery basket and a quote. The visual formatting of the book is quite nice. It has paper boxes to denote certain stories or notes, and it offsets the charts and diagrams in an aesthetically pleasing manner. I find visually appealing formatting to make books much easier to read and enjoy.

Grocery Story is well-researched, with plenty of citations, which help to show how much research Jon Steinman has done on this book. The way he presents information in the book is clean and well-done, because instead of sounding like a listing off of facts, the research is neatly woven into the bigger picture that Jon is painting for the reader.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Grocery Story, because it was an eye-opening and empowering book to read!