Grocery Story: The Promise of Food Co-Ops in the Age of Grocery Giants

Regular price $ 24.99

by Jon Steinman

New Society Publishers

5/7/2019, paperback

SKU:  9780865719071

 

Hungry for change? Put the power of food co-ops on your plate and grow your local food economy.

Food has become ground-zero in our efforts to increase awareness of how our choices impact the world. Yet while we have begun to transform our communities and dinner plates, the most authoritative strand of the food web has received surprisingly little attention: the grocery store--the epicenter of our food-gathering ritual.

Through penetrating analysis and inspiring stories and examples of American and Canadian food co-ops, Grocery Story makes a compelling case for the transformation of the grocery store aisles as the emerging frontier in the local and good food movements. Author Jon Steinman:

  • Deconstructs the food retail sector and the shadows cast by corporate giants
  • Makes the case for food co-ops as an alternative
  • Shows how co-ops spur the creation of local food-based economies and enhance low-income food access.

Grocery Story is for everyone who eats. Whether you strive to eat more local and sustainable food, or are in support of community economic development, Grocery Story will leave you hungry to join the food co-op movement in your own community.

Reviews:

An important consideration of the impact that can happen when going to the grocery store becomes an activity and not a chore, an when a grocery cart can ultimately become a vehicle for social change.-- Melissa Cohen, General Manager, Isla Vista Food Co-op

It's worth studying the history of how and why food co-ops formed as a model to ensure continuing access and authenticity in an alternative local and organic food supply.-- Mark Kastel, Cornucopia Institute

About the Author:

Jon Steinman has studied and worked with all things food for over two decades. He was the producer and host of the internationally syndicated radio show and podcast Deconstructing Dinner, once ranked as the most-listened-to food podcast in Canada. Jon was the writer and host of Deconstructing Dinner: Reconstructing our Food System - a television and web series currently streaming online. Jon coordinates and curates the annual Deconstructing Dinner Film Festival of compelling food documentaries and was an elected director from 2006-2016 of the Kootenay Co-op - Canada's largest independent retail consumer food co-op, serving as Board President from 2014-2016. He lives in Nelson, BC.