Key Takeaways:

• Traces the evolution of the American food industry from small local producers and corner grocers to national brands, chain supermarkets, and industrial processing plants.
• Highlights how advances in transportation, refrigeration, packaging, and advertising reshaped not only what Americans eat but how they shop, cook, and think about convenience.
• Provides crucial historical context for understanding both the benefits and hidden costs—nutritional, environmental, and social—of a centralized, highly processed food system.