Includes bibliographical references (pages 295-297) and index.

Introduction: The invisible behemoth on Main Street -- Part I: How we got here -- My father's grocery store Jones -- How the A&P changed the Western world -- Growing up -- The visionary Cleveland grocer and the one-stop shop -- "Nea, I think I want to move to Cleveland-- I think I want to work for these grocers" -- How to save a locomotive that has jumped the rails -- Part II: How to think about food -- She bought the fat-free half-and-half -- Breakfast: the most dangerous meal of the day -- No food is healthy -- Shopping with my doctor -- The nefarious practices of the modern-day grocer -- Interlude: Checkout -- Part III: The center aisles -- A few of the twenty thousand new products for your consideration -- Better living through organic turmeric, ashwagandha extract, and hemp seed milk -- A walk in the medicine cabinet -- Part IV: The perimeter -- The farmer who can't find his animals -- Thirty-two thousand pounds of carrots, every week -- "Nobody knows how to cook-- it's mind-boggling" -- The cooking animal -- Frozen -- Part V: Where we are headed -- America's culinary heritage -- The Cleveland Trust -- Cathedral.