In New Orleans, it's a tradition for African-American women to get all dressed up on Saturday and take cabs to meet each other socially in the produce department. In more traditional cultures, food is an expression of personal and communal values. In mainstream Anglo culture, we chase calories of convenience. As modern, suburban America evolved, food became much more functional. And the more functional it became, the less of a place it had in people's lives.
People quit eating together.
As the pace of life accelerated, everyone went off in all kinds of directions. Food has become a casualty of 20th-century complexity. In a way, yes, because shopping can become interactive again. From an anthropological model, shopping in the physical world is a passive experience. The grocer puts the product on the shelf.