Instead, he became a food trade journalist. Since 1979, he has been applying philosophical thinking to the mundane chore of buying groceries. Now vice president and editor in chief of the industry bible, Progressive Grocer, Mathews sees food as central to all cultures and is dismayed by the prevalence of sterile megasupermarkets that offer overabundance but suck the life out of the shopping experience. He believes technology is reversing that course and that within 10 to 15 years most of us will be ordering groceries online.
People think of shopping for groceries as slightly more pleasant than a root canal.
It's always at the bottom of the list of people's everyday activities. In parts of the world, even in parts of America, it still is a very tribal thing. 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.