How We Eat: The Brave New World of Food and Drink

by Paco Underhill, Karissa Vacker (Contribution by), Adam Barr (Read by), Aden Hakimi (Contribution by)

Overview

An entertaining and timely exploration of how our food—from where it’s grown to how we buy it—is in the midst of a transformation, showing how this is our chance to do better, for us, for our children, and for our planet, from a global expert on consumer behavior.

Our food system—how we produce, process, distribute, and consume food—is broken. But we have the opportunity to do better. Market researcher and bestselling author Paco Underhill sets out to solve these problems and show us where our eating and driving lives are headed in his newest book, How We Eat. Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “a Sherlock Holmes for retailers,” Underhill takes an upbeat, hopeful, and characteristically witty approach to how we can change the way we consume. How We Eat reveals the future of food in surprising ways, like how the city is getting country-fied with the rise of farmer’s markets and rooftop farms; how supermarkets are on their way out with their most valuable real estate, their parking lot, for growing their own food and hosting community events; and how marijuana farmers, who have been using artificial light to grow a crop for years, have developed a playbook so mainstream merchants and farmers across the world can grow food in an uncertain future.

Paco Underhill is the expert behind the most prominent brands, consumer habits, and market trends and the author of multiple highly acclaimed books, including Why We Buy. In How We Eat, he shows how food intersects with every major battle we face today, from political and environmental to economic and racial, and invites you to the market to discover more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781797142401
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Audio
Publication date:	01/04/2022
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 5.60(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Paco Underhill was the founder of Envirosell, Inc., a global research and consulting firm. His clients include more than a third of the Fortune 100 list, and he has worked on supermarkets, convenience store, food, beverage, and restaurant issues in fifty countries. He has written articles for or been profiled in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Smithsonian Magazine, and more. Paco divides his time between his homes in New York City and Madison, Connecticut.

Karissa Vacker is a multiple AudioFile Earphones Award–winning audiobook narrator and actress. After graduating with a BFA in acting from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, she performed in regional theaters across the country before moving to Los Angeles. She has guest starred in network television shows and films and continues to work on screen and stage. Her audiobook credits include romance, young adult fiction, and mystery thrillers.

Adam Barr, a recovering lawyer, former golf industry executive, former singing telegram messenger, and former print and television reporter, now bends the energy of all those "formers" toward his passion for acting and singing. He enjoys reading, rowing, baseball, music, cooking, wine, and cooking with wine while music is playing. He lives near New York City with his family.

Aden Hakimi is a voice-over actor based in Brooklyn. He studied theater performance at Northeastern University in Boston, with adjunct studies at Cambridge University in England and the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin. For over a decade, he has done voice work for audiobooks, commercials, animation, and corporate videos.

Editorial Reviews

10/25/2021

Environmental psychologist Underhill (Why We Buy) leans more Malcolm Gladwell than Alice Waters in this patchy survey of American eating habits. He presents factoids galore: Most common search term on Grubhub during the pandemic? Wine, followed by cake. The world's oldest bar? Luain's Inn in Ireland goes back around 1,100 years. Occasionally, though, the writing reads like an advertisement for Underhill's company, Envirosell; the market research firm consults for clients like Walmart, which, in addition to employing "stellar" executives, he writes, sells more than 1.5 billion pounds of bananas annually. Though Underhill interviews experts like nutrition guru Marion Nestle, he sometimes seems out of his depth: when talking to a pair of Instagram food influencers about "yolk porn," he admits he was "clueless" about Instagram stories before the interview. The most appealing passages are his personal anecdotes—such as the story of how he became the owner of a bar in New York City in his 20s, or the time when, as the eight-year-old son of a diplomat stationed behind the Iron Curtain ("the first sign I saw in western Germany: not 'Welcome to Freedom' but 'Drink Coca-Cola' "), he was plied with hamburgers and foosball by the Polish secret service. While pleasantly meandering, this fails to draw any meaningful conclusions about its subject. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"Paco Underhill has passion, perception, a hunger for understanding human behavior, and eyes in the back of his head. How We Eat is a delectable feast. Devour it!"
—Michael Gross, New York Times bestselling author of 740 Park, Model, and House of Outrageous Fortune

“Paco is a visionary and a great storyteller. He has the rare ability not only to dissect the present, but also to envision what the future must be for a business to be successful. He describes the dull, lifeless stores of today, where food and beverages are sold as commodities and then imagines a future where the stores themselves must become theater and vibrant centers of experience and excitement in order to flourish. Paco’s fascination with the way we shop is infectious. His passion jumps off every page. This is a must read book for anyone in any kind of retail business.”
—Sara Miss, vice chairman of The Estée Lauder companies; Mike Gould, former chairman and CEO of Bloomingdale’s

“For years Paco Underhill has helped the world's best companies see around corners and anticipate what's next. Now with How We Eat, he lets readers see what will soon be coming to their kitchen table. Bon Appetite!”
—Adam Adamson, co-founder of Metaforce

"As with Paco’s earlier works, How We Eat is a continuing education for ethnographic practitioners and users alike. While I’ve spent countless hours observing shoppers in supermarkets and liquor stores, I had never considered starting my observations in...the parking lot. Thus, this book adds to existing knowledge and offers totally new insights into consumers’ interactions with food—all presented in a light, entertaining style that is very easy to digest."
—Rich Boone, Retired Global Director of Consumer Insights, E & J Gallo Winery

"Tick Tock. Tick Tock. It's food o'clock! Wake up retailers, foodies and eaters of all persuasions. Time to vigilantly follow Paco Underhill's legendary recipes. Time to fire up a powerful ritual from the ashes of the boring habitual."
—Kate Newlin, Newlin Consulting

"Paco Underhill’s insights are like nouvelle cuisine at the finest restaurant: Paco sees the essence of what drives us to buy and eat, reframes the issues using his global experience, and combines them in a way that help us understand how to do it new and better."
—Matt Winn, Partner & Chief Development Officer, What If Syndicate/Former Global Retail COO at Cushman & Wakefield

"Be prepared to put on a pair of X-ray goggles and be taken on a journey of discovery that will change forever your understanding of how food is produced, consumed and enjoyed. From global supply chains to local micro-breweries, our awareness of this ecosystem has never been more important for our palate and for our planet."
—Andrea Dorigo, senior vice president & general manager at Estée Lauder

“As one who spent his youth working in a farmers market, his adult life writing about retail, and who occasionally breaks bread and bends the elbow with Paco Underhill, I (pardon the expression) devoured this book. Paco’s observations of How We Eat are always surprising, engaging and tasty.”
—Robert Spector, author of The Nordstrom Way and The Mom & Pop Store

“How We Eat is not a technical book about food. It is a masterful adventure through the coffee shop, around the grocery store, and across the road to the farmer’s market. Paco’s power of observation comes to life through humorous and engaging stories that open your eyes to the world of food retailing and all the things we take for granted in what and how we eat. On par with Kitchen Confidential, How We Eat lays open the underbelly of what goes in our bellies! A must read for anyone curious about the food we eat and why we buy what we buy. Destined to be another classic alongside Why We Buy."
—Andy Murray, Dean at the Walton School of Business at the University of Arkansas

"How We Eat is a fascinating journey down the rabbit hole of consumerism and how evolving cultural and societal shifts have had a myriad of impacts on our relationship with food and the business of selling it. Seen through Underhill’s unique lens of personal experiences and professional expertise as one of the world’s foremost shopping anthropologists, How We Eat raises questions—from the mundane to the profound, with equally important implications—that will make you rethink not just how we eat and shop, but how we interact, live and coexist."
—Jessie Dowd, Editorial Director of Path to Purchase Institute

“An eye-opening journey...Hopeful and enlightening commentary on the future of the food industry.”
—Kirkus Review

“An interesting behind-the-scenes look at the [food] industry that will surprise readers at what might be coming...Written in an informal, conversational style, this is an enlightening look at a central part of human life.”
—Library Journal

“Underhill turns a critical and scientific eye toward modern food distribution and marketing...Underhill’s marketing perspective ably supplements other critics’ reproaches of our contemporary food supply.”
—Booklist

From the Publisher

12/01/2021

Underhill, an expert in consumer behavior, writes about a central aspect of all humanity: food. He argues that the contemporary food system is broken and analyzes the current trends in all aspects of the industry and extrapolates them to see how humans might be eating in the future. He dedicates each chapter to a different aspect of food-production and seeks to highlight how future endeavors (e.g., the country-fication of cities; exciting changes at the supermarket) may help to create a better food system for everyone involved. Beyond the technological aspects of food-production, he also writes about psychological and sociological changes that are affecting the industry. The future of food might not turn out exactly as Underhill envisions it, but his book is an interesting behind-the-scenes look at the industry that will surprise readers at what might be coming. Underhill doesn't prescribe any concrete solutions, which may leave readers wanting more. Hand to fans of Michael Ruhlman's Grocery. VERDICT Written in an informal, conversational style, this is an enlightening look at a central part of human life.—Laura Hiatt, Fort Collins, CO

Library Journal

Adam Barr adeptly narrates most of this informed and informative audiobook, capturing its immediacy with his tone and cadence. Barr has a resonant voice and paces the many stories—personal and professional—that shape this engaging work. Narrators Aden Hakimi and Karissa Vacker do fine work, too. The conversational style draws the listener into this insider’s guide. Author Underhill, a food consultant, has decades of experience studying shoppers' buying and eating habits. He takes the listener through the business of selling food—from mega-stores to farmers markets. We are all buying more prepared meals, as the pandemic has accelerated home delivery from restaurants and supermarkets. He gazes into the future, predicting vertical farms in supermarket parking lots, where the consumer will buy fresh hydroponically grown veggies. A.D.M. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2022 - AudioFile

Adam Barr adeptly narrates most of this informed and informative audiobook, capturing its immediacy with his tone and cadence. Barr has a resonant voice and paces the many stories—personal and professional—that shape this engaging work. Narrators Aden Hakimi and Karissa Vacker do fine work, too. The conversational style draws the listener into this insider’s guide. Author Underhill, a food consultant, has decades of experience studying shoppers' buying and eating habits. He takes the listener through the business of selling food—from mega-stores to farmers markets. We are all buying more prepared meals, as the pandemic has accelerated home delivery from restaurants and supermarkets. He gazes into the future, predicting vertical farms in supermarket parking lots, where the consumer will buy fresh hydroponically grown veggies. A.D.M. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2022 - AudioFile

2021-10-20
An examination of the problems and future of America’s broken food system.

Through a series of essays, market researcher and author Underhill, the author of Why We Buyand Call of the Mall, takes us on an eye-opening journey. According to the author, the system is broken, and technology is largely responsible. Today, technology has “turned the things we eat and drink into commercial products to be engineered, manufactured, and marketed like tires or toothpaste….Once, it was the scarcity of food that threatened our lives; today, it’s the abundance.” As the author notes, younger Americans may never realize that fruits and vegetables have specific growing seasons, as they are now available for purchase nearly anywhere and year-round. In the past few years, Americans’ shopping habits have changed significantly. Intensified by the Covid-19 pandemic, shoppers have increasingly turned to online outlets for their groceries and other needs. Due to issues related to trust and transparency in the production of food, as well as environmental and ethical concerns, other consumers have turned increasingly to local producers. With a witty, conversational tone, Underhill leads readers on a trip through various aspects of the food industry to demonstrate the ways in which changes in consumer behavior, as well as production concerns, are being addressed. He explores the layout of a typical supermarket and chronicles his tour of a farmers market in New York City as well the headquarters of a popular supercenter. Underhill is not all doom-and-gloom regarding technology’s impact. He points out certain developments, such as innovations in cannabis growing, that are being used to address climate change and the nation’s growing population. The author also recounts his interviews with farmers, members of the media, and industry experts, all of whom provide specific insights about the topic.

Hopeful and enlightening commentary on the future of the food industry.

Kirkus Reviews