Supermarkets: they are ubiquitous yet hard to define, lauded and vilified in roughly equal measures, and in many countries they have a huge influence on what we eat. Technological innovations, big social changes and new shopping habits have all shaped their development and today’s megastores are a far cry from their small-scale ancestors of the 1930s. And yet, some quirks of supermarket design remain constant: for instance, why are the eggs always so hard to locate in the stores?
Iszi Lawrence navigates supermarket aisles with the help of historian and economist Marc Levinson; Aarti Krishnan, Lecturer in Sustainability at Manchester University; Simona Botti, professor of marketing at London Business School and Forum listeners from around the world.
(Photo: A customer in a supermarket. Credit: Adene Sanchez/ Getty Images)
The history of opium
Albert Camus: Embracing life’s absurdity
Fernando Pessoa: The man who multiplied himself
Einstein: Revolution in time and space
Imhotep: The man behind The Mummy
Andy Warhol: The prince of Pop Art
Coco Chanel: French style icon
Nineteen Eighty-Four: Orwell's dystopian classic
The Spartans: Ancient Greece’s fighting machine
Leeuwenhoek: The fabric seller who discovered bacteria
Kafka's The Metamorphosis: A man turns into a monstrous bug
Hugh Masekela: The iconic South African musician
James Watt: The power of steam
The Bhagavad Gita: A guide to spiritual wisdom
Cnut: England's Viking king
How Afghanistan won its freedom from Britain
Rasputin: The Siberian mystic who charmed the Tsar
The Moon from Earth
Pearls: Treasures of the sea
Thoreau: the writer who went to the woods
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Global News Podcast
The Infinite Monkey Cage
Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4
You’re Dead to Me
Elis James and John Robins