Giving Compass' Take:

• Alana Semuels at The Atlantic talks about why people are still hesitant about online grocery shopping despite purchasing many other items online.

• Can we use online grocery shopping as a way to address food deserts?

• Here's a deeper dive into the American grocery store and food system. 

Nearly 30 years ago, when just 15 percent of Americans had a computer, and even fewer had internet access,  Thomas Parkinson set up a rack of modems on a Crate and Barrel wine rack and started accepting orders for the internet’s first grocery delivery company, Peapod, which he founded with his brother Andrew.

Back then, ordering groceries online was complicated—most customers had dial-up, and Peapod’s web graphics were so rudimentary customers couldn’t see images of what they were buying. Delivery was complicated, too: The Parkinsons drove to grocery stores in the Chicago area, bought what customers had ordered, and then delivered the goods from the backseat of their beat-up Honda Civic. When people wanted to stock up on certain goods—strawberry yogurt or bottles of Diet Coke—the Parkinsons would deplete whole sections of local grocery stores.

Read the full article on online grocery shopping by Alana Semuels at The Atlantic