John Seabrook on the Destructive Family Battles of “The Spinach King”
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This is the New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker. This is the New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick. New Yorker staff writer John Seabrook's new book is about a family business. Not a mom and pop store, but a huge operation run by a ruthless patriarch.
The patriarch is getting older, he's beginning to fail. but he can't stand the idea of losing his hold on power, especially to the children who stand to take control and inherit the business. This might put you in mind of Succession, HBO's drama, that some critics have called one of the best TV programs of all time. It's even drawn comparisons to King Lear. But the story that John Seabrook tells is about another family, a real one, the Seabrooks of Seabrook, New Jersey.
Their frozen food empire was a huge presence in the flat, fertile farmland of South Jersey. Well, at Seabrook Farms we too grow vegetables right outside the door, cook and freeze them on the spot. You just boil them bag and all and enjoy that homegrown taste again. And John has written about The Seabrook business, his family, and its intersection with American history in his terrific new book, The Spinach King.
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