But judging from the trends in the American food industry, Papa Bear was wrong. Food today is not just food; it is entertainment and big entertainment at that. Billions of dollars are being spent by a variety of companies to present, what one executive called, “food as theatre.”

Why this is happening is not hard to see. Wal-Mart and Costco and other discount retailers have cornered the market on price. On average, these stores can sell food 20 percent cheaper than traditional grocery stores like Kroger. As a result, the 56,000 supermarkets in the U.S. are losing market share. So to attract customers away from the low price siren, stores are turning to entertainment.

Leading the parade is the Whole Foods chain. Whole Foods was started by John Mackey in 1978 with one store and has grown to a $4 billion dollar public corporation. Shopping at Whole Foods is a unique experience. Forbes magazine described it as a “bountiful temple of wholesome eco-righteousness.” While Whole Foods makes much of their large fresh and organic sections, they actually sell just as much traditional and gourmet food. What Whole Foods is really selling is entertainment.

Their 66,000 square foot store in New York’s East Village is replete with a day spa, a bookstore, and a cooking school. The Time Warner Center store has a complete sushi bar, and a brick oven that sells made to order pizza, a “comfort food station” that serves tuna noodle casserole and beef stew, and a pasta bar. Too busy to cook? They have gourmet chefs standing ready to cook anything you want on the spot for convenient, if expensive, take home. Now that’s what I call a general store.

If Whole Foods is great theatre, it is also expensive theatre. Average prices are significantly higher than average retail and prices of prepared food items are enough to make you lose your appetite.

Chicken that sells for $3 in the meat case jumps to $10 when grilled with rosemary by the gourmet chef. Yet, their success is undeniable; they are the fourth most profitable public held grocery chain. They are experiencing triple digit annual growth averaging $800 per square foot of store space, double the national average.

Whole Foods is not alone in cashing in on food as entertainment; take Jungle Jims International market just north of Cincinnati. This funhouse maze of food from 756 different countries draws 50,000 shoppers a week from across the Midwest. You never know what to expect at the Jungle. Owner James Bonaminio has been known to dress in a wizard costume and roller skate down the aisles performing “price magic” on products. Business Week online called it America’s wackiest store. Beginning in 2006, you will be able to take a monorail from the parking lot to the store. Now is that a food store or an amusement venue?

This food as entertainment trend is not limited to the retail sector. Hershey’s, no longer content to sell overpriced candy bars in vending machines, has opened chocolate stores in New York and Chicago.

“The stores are about making an emotional connection with the customer more than selling candy,” said Thomas Hernquist, chief marketing officer with Hershey.

Imagine that, a retail store more interested in entertainment than in selling the product.

This drive for entertainment has even penetrated the school cafeteria. Once the home of industrial green walls and stainless steel steam tables, today many schools are opting for the fast food look with booths, jukeboxes, and a menu of food choices. One Georgia school system redecorated their lunchroom to look like a Hard Rock Café. No more mystery meat; today’s students can choose from a wide variety of ethnic foods and fresh fruit.

So what can we learn from all this? We may be seeing the beginnings of the next agricultural revolution. If in an age of 500 channel home satellite receivers, video on cell phones, ipods the size of credit cards that hold thousands of songs, and wireless Internet everywhere, food can be a vital entertainment option. Then our farms may be the next Disney World.

Whole Foods and Hershey’s have shown us people love to be romanced and indulged by food and that they are willing to pay big bucks for it. This will redefine the term value-added. Never mind telling how their food is really produced or what a good value it is, just tell them a story. Enchant them, reassure them, make them feel emotionally connected to the land. Then, charge them 10 bucks a head.

Think I am nuts? This past summer, movie theater ticket sales were the lowest since 1997. So what did all these people who didn’t go to the movies do this summer? I’ll bet a lot of them hung out at Whole Foods watching the fair trade coffee get roasted in their open-air roaster, or perhaps they went to the Hershey’s store where they could make their own personalized Hershey’s kiss, or maybe they just stayed home and watched the food channel. Whatever they did, the chances are it involved the new darling of the entertainment industry, food.