DISPATCHES: THE TRUTH ABOUT CHEEZ-WHIZ

"LADIES! LADIES! YOU GOTTA BUY THIS. THIS IS THE GREATEST INVENTION," Mariann Raftery says loudly, waving a plastic bag of prepared salad greens in the middle of the local A&P; in Scarsdale, an affluent suburb just 15 miles north of New York City. Seven well-dressed Japanese women, pens poised over notebooks, nod politely, not entirely sure what to make of this latest piece of American ingenuity. "It's so convenient," Raftery explains. "And now they have cole slaw too." But there are so many more mysteries to ponder at the A&P.; Michiko Takai wants to know: "Which are most popular for children-alfalfa...

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