In short, a 'food baron' is someone who's benefitted from deregulation of the American food industry, a phenomenon that has consolidated wealth in the hands of select tycoons, and along the way, hollowed out the nation's rural towns and local businesses. Here, Charlie Hope D’Anieri interviews Austin Frerick on his new book, Barons, which provides a portrait of our food system through stories of its oligarchs.| The Bittman Project