Supermarket USA: Food and Power in the Cold War Farms Race

I read about some heavy topics, and thought this might be a pleasant and nostalgic journey through the supermarkets of my baby boomer youth. I recall fondly the electric horses and cars at the groceries that enticed moms to shop with their kids. I remember “theaters” where kids could watch cartoons, and Little Rascals while their moms shopped. Supermarket USA is so much more than nostalgia. It outlines the construction of today’s global food chain that gives (some) consumers cheap food while essentially displacing family farmers and creating new fickle plantations that employ low wage workers. Like a sausage, most people prefer to eat it, rather than see how it was made. This is an excellent and balanced book.

Starting with an overview of the supermarket in the American context, this book shows how the supermarket is more than a retail format: it is a system that requires industrialized agriculture. Sold to the world as the pinnacle of US-style capitalism, the supermarket was reliant on government funded initiatives augmenting agricultural output. This book is an eye-opening and compelling read of how the supermarket was mobilized to convince the world of US superiority during the cold war. I highly recommend!