The Third Relationship 9refrigerated railcars. As prosperity climbed, the portion of household
income that consumers spent on food fell.
America’s plenty did not go unnoticed in other parts of the world.
German imperialists watched in dismay when the United States
increased wheat acreage by more than 0 percent in five years to meet
Europe’s wartime demand. Less than a decade after Germany’s de-
feat in World War I, Adolf Hitler wrote that “Europeans—often
without realizing it— take the circumstances of American life as the
benchmark for their own lives.” Hitler was envious of America’s land
empire and its food system. Plotting Germany’s return to power, he
wrote that “to lead a life comparable to that of the American people”^
required taking the fertile lands of neighboring countries so more
food could be produced without disrupting German manufacturing
industries.
In fact, World War II marked the only time when food in America
had to be rationed. To feed the armed forces, more processed and
canned foods were produced and shipped overseas. Fresh fruits and
vegetables were still grown domestically, but they were harder to come
by in cities as transport vehicles, tires, and gasoline were diverted to
support the war effort.
When the war ended, so too did rationing. New policies and
programs underwrote loans, funded research, created new markets,
and provided insurance that together incentivized greater production.
The technology that had been used to build bombs and chemicals was
channeled into producing food. Synthetic fertilizers and pesticides,
more-powerful farm equipment, animals packed together (some on
top of each other) and raised with antibiotics—all contributed to the
modern industrialized food system.
For the most part, consumers were content with their grand food
bargain. Technology like flash freezing and preservatives helped fill
cupboards and refrigerators with food. “TV dinners” and other prepared
meals meant less time in the kitchen. The microwave oven, the upshot
of an engineer conducting research on radar and discovering that the
candy bar in his pocket had melted, allowed meals to cook in record
time.
A generation after the war, food rationing had been banished to
footnotes in history books. Being surrounded by food was the new