Not only was much of the food people ate highly processed, but
they also began to eat more. For maybe the fi rst time in human
history, a population on the whole, rather than just a few elites,
was either very well fed or actually overfed. Food was cheap, and a
stout body meant affl uence. Newly arrived immigrants could afford more food than was ever
possible back in their homeland. After 1924, when the big infl ux
of immigrants stopped, and more children were born in the United
States rather than abroad, slowly these populations began to become
assimilated. They began to eat things like American breakfast
cereals and processed and canned foods because these were cheap
and marketed to them. Retailing also changed in this period. Before this time, most food
was sold in small, privately owned shops. All that began to change
as supermarkets bought out small operations. Supermarkets can buy
produce and meat at much lower prices because they buy in huge
quantities, and because they have their own distribution systems,
they can buy food from much further afi eld and can consistently
sell food at cheaper prices than small grocers.Developments Surrounding World War I
In 1912, the Great Atlantic & Pacifi c Tea Company (A&P) opened
its fi rst all-purpose grocery, as opposed to the teashops it had
operated for half of a century. In 1916, Piggly Wiggly opened the
fi rst modern grocery store. It had aisles and shelves lined with
prepackaged and prepriced items. Speed, effi ciency, and low prices
meant that big grocery chains pushed out the mom-and-pop stores.
In 1931, refrigerators also fi nally became practical devices once
their huge compressors that contained ammonia or sulfur dioxide,
which sometimes explodes, were replaced with a chlorinated
fl uorocarbon (CFC) compound called Freon 12. As a result of
refrigeration, fresh fruit, vegetables, and dairy products also became
staples in ordinary households.