How the Supermarket Helped America Win the Cold War (Update)

Last week, we heard a former U.S. ambassador describe Russia’s escalating conflict with the U.S. Today, we revisit a 2019 episode about an overlooked front in the Cold War — a “farms race” that, decades later, still influences what Americans eat.

SOURCES:Anne Effland • , former Senior Economist for the Office of Chief Economist in the U.S.D.A. Shane Hamilton • , historian at the University of York. Peter Timmer • , economist and former professor at Harvard University. Audra Wolfe • , writer, editor, and historian.

RESOURCES:Freedom’s Laboratory: The Cold War Struggle for the Soul of Science • , by Audra Wolfe (2018). Supermarket USA: Food and Power in The Cold War Farms Race • , by Shane Hamilton (2018). • “ Association of Higher Consumption of Foods Derived From Subsidized Commodities With Adverse Cardiometabolic Risk Among US Adults • ,” by Karen R. Siegel, Kai McKeever Bullard, K. M. Narayan, et al. ( JAMA Internal Medicine • , 2016). The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living Since the Civil War • , by Robert J. Gordon (2016). • “ How the Mechanical Tomato Harvester Prompted the Food Movement • ,” by Ildi Carlisle-Cummins ( UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences Newsletter • , 2015).

EXTRAS: • " Is the U.S. Sleeping on Threats from Russia and China? • " by Freakonomics Radio • (2024).