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Supermarket USA: Food and Power in the Cold War Farms Race
America fought the Cold War in part through supermarkets—and the food economy pioneered then has helped shape the way we eat today
Supermarkets were invented in the United States, and from the 1940s on they made their way around the world, often explicitly to carry American‑style economic culture with them. This innovative history tells us how supermarkets were used as anticommunist weapons during the Cold War, and how that has shaped our current food system.
The widespread appeal of supermarkets as weapons of free enterprise contributed to a “farms race” between the United States and the Soviet Union, as the superpowers vied to show that their contrasting approaches to food production and distribution were best suited to an abundant future. In the aftermath of the Cold War, U.S. food power was transformed into a global system of market power, laying the groundwork for the emergence of our contemporary world, in which transnational supermarkets operate as powerful institutions in a global food economy.
Supermarkets were invented in the United States, and from the 1940s on they made their way around the world, often explicitly to carry American‑style economic culture with them. This innovative history tells us how supermarkets were used as anticommunist weapons during the Cold War, and how that has shaped our current food system.
The widespread appeal of supermarkets as weapons of free enterprise contributed to a “farms race” between the United States and the Soviet Union, as the superpowers vied to show that their contrasting approaches to food production and distribution were best suited to an abundant future. In the aftermath of the Cold War, U.S. food power was transformed into a global system of market power, laying the groundwork for the emergence of our contemporary world, in which transnational supermarkets operate as powerful institutions in a global food economy.
288 pages, Hardcover
Published September 18, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 4, 2022
To me, it appeared that the author came up with the saying "Cold War Farms Race", then tried to write a book around it.
August 12, 2020
Depth and breadth of research evident, presented wide ranging, interesting, little known facts. Very interesting and enjoyable read. Wished there were more discussion of (1) less common assumptions/premises which were repeatedly brought up and seemed important but never explained (2) 21st century going forward, how the companies are pulling back in spite of the transnational MNC economic power displacing state power, though I understand this was not the intent of the book.
November 4, 2019
At no time did the government develop crops, equipment, freeze drying, food processing, food delivery or anything else. Private industry and a capitalist free market created it all with the government lagging and retarding the industry. This book couldn't be further from the truth.
September 7, 2020
This book was an interesting perspective on the role of agriculture in the Cold War and the development of the supermarket to what it is today. I’ve read quite a bit on the topics of agriculture, Russian history and food systems but I had no idea of many parts of this history. Although the US government undoubtably provided the funding for the agricultural research and developments in crop science, I’d be curious to find out more about how much of that research that led to crop yield improvements were actually done by government agencies as opposed to government funding of private industry. One of the major points brought up in the book is how the free market didn’t develop the abundance of food and supermarket on its own, as was presented to the world in an effort to thwart communism, but government programs allowed for this innovation. Clearly the USSR wasn’t capable of progressing their agricultural system to the degree that was done by the USA, yet the US government funded the free market to come up with these advancements. It was also interesting on how some of these advancements came back to bite us. The book is well researched, albeit a bit dry at times but presents some interesting perspectives on how and why the current agricultural and supermarket system developed.
June 17, 2025
I think Fresno Bob’s review is basically right: the author seems to have come up with “farms race” as an analogue to “arms race” and been so struck by it that they took a notion to write a book. They use the phrase 76 times, by my count. It got a bit tiresome.
The book does have some interesting anecdotes but I didn’t feel like they cohered well enough to support any of the author’s original claims (some claims, like that U.S. agriculture productivity was not a product of unfettered free markets, are true enough, but not original). I would say that the case studies in the book were cherry picked to support the authors claims, but I’m not really sure how well they do that.
The book does have some interesting anecdotes but I didn’t feel like they cohered well enough to support any of the author’s original claims (some claims, like that U.S. agriculture productivity was not a product of unfettered free markets, are true enough, but not original). I would say that the case studies in the book were cherry picked to support the authors claims, but I’m not really sure how well they do that.
August 13, 2021
An interesting approach to Cold War and food history. Some sections I skimmed as they were a little dry, but there were some interesting anecdotes on the development of supermarkets in Latin America, as well as the Supermarket USA exhibit in Yugoslavia.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews