Backer, Kellen (Author)
Schatzberg, Eric M.
University of Wisconsin at Madison
Johnson, Susan L.
Edition Details: Advisors: Schatzberg, Eric; Susan L. Johnson
Physical Details: 269 pp.
Language: English
This dissertation examines how food systems in the United States changed because of World War II. It tracks the production, consumption, and regulation of food from the 1930s to the 1950s, showing how wartime changes strengthened industrialized food systems that remained in place long after the war ended. Over the course of World War II, an industry dedicated to producing processed foods developed alongside cultural discourses lauding processed foods. To supply soldiers and sailors stationed around the world required a food system that could distribute foods globally. To help build this system, new and existing regulatory bodies reshaped food production to solve particular wartime problems. Food consumption also changed, because the war disrupted daily life and people had limited options of what to eat. Many of the changes to the production and consumption of food did not end with the war; thus, World War II marks a watershed in U.S. food history. The decisions made during the war accelerated the development of a highly industrialized food system that would define American food for the second half of the twentieth century. Multiple actors, including regulators, businesses, and consumers, helped to create the food system that developed during the war. By viewing the roles of many different actors in food production, this dissertation highlights the mutually constitutive relationship between production and consumption. Examining these interchanges also shows how linking political, business, and economic histories to social and cultural histories can lead to richer historical narratives.
...MoreDescription “Examines how food systems in the United States changed because of World War II.” Cited in ProQuest Diss. & Thes. (2012). ProQuest Doc. ID 1025743697.
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