Article ID: CBB087656921

From Bread to Cake: A Global History of Pacific Northwest Wheat during the Cold War (2022)

unapi

This article deepens our understanding of Cold War–era agricultural history by examining the relationship between Pacific Northwest soft white wheat and Japanese importers and consumers. Recent historiography of wheat during the Cold War has focused on telling how the United States turned to wheat exports in the “developing world” as a tool and weapon to achieve US hegemony and negate the influence of the Soviet Union. This article argues that the Pacific Northwest wheat industry's relationship with wheat consumers and importers in Japan shifts the Cold War wheat narrative away from staples like bread to confectionary products made with soft white flour. Japanese buyers and consumers purchased soft white wheat not to feed the hungry but instead to serve a growing market for cakes and other confectionary products. This relationship helps understand the current wheat market in the Pacific Northwest, where soft white wheat exports dominate.

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https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB087656921/

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Authors & Contributors
Blackmar, Elizabeth
Cullather, Nick B.
Fumian, Carlo
Gaspa, Salvatore
Lopes, Teresa da Silva
Sharpless, Rebecca
Journals
Agricultural History
Ambix: Journal of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry
Annals of Science: The History of Science and Technology
Business History Review
Food and History
Journal of Global History
Publishers
Columbia University
Donzelli
Duke University Press
Harvard University Press
Lexington Books
Oxford University Press
Concepts
Agriculture
Food and foods
Wheat
Baking
Cold War
Chemistry
People
Borlaug, Norman Ernest
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
20th century, early
20th century, late
17th century
18th century
Places
United States
Japan
Great Britain
Chile
Mexico
Great Plains (North America)
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