The posters were ubiquitous, tacked up in break rooms and taped behind windows, printed in magazines, and painted on the sides of buildings. “Food Will Win the War!” and “Food is Ammunition!” they declared. “Save wheat, meat, fats, and sugars—and serve the cause of freedom!” During World War I, the United States Food Administration used these provocative slogans to convince Americans to conserve food for soldiers fighting on the front lines. And while the agency itself was abolished after the war, many of its inventions are familiar to us today,…
