Service with a smile. "you can trust your car to the man who wears the star" was an ever present jingle for Texico, throughout evening television. A service uniform, with an embroidered star, an IBM pressure pen in the pocket, and they washed every window, checked tire pressure, oil levels optional, and that is why during the fifties and early 60's, gas station's were called service station's. With the promise of reduced gas prices with reduced labor cost's, service station's have become pump houses with convenience store's inside.
There was an almost animated quality of post war America. The uniforms of the military were replaced with occupational uniform's, and sort of a; because you have a uniform, you are superior attitude. Attitude rhymes with gratitude, but not with superiority. The status of being an "assistant" manager, with your name on the lapel, and a company shirt, was considered an American value, and business enticement for working for less.
In the economy that followed WWII, gas was around 25 cent's a gallon, but 25 cents bought more than $5.00 does today. Our food supply was regional and seasonal, with almost all foods being marketed in their "whole" state. Synthetic fertilizer's and chemical's began in the US and Europe around 1900, with chemical agriculture dominating America post war. Corporate farming was one of the results of the great depression, and factory farming began to dominate the meat, poultry and dairy industries. Corn and Safflower oils were offered as superior oils, in spite of their conversion to trans fat's at the temperatures said to be safe. Incidence of heart disease, diabetes and cancer reached historic levels and have grown ever since.
People can live a life -ime in stupidity and being stupid, but society eventually gets wise and wakes up. Post war saw a congress that both went after profiteering and abuse in the military industrial complex, and investigated our food supply and agricultural model. The finding's were alarming regarding the nutrient loss in soils, but this was soon forgotten and chemical fertilizer's ruled as they do today.
The natural and herbal slice of our society was in decline, but a few book's, especially Silent Spring, awakened the masses. DDT was banned, when revealed that it killed pollinator's and insect eating birds, not that it killed people and most forms of organic life, still denied today as with round up. The concept of "organic" in reference to food and agriculture became a small part of the public awareness in the mid 60's, with the leading proponent's recognizing the useless and enabling role that the FDA and USDA played in these consideration's, the California standard of organic certification became the gold standard.
The California standard is still the American Gold standard, though more like 14 carrot than 24 carrot. The standard requires that land be in transition for 7 year's before a food grown on that land can be called organic. During the Trump and Covid year's this was dropped, and the vast volume's of new organic foods are fraud's, and simply the enabling oversight of agencies that had their way's but also were defunded and redirected during these years.
If you want to eat organic, know the source, or be the source. Seek out your farmer's market, and get to know the grower's, and get to feel the vitality of their produce when converted to your own meals. Shop at, or join a coop, Finally, keep your eyes open for wolves in sheep's clothing.
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