Growing up in America (way back when) I used to see that my grandparents' generation often had their kitchen cabinets filled with canned goods. Lots and lots of canned goods. I could not understand why they would do this. One day I asked my grandparents why they stocked their kitchen shelves with so many canned goods. My grandfather replied, " Because of the Great Depression of 1929. It lasted for years and there was a shortage of food. A big shortage. Since then we take no chances." As a child I could not comprehend what he said. A shortage of food? What was that? We always had plenty of food. This was America, the Land of Plenty. A shortage? Of food? It was an incomprehensible concept.
Later, as an adult I lived through the Covid pandemic of 2019-2021, i.e. the Plague, and the horrific supply chain shortages.
Now I know. I understood. This was America, how could there be a shortage of canned vegetables? Of toilet paper? Bottled water? But there was. It was a fundamental fear. The fear that the Land of Plenty did not have available the basic necessities of life. The same fear that people felt in the 1930's.
