Chapter 14 explores Ilf and Petrov’s complicated relationship with American food. By 1935, Soviet promises of plenty were everywhere, but even staple goods remained in short supply. In the United States, the authors found that food was plentiful, efficiently produced and distributed, often attractive to the eye. But they did not rave about American food as they did about American highways, claiming (not always convincingly) that it was tasteless and monotonous. The writers explained this situation as a product not only of capitalism, which put profits ahead of flavor or variety, but of (white) Americans’ inability to appreciate good food.