ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE
Great Plains
DAVID J. WISHART, EDITOR
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BREADBASKET OF NORTH AMERICA
For most of its history, the word "breadbasket" was tied to the consumption of food, referring since the early 1700s to one's stomach or belly. Not until after World War II did the word's slang usage switch to the production side of the food story. Nonetheless, by the end of the twentieth century "breadbasket" was widely used to describe a significant grain-growing region, with the Great Plains offering the prototype example for North America and indeed the world. The Great Plains "Breadbasket" was one of journalist Joel Garreau's Nine Nations of North America; travel books covering the Great Plains states commonly tout the unexpected beauty and excitement awaiting the tourist in "America's breadbasket"; and even a fantasy board game called Arduin includes a fictional region called the "Great Grass Plains," which is described as "truly the breadbasket of the country.