This rings more true for me. Food simply used to be a lot more expensive.

"Between 1960 and 2000, the average share of Americans’ disposable personal income (DPI) spent on food fell from 17.0 percent to 9.9 percent." [1]

I am not going to look for a source right now but I would venture that since the 1960's were part of the industrial era that food was even more expensive before the creation of the Haber process and gas powered farm tools.

[1] https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2020/november/average-s...