We had Russian SALT inspectors come by to inspect our Minuteman sites for treaty compliance in the mid 1970s. They kept asking us if our local K Mart and grocery stores were for real or just for show, for them.
When I was a kid we had an exchange student from East Germany (Through the Methodist (commie) church).
He nearly panicked the first time we took him to a grocery store. He could not comprehend how a building is so huge with so much food can even exist.