Canned: The Rise and Fall of Consumer Confidence in the American Food Industry

by Anna Zeide

Overview

History | Food Studies

A century and a half ago, when the food industry was first taking root, few consumers trusted packaged foods. Americans had just begun to shift away from eating foods that they grew themselves or purchased from neighbors. With the advent of canning, consumers were introduced to foods produced by unknown hands and packed in corrodible metal that seemed to defy the laws of nature by resisting decay.
 
Since that unpromising beginning, the American food supply has undergone a revolution, moving away from a system based on fresh, locally grown goods to one dominated by packaged foods. How did this come to be? How did we learn to trust that food preserved within an opaque can was safe and desirable to eat? Anna Zeide reveals the answers through the story of the canning industry, taking us on a journey to understand how food industry leaders leveraged the powers of science, marketing, and politics to win over a reluctant public, even as consumers resisted at every turn.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520322769
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	10/18/2019
Series:	California Studies in Food and Culture , #68
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	280
Sales rank:	1,009,818
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Anna Zeide is Assistant Professor of History at Oklahoma State University, where her research, teaching, and community activism focus on food and food systems.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Introduction 1
1. Condensed Milk: The Development of the Early Canning Industry 10
2. Growing a Better Pea: Canners, Farmers, and Agricultural Scientists in the 1910s and 1920s 41
3. Poisoned Olives: Consumer Fear and Expert Collaboration 74
4. Grade A Tomatoes: Labeling Debates and Consumers in the New Deal 103
5. Fighting for Safe Tuna: Postwar Challenges to Processed Food 135
6. BPA in Campbell’s Soup: New Threats to an Entrenched Food System 163
Conclusion 186

Acknowledgments 195
Notes 199
Selected Bibliography 251
Index 261

Editorial Reviews

"Zeide’s account goes well beyond canned food to include many other aspects of the larger food system and consumer activism more generally . . . She uses a wide range of primary and secondary sources, and demonstrates familiarity with a broad literature on the history of food and consumption. In this way, the book speaks to an interdisciplinary audience with ease."

American Historical Review

An insightful and multifaceted investigation. . . . A rare find—an academic book that is genuinely entertaining to read.

Gastronomica

"An important contribution."

Food and Environmental Studies Review of Agricultural

"Zeide’s thoroughly researched, comprehensive history is a necessary addition to the collections of policy-makers, activists, and anyone interested in reforming the modern food system of the United States."

Environmental History