Wonder Foods: The Science and Commerce of Nutrition

by Lisa Haushofer

Overview

Between 1850 and 1950, experts and entrepreneurs in Britain and the United States forged new connections between the nutrition sciences and the commercial realm through their enthusiasm for new edible consumables. The resulting food products promised wondrous solutions for what seemed to be both individual and social ills. By examining creations such as Gail Borden's meat biscuit, Benger's Food, Kellogg's health foods, and Fleischmann's yeast, Wonder Foods shows how new products dazzled with visions of modernity, efficiency, and scientific progress even as they perpetuated exclusionary views about who deserved to eat, thrive, and live. Drawing on extensive archival research, historian Lisa Haushofer reveals that the story of modern food and nutrition was not about innocuous technological advances or superior scientific insights, but rather about the powerful logic of exploitation and economization that undergirded colonial and industrial food projects. In the process, these wonder foods shaped both modern food regimes and how we think about food.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520390386
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	12/27/2022
Series:	California Studies in Food and Culture , #80
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Lisa Haushofer is a physician and historian of science, medicine, and food. She is currently Senior Research Associate in the History of Medicine Department at the University of Zurich.

Table of Contents

Contents

List of Illustrations

Introduction: Balloons over Indianapolis 

1 • “Focussed Flesh” 
2 • The Raw and the Civilized 
3 • Digestive Economies 
4 • A Physiology of Consumption 1
5 • The Brewer, the Baker, and the Health Food Maker 

Conclusion: Transparent Man on Man-Made Land 

Acknowledgments 
Notes 
Bibliography 
Index 

Editorial Reviews

"Wonder Foods is well-written, clearly organized, and generously cited with reputable sources—an exemplary food history from the perspective of the history of science and medicine."

Journal of the History of Biology

"Lisa Haushofer’s Wonder Foods…urges us, through a historical lens, to reflect on the profound societal, economic, and environmental influences that our food production and consumption has had on the world, and more importantly, to be distinctly aware of who those choices affect, both historically and today."

Society for US Intellectual History