Ideas about diet and nutrition has evolved dramatically in recent history. I am very interested in exploring historical ideas of nutrition and diet trends in a historical context. Looking at what people were eating and why can reveal a lot about a specific time and place. For example, an Edwardian diet trend in the early twentieth century was the “chew-chew” diet. Developed in America by Horace Fletcher, the chew-chew diet consisted of chewing every mouthful of food precisely 32 times before tilting your head back to let the liquefied food to slide down your throat (Strong, 2008). With surprisingly effective results, this diet allowed you to eat any kind of food you wanted, as long as you chewed it 32 times.
I would love to learn more about why we eat the food we do from an anthropological perspective; asking questions like: how did food trends contribute to pervasive ideologies of a certain era? For example, how did food rationing in Britain during World War II affect society and contribute to ideas of austerity? When applied to the present, these avenues of inquiry can shed light on our own society and the ideas connected with our current diet trends, like paleo, ketogenic, vegan and whole food diets. I would love to learn more about current nutritional trends and their correlations with wider issues in society.
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In 2019, easy access to nutritional information (for example, documentaries on netflix), means knowledge about nutrition is increasing. The culinary industry is adapting and must continue to adapt to reflect the new research that is constantly coming out. Patrons now expect more from their food. The industry must deliver!
However, widespread access to nutritional information comes with pitfalls. It it just as easy to access incredible information as credible. A major part of the challenge today is sorting through the wheat from the chaff. We are constantly bombarded with headlines about ‘new studies revealing’ an obscure link with a certain food to an obscure disease. Institutions from local radio to national news provide sensationalist topics meant to grab your attention that can throw us off entirely. Whatever you may have thought previously – forget it!
The truth about nutrition seems consistently somewhere in between. How can extreme eating at either end of the spectrum be sustainable in our modern busy lives? As the field of nutritional research continues along its current trajectory, our job will be to wade through the diet fads and misleading studies. It’s more important than ever to be discerning when it comes to our food.
A helpful exercise it determining whether or not an online source is credible. Three questions you can ask when determining the validity of a nutrition website are:
- What is the mandate/motive of this website? Is it clearly stated and does the nature of the website reflect it?
- Is this an established organization with information coming from more than one source?
- Is the information current and properly cited?
For example, the Dietitians of Canada website is a professional organization with thousands of members across the country. Their mandate is clearly stated on their About page, the first being to “provide evidence-based food and nutrition information” (October 2016). Governed by a Board of Directors, the organization has a long history in Canada. They began as the Canadian Dietetic Association, formed in 1935. In 2009, they formed a partnership to regulate dietetic education, setting “standards of competence for education and practice and accredits dietetics education programs across Canada” (October 2016). Providing reliable and current nutrition information is one of the major purposes of the entire organization.
Comparing the Dietitians of Canada website with a more dubious source makes the differences between a credible and incredible source obvious. A perfect example is Natural News. Rampant with click-bait headlines, advertisements and hyperbolic statements, Natural News cites no credible sources for the “information” they provide. The mandate of the website is not listed, and their tactics are fear-mongering and not based credible scientific studies or research. With our health and well-being at stake, we cannot afford to be careless about where we get our nutritional information. Luckily, the warning signs aren’t hard to spot.
Works Cited
“About DC.” Dieticians of Canada. October 19, 2016. https://www.dietitians.ca/About-DC.aspx. Accessed 12 Feb 2019.
Natural News. 2019. https://www.naturalnews.com/ Accessed Feb 18 2019.
Nutrition. Photograph. Britannica ImageQuest, Encyclopædia Britannica, 25 May 2016. quest.eb.com/search/139_1903030/1/139_1903030/cite. Accessed 12 Feb 2019.
Nutrition Poster. Photograph. Britannica ImageQuest, Encyclopædia Britannica, 9 Jul 2018. quest.eb.com/search/315_2691044/1/315_2691044/cite. Accessed 12 Feb 2019.
Nutrition Poster. Photograph. Britannica ImageQuest, Encyclopædia Britannica, 9 Jul 2018. quest.eb.com/search/315_2691082/1/315_2691082/cite. Accessed 18 Feb 2019.
Strong, Sir Roy. “Can history help you lose weight? We put three diets from the past to the test” Daily Mail. 14 March 2008. Accessed 12 Feb 2019. www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-534189/Can-history-help-lose-weight–We-diets-past-test
The effect of university education for women on everyday life. Cartoon from Punch, London, 14 February 1917. Waitress, late of Girton College, Cambridge, is able to advise surprised diner on the nutrition he will derive from his meal.. Photography. Britannica ImageQuest, Encyclopædia Britannica, 25 May 2016. quest.eb.com/search/300_2290961/1/300_2290961/cite. Accessed 12 Feb 2019.
A Cook in the Past 