Lecture 32: War, Nutritionism, and the Great Depression
before the stock market crash of 1929, and it had a lot to do with too
much food on the market and low prices. Then, there was a series
of terrible droughts, which led to people losing their farms, and the
failure of the banks caused peoples’ savings to be wiped out. The Great Depression affected workers, too; there was the highest
unemployment in history. This disaster forced the government to
become directly involved in the food supply in ways that it never
had before. Roosevelt’s New Deal was essentially a series of
ad hoc emergency measures designed to deal with the crisis, but
it also changed the role of government in regulating food policy
permanently. For the fi rst time, the government was forced to take
control of the economy and especially of the supply of food. They
began to tamper with supply-and-demand economics, bringing an
end to the free market economy—a legacy that remains, both for
good and ill, to this day.Bower, Recipes for Reading.
Colquohon, Taste.
DePuis, Nature’s Perfect Food.
Freidberg, Fresh.
Gratzer, Terrors of the Table.
Hartog, Food Technology.
Helstosky, Garlic and Oil.
Kamminga, Science and Culture of Nutrition.
Levenstein, Fear of Food.
Marinetti, Futurist Cookbook.
Mudry, Measured Meals.
Oddy, Rise of Obesity.Suggested Reading