The global health crisis has been debated in political arenas, written about in best-selling manifestos, and exposed in Oscar-nominated documentaries. Yet, despite all the media attention, there are few studies that look seriously at its underlying cause – the rise of the industrial diet.The Industrial Diet chronicles the long-term developments that transformed food into edible commodities that far too often fail to nourish us. Tracing the industrial diet's history from its roots in the nineteenth century through to present-day globalism, Anthony Winson looks at the role of technology, population growth, and political and economic factors in the constitution and transformation of mass dietary regimes and provides new evidence linking broad-based dietary changes with negative health effects. With its focus on the degradation of food and the emergent struggle for healthful eating, this book encourages us to reflect on the state of our food environments and create realistic and innovative strategies that can lead to a healthier future.
Anthony Winson is a professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Guelph.
IntroductionPart 1: Food Environments from Palaeolithic Times1 Between Producers and Eaters: A Dietary Regime Approach2 Discordant Diets, Unhealthy People3 From Neolithic to Capitalist DietsPart 2: The Beginnings of the Industrial Diet, 1870-19494 From Patent Flour to Wheaties5 Pushing Product for Profit: Early BrandingPart 3: The Intensification of the Industrial Diet, 1940-806 Speeding Up the Making of Food7 The Simplification of Whole Food8 Adulteration and the Rise of Pseudo Foods9 The Spatial Colonization of the Industrial Diet: The Supermarket10 Meals Away from Home: The Health Burden of Restaurant ChainsPart 4: Globalization and Resistance in the Neo-Liberal Era11 The Industrial Diet Goes Global12 Transformative Food Movements and the Struggle for Healthy Eating13 Case Studies of a Transformative Food Movement14 Towards a Sustainable and Ethical Health-Based Dietary RegimeNotes, Index