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The Resource Fear of food : a history of why we worry about what we eat, Harvey Levenstein

Fear of food : a history of why we worry about what we eat, Harvey Levenstein

Creator
Summary
"There may be no greater source of anxiety for Americans today than the question of what to eat and drink. Are eggs the perfect protein, or are they cholesterol bombs? Is red wine good for my heart or bad for my liver? Will pesticides, additives, and processed foods kill me? Here with some very rare and very welcome advice is food historian Harvey Levenstein: Stop worrying! In "Fear of Food" Levenstein reveals the people and interests who have created and exploited these worries, causing an extraordinary number of Americans to allow fear to trump pleasure in dictating their food choices. He tells of the prominent scientists who first warned about deadly germs and poisons in foods and their successors who charged that processing foods robs them of life-giving vitamins and minerals. These include Nobel Prize-winner Eli Metchnikoff, who advised that yogurt would enable people to live to be 140, and Elmer McCollum, the "discoverer" of vitamins, who tailored his warnings about vitamin deficiencies to suit the food producers who funded him. Levenstein also highlights how large food companies have taken advantage of these concerns by marketing their products to combat the fear of the moment. Such examples include the co-opting of the "natural foods" movement, which grew out of the belief that inhabitants of a remote Himalayan Shangri-la enjoyed remarkable health by avoiding the very kinds of processed food these corporations produced, and the physiologist Ancel Keys, originator of the Mediterranean Diet, who provided the basis for a powerful coalition of scientists, doctors, food producers, and others to convince Americans that high-fat foods were deadly. In "Fear of Food", Levenstein offers a much-needed voice of reason; he expertly questions these stories of constantly changing advice to reveal that there are no hard-and-fast facts when it comes to eating. With this book, he hopes to free us from the fears that cloud so many of our food choices and allow us to finally rediscover the joys of guiltless eating."--Jacket
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
ix, 218 pages
Contents
  • Introduction
  • Germophobia
  • Milk: "the most valuable and dangerous food"
  • Autointoxication & its discontents
  • Bacteria & beef
  • "Lucrezia Borgias in the kitchen"
  • Vitamania & its deficiencies
  • "Hidden hunger" stalks the land
  • Natural foods in Shangri-la
  • Lipophobia
  • Creating a national eating disorder
Isbn
9780226473741
Instance
Label
Fear of food : a history of why we worry about what we eat
Title
Fear of food
Title remainder
a history of why we worry about what we eat
Statement of responsibility
Harvey Levenstein
Creator
Subject
Language
eng
Summary
"There may be no greater source of anxiety for Americans today than the question of what to eat and drink. Are eggs the perfect protein, or are they cholesterol bombs? Is red wine good for my heart or bad for my liver? Will pesticides, additives, and processed foods kill me? Here with some very rare and very welcome advice is food historian Harvey Levenstein: Stop worrying! In "Fear of Food" Levenstein reveals the people and interests who have created and exploited these worries, causing an extraordinary number of Americans to allow fear to trump pleasure in dictating their food choices. He tells of the prominent scientists who first warned about deadly germs and poisons in foods and their successors who charged that processing foods robs them of life-giving vitamins and minerals. These include Nobel Prize-winner Eli Metchnikoff, who advised that yogurt would enable people to live to be 140, and Elmer McCollum, the "discoverer" of vitamins, who tailored his warnings about vitamin deficiencies to suit the food producers who funded him. Levenstein also highlights how large food companies have taken advantage of these concerns by marketing their products to combat the fear of the moment. Such examples include the co-opting of the "natural foods" movement, which grew out of the belief that inhabitants of a remote Himalayan Shangri-la enjoyed remarkable health by avoiding the very kinds of processed food these corporations produced, and the physiologist Ancel Keys, originator of the Mediterranean Diet, who provided the basis for a powerful coalition of scientists, doctors, food producers, and others to convince Americans that high-fat foods were deadly. In "Fear of Food", Levenstein offers a much-needed voice of reason; he expertly questions these stories of constantly changing advice to reveal that there are no hard-and-fast facts when it comes to eating. With this book, he hopes to free us from the fears that cloud so many of our food choices and allow us to finally rediscover the joys of guiltless eating."--Jacket
Cataloging source
ICU/DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorDate
1938-
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Levenstein, Harvey A.
Illustrations
illustrations
Index
index present
LC call number
TX360.U6
LC item number
L47 2012
Literary form
non fiction
NAL call number
TX360.U6
NAL item number
L47 2012
Nature of contents
bibliography
NLM call number
  • 2014 M-770
  • QT 235
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • DIET (Event)
  • Food
  • Nutrition
  • Diet
  • Food preferences
  • Eating disorders
  • Phobias
  • Eating disorders
  • Food preferences
  • Food
  • Nutrition
  • Phobias
  • Diet
  • Food Industry
  • Food Preferences
  • Nutritional Physiological Phenomena
  • Phobic Disorders
  • United States
Label
Fear of food : a history of why we worry about what we eat, Harvey Levenstein
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Introduction -- Germophobia -- Milk: "the most valuable and dangerous food" -- Autointoxication & its discontents -- Bacteria & beef -- "Lucrezia Borgias in the kitchen" -- Vitamania & its deficiencies -- "Hidden hunger" stalks the land -- Natural foods in Shangri-la -- Lipophobia -- Creating a national eating disorder
Dimensions
24 cm
Extent
ix, 218 pages
Isbn
9780226473741
Isbn Type
(cloth : alkaline paper)
Lccn
2011035700
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations
System control number
  • (OCoLC)755080488
  • (OCoLC)ocn755080488
Label
Fear of food : a history of why we worry about what we eat, Harvey Levenstein
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Introduction -- Germophobia -- Milk: "the most valuable and dangerous food" -- Autointoxication & its discontents -- Bacteria & beef -- "Lucrezia Borgias in the kitchen" -- Vitamania & its deficiencies -- "Hidden hunger" stalks the land -- Natural foods in Shangri-la -- Lipophobia -- Creating a national eating disorder
Dimensions
24 cm
Extent
ix, 218 pages
Isbn
9780226473741
Isbn Type
(cloth : alkaline paper)
Lccn
2011035700
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations
System control number
  • (OCoLC)755080488
  • (OCoLC)ocn755080488

Subject

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