In Fall 2023, students enrolled in Dr. Margot Finn's course on the science, culture, and politics of obesity worked in groups to research and write captions for food history materials. As noted in the captions below, most of these items were from the Special Collections Research Center's Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive. These were featured on the Shapiro Library Screens in Bert's Study Lounge and are also presented below:
M. L. Holbrook, Eating for Strength (New York, M. L. Holbrook & co. [c1888]). Library of Congress.
The 1888 edition of Eating for Strength, a popular 19th century work on diet written by Martin Luther Holbrook approaches food in a scientific manner, outlining the dietary needs of various classes of people and looking at the healthfulness of various foods. This book includes information about food and diet in relation to health and work, together with several hundred recipes for different foods and drinks. All of these tables illustrate the protein, carbohydrate, and fat content of some of the most common foods that characterized the diets of that era. This underscores how even over 100 years ago, these three macronutrients were seen as important to monitor in order to curb obesity.
M. L. Holbrook, Eating for Strength (New York, M. L. Holbrook & co. [c1888]). Library of Congress.
Keeping Your Weight Down (Westfield, N.Y. : Welch Grape Juice Co., [1921?]). Janie Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive.
Published by Welch Juice Company in 1921, this recipe book called Keeping Your Weight Down suggests that Welch's Grape Juice can aid in weight maintenance, and emphasizes its importance in influencing desired health benefits with their beverage. The
monochrome-purple book cover showcases an idealized “thin” model covered in loose night clothing, examining a weight scale. Inside, “Pudding and Desserts” recipes are listed in sections with the usage of Welch brand ingredients. Framing grapes as dessert, often eliminated in dieting practices, allows for the luxury of sweets within the strictures of losing weight.
Keeping Your Weight Down (Westfield, N.Y. : Welch Grape Juice Co., [1921?]). Janie Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive.
Jean Nidetch, Weight Watchers Cookbook (New York : Hearthside Press, Inc., c1966). Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive.
The Weight Watchers Cook Book by Jean Nidetc, highlights specific recipes and tips for following a diet that limits carbohydrates and fat. The image above depicts a larger woman sitting down for Thanksgiving with a caption reminding readers to watch what they eat. The image below portrays a strong rejection of a piece of cake, comparing fatness to a disease. Both images place an emphasis on the importance of body appearance to dieters, reflecting the 1960s beauty standard favoring thinness for American women. The book aims to influence women, in particular, to reject indulgence in order to maintain a certain body size.
Jean Nidetch, Weight Watchers Cookbook (New York : Hearthside Press, Inc., c1966). Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive.
Ruth West, Stop Dieting! Start Losing! (New York : E.P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1956.). Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive.
Although Ruth West’s Stop Dieting! Start Losing! was a dieting recipe book published in 1956, the artifact has a startling resemblance to modern attitudes about weight, despite the huge body of research conducted on obesity since this time. Today, It’s easy to laugh at slogans like “how to lose 2 to 3 pounds a week” and “16 foods for sex appeal and vitality,” but how different are these claims from those we hear today from diet magazines, social media and even our own medical professionals? Is the rigor of evidence from then to now all that different?