Fear of Food: A History of Why We Worry about What We Eat by Harvey Levenstein

Fear of Food: A History of Why We Worry about What We Eat Reviews

• 
  Marfita

  Free ebook from University of Chicago press - found two amusing typos:
  "weeldong" for "weeklong" and "arroz con polio" The two I found in the footnotes weren't nearly as amusing.
  This is a history of America's dysfunctional relationship with food, not an advice book. He may have other books on that.
  I enjoyed this because it fits in with my worldview. Should probably cop to being raised in a *Prevention* magazine and Adelle Davis household, but even I find it darkly amusing that J. I. Rodale keeled over on Dick Cavett's show. Mom shopped at a health food store in the 60s and 70s, and we took all sorts of supplements. While my mother died at age 87 (beating out her own mother by four years), my dad was 101. In his case it looks like genes, though. I take a multi-vitamin now because I know I don't eat properly. I eat what I enjoy.
  But that seems to be the message of this book: eat what you enjoy because no one, not even the so-called experts know what sort of diet is best for you. The food mania in this country is driven, according to Levenstein (and I believe him), by force of personality, politics, and commerce rather than science. Oh, they pay lip service to science, but there are too many other factors to consider in how food gets from nature to our table. And there's too much to know about what foods/chemicals do to or for us to get a sensible idea of what is best for us. You certainly can't trust what you read/hear so, Levenstein suggests we wait ... and wait some more. Dietary advice keeps changing, swinging wildly in some cases. Just eat what you like in moderation.
  
• 
  Amanda Keck

  There are so many things about this book to love. I think it's the first book I've read on food fads and food history that doesn't seem completely biased one way or another. Definitely eye opening to look at our eating habits over the course of history and see just how much science (or lack thereof) has been behind our eating patterns as Americans. No matter what your stance is on what constitutes a healthy diet, I highly recommend taking the little time it takes to read this book. It's short, it's well written, and most importantly it's very educational.
• 
  Mindee Berkman

  Much more readable than I had anticipated. Downright interesting, in fact. I sincerely recommend this for anyone who is interested in eating more healthful foods and learning who to listen to regarding what is healthful.
• 
  Yağış Bey

  The book didn’t do justice to the interesting topic it dealt with. Although it was easy to read and follow, there was no point that was trying to be conveyed across. It felt like l was reading an endless stream of who did what, without the slightest consistency in the narrative. I felt bombarded by different names and quotes. None of the chapters had any conclusion, or even a point; a little comment from the author or anything to leave you thinking: none. There were a couple of days where I didn’t even feel like picking the book up.
  
  I gave it 2 stars because it is evident that a lot of research went into writing this book. But it’s a pity it turned out the way it did. Not recommended.
• 
  Angie

  I found it interesting to find about the history of some foods, and food issues.
• 
  Taracuda

  An informative and easy read about the intersections of science, nutrition and politics.
• 
  Larissa

  Until I read Stephanie Lucianovic’s new book, Suffering Succotash: A Picky Eater’s Quest to Understand Why We Hate the Foods We Hate, I didn’t quite realize the range in picky eating. I had often referred to myself as a picky eater, the kind of person that only likes good food. Of course I qualified the word good by saying things like healthy, local, organic, or even just tasty. In Stephanie Lucianovic’s book she attempts to determine why kids, and “finicky eating” adults, decide not to eat foods based on looks, taste or feel. Why do we have strong aversions to certain foods and, while we’re at it, what is succotash?
  
  Simpler than I imagined, succotash is a mixture of sautéed lima beans, tomatoes and corn. It actually sounded pretty good, but I’m not twelve. Lucianovic grew up as one of those “three more bites and you’re done” kind of kids. She tells us she complained about things touching on her plate, steered clear of any food with a skin and more, subsisting on a narrow list of approved items from the four food groups. Just the cherry from the fruit cup please. Lucianovic had ways to manage the bad foods on her plate; she had places to hide them (try the books in the living room) and physical techniques to swallow them (deep breaths and lots of water). She was a food vanishing magician.
  
  In addition to sharing her own funny stories, like when she was forced to eat “squishy and maple-syruped and gross” squash before she could leave the table, Lucianovic interviews friends and colleagues who were also picky. Like her chef friend Julie, who wouldn’t eat anything that she thought was “’wet,’ like a condiment,” or her friend Jeff, who “has a complex relationship with tomatoes”:
  
  Chunks of tomatoes, like in salsa, are fine, but a quarter of a tomato is too much. What about slices of tomatoes? “I won’t eat them sliced,” Jeff tells me. “In fact, I just pulled one out of my hamburger and threw it out the window on my way home this morning.”
  
  As a compliment to the storytelling, Lucianovic does her best to give a nod to scientific research, both the at-home and in-lab kind. Purchasing a chemistry kit from an online lab supply store to determine if she’s a supertaster or an undertaster, Lucianovic finds out she’s neither. Disappointed with her results, she turns to Dr. Danielle Reed, from the Monell Chemical Senses Center, “the worlds only interdependent, non-profit scientific institute dedicated to research on the senses of taste and smell,” and procures an invite to spend time at their lab, or, as she calls it: DNA Camp. Once there, Lucianovic learns about TAS2r38, one of twenty-five bitter taste receptor genes we inherit, one from each of our parents. And this is where taste gets more complicated. And more interesting.
  
  In addition to TAS2r38, Lucianovic learns about a newly discovered sixth taste. Not just five. Six. Until recently, we learn, our concept of taste was built on sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami. Adding to that list, scientists discovered a sixth taste, called calcium/mineral, which a scientist at the lab said tasted, to him, like fat-free milk. This sixth sense piqued my interest, but didn’t get me any closer to the why’s of picky.
  
  The author does provide some very plausible reasons kids are picky: they reject on visual alone; they reject based on family tension at the dinner table; they can’t stand the texture of the food; they have some level of OCD; they have an over eager gag reflex. So here’s my dilemma: How does a non-scientist explain why people eat what they eat and is it at all possible to explain without being anecdotal?
  
  Suffering Succotash: A Picky Eater’s Quest to Understand Why We Hate the Foods We Hate is a unique spin on a serious problem. Both on the kid level, how do you get them to eat their vegetables? And on the adult level, how do you manage telling people you have specific needs? The book is cute, but too light and flip for this picky eater, who wanted an Aha moment along with her small yield, heirloom lima beans from California.
  
  Review originally published on The Inquisitive Eater:
  
  http://inquisitiveeater.com/2012/08/1...
• 
  April Spaugh

  Reading this was an eye opening experience for me. I already knew that the government and corporations had a lot to do with how food is marketed, but I didn't realize how involved they were until now.
  
  Scientists, politicians, the government, corporations and even past/present President's of the United States have a huge part in how food is viewed in this country. And it's all comes down to one thing: MONEY
  
  Food fads were created in the last 100 years or so, and are still going strong. During the early 1900's yogurt was hailed as a wonder product, followed up by vitamins. Pasteurized milk and citrus fruits were pushed on the public as "protective foods". More recently (we're still in it) a low-fat craze in order to combat heart disease. The link between fat and heart disease has recently (2009) been debunked, but mainstream society for the most part still believes it, because the food corporations and the government want you to believe it. The American Heart Association charges companies vast sums of money to use their seal of approval on food products (like sugary cereals) so that they are benefiting. And the food companies benefit because people want to buy products with the AHA's endorsement. The drug companies are making millions on their cholesterol lowering drugs. This isn't pure science at work or corporations wanting to do what is right for people.
  
  Vitamin E was a big thing for a while, and now we're told that it's not safe in large amounts. Right now we're in the midst of a gluten-free and a Vitamin D craze.
  
  The interesting thing about all of these fads and the so called "proven" outcomes of scientific studies is that there is always money involved. Studies haven't been properly done with control groups and scientists make things up. If a scientist says it's so, then food companies jump on board (so that they can profit), the government pushes it, the drug companies come up with some way to make money from it and the public believes it.
  
  This book is well researched and documented. It's a fairly quick read with 159 small pages. It reinforces my belief that we need to get back to foods how nature intended them - raw dairy products, grass fed beef, free range eggs, organic fruits and vegetables, whole grains - and stop letting big corporations and the government tell us what is safe and healthy. Anyone with a brain will realize that a sugary cereal isn't good for them just because the AHA has their seal on it.
  
  The topics covered in this book:
  
  
  Discovery of Germs
  Raw Milk
  "Autointoxication" & Yogurt
  Beef & Bacteria
  Food additives & Preservatives
  Vitamins
  Natural Foods versus Processed Foods
  Saturated Fats
  Chlosterol
  Heart Disease
• 
  April

  Fascinating look at food scares in America throughout history. Great read for anyone who rolls their eyes every time there is a news story breathlessly telling everyone what to eat. Even better read if you feel the need to listen to all of that conflicting advice. Delves into the history of both non-profit & government organizations like the American Heart Association & the FDA. Talks about the role that competition for funding (often from big companies) & politics plays in scientific research & discusses fear mongering journalism as well. At the end of the day good science takes many years & it may just turn out that nutrition ends up being too complicated to ever deliver specific recommendations for everyone. A sample quote.
  "I also try to bear in mind how often moralism, rather than science, underlies food fears. Calls for self-denial inevitably tap into the Puritan streak that still runs deep in American Culture. Left wing exposures of the dangers in the food supply often emerge from a worldview that sees the nefarious machinations of big business at the root of all that is wrong with America. Right-wingers tend to ignore the role of socioeconomic factors in health outcomes & seem to gain some dark satisfaction from blaming ill health on morally weak individuals' poor food choices."
• 
  Holly

  This book is a very sensible look into the social, scientific, commercial, and political factors that drive and influence America's food trends and fads and the final section, entitled "Coda," is a common sense approach to navigating new nutritional guidelines, media reports and medical advice regarding diet and disease. I especially appreciated his reminder that many of these fads (all debunked) have caused the victims of disease to be blamed for their suffering/death and while it may be true that some people do, in fact, eat and drink their ways into physical harm it is very unkind to paint with a broad brush and accuse cancer victims of "doing this to themselves" because they ate boxed cereals as children, or because they put butter on their broccoli. Though the book never mentions the Weston A. Price Foundation, it made me appreciate their approach, which in a nut shell is: if people have been eating a food healthfully for generations and centuries (butter, fat, meat, grain, etc.) then it is probably safe to continue to do so today. Otherwise know as: Just Eat Real Food
• 
  Arbogast Holmskragga

  If read improperly, this can come off as a corporate debunking of every health warning that "Big Food" doesn't like, which is not really the point. It really is more of a history of food scares, the inadequate science or information behind them, the propaganda used for them, and the constant rethinking new information causes. The coda says it best: "Eat a wide variety of foods, don't eat too much,m and eat relatively more fruits and vegetables. This is a variation on the older advice that its all right everything in moderation."
  
  To this I would add, whenever possible know the sources of your food and the processes by which it gets to you.
  
  With all this in mind, the book is worth your time.
• 
  Dan

  This slim, little book is loaded with more eye-opening information than I could possibly have ever hoped for. Harvey Levenstein does a wonderful job of tracing many of the most outrageous food scares and dietary claims back to their respective sources, and these sources are more often than not: assumptions, presumptions, quackery, deception, profiteering, and even outright bullshit. Levenstein's writing appeals to me because he doesn't (for the most part) pass judgment, he simply states the facts and in doing so unfurls some stories that are stranger than science fiction. The origins of some of the more well known food-related fears, here unveiled, will make you alternately scratch your head and exclaim, "WTF?" Wild stuff, and definitely a worthwhile read.
• 
  Emily

  As a self-proclaimed food studies dork, I own Levenstein's two previous volumes on food history in America and was excited for his newest book, Fear of Food. It's a petite work, featuring a selection of food history stories that are loosely related to present food issues.
  
  While it's nice that they're now in one volume, the stories of oscillating American fears of specific foods and nutrients have been told elsewhere and in a similar way. I was hoping for something new. My favorite parts were his introduction and conclusion. I wish he'd woven more thematic analysis of the overall American way of eating throughout the individual chapters.
• 
  Katherine

  A tiny book (a good chunk of it is taken up with footnotes,) but an incredibly well researched one on the history of food scared in the United States. It really is an eye-opener to see how the agendas of individuals as well as corporations have influenced our food policy.
  
  The last chapter, on "lipophobia" is particularly relevant, as I remember when it was considered unsafe to eat more than 3 eggs a week, and I also remember when my mom switched my brother and I from whole milk to lowfat, because our doctor warned her that our cholesterol was so high from drinking milk, that we would have heart attacks in our 20s.
  
  Book is a little dry and academic, but altogether a great read.
• 
  Steve

  The story of a hundred years or more of complete bullshit in the information Americans have been given about what to eat. It is stunning how virtually everything we hear, whether from the family doc, supposedly pro-health non-profit organizations, and of course from the brainless media, is in fact the latest trendy enthusiasm, bought and paid for by commercial interests. Particularly good on debunking the nonsense about the alleged dangers of dietary fat.
• 
  Mary Webb

  Eh on my book club list , I'd never pick it up. Its textbook style information on why folks in the us get their information on food and how it's processed and prepared and how that leads to miss information and food scares. Bizarre how people believe what the press says and howvexpert opinion is trotted out . Do people really believe that? What about critical thought ?
• 
  !Tæmbuŝu

  
  KOBOBOOKS
  
  Reviewed by
  The Guardian (16 Aug 2013)
  
• 
  Anthony Faber

  A history of food phobias from the late 19th Century to the present. Informative, and the three and a half page coda at the end gives a short and excellent guide to examining claims that certain foods are good or bad for you.
  
• 
  Trey Malone

  Fantastic read. This book is full of tidbits you would have never expected. It really makes you consider the "expert advice" all over the nutrition world. The key take-away: there is no such thing as a silver bullet.
• 
  Ashley

  Lots of interesting info, though much of it was info I already knew. My biggest issue with this book was the editing. Many spelling errors which distracted me from what I was reading.
• 
  Shannon

  This is a very interesting look a the history of our food fears and obsessions. Really makes you look at some of the current food fads in a different light.
• 
  Tracey

  Mentioned in Everybody Ate at Schraff's