tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/foodways-45859/articlesfoodways – The Conversation2022-02-22T14:11:34Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1763842022-02-22T14:11:34Z2022-02-22T14:11:34ZKenya’s push to promote traditional food is good for nutrition and cultural heritage<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447533/original/file-20220221-22-1g436qw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A man pairs Kenyan maize flour staple ugali with a traditional vegetable known as murenda (jute mallow).
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A few years ago, traditional vegetables and local foods in Kenya were largely perceived as foods <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.3152/146155110X488817?needAccess=true">of the poor and of the past</a>. Local markets were dominated by three exotic vegetables: cabbage, kale (locally known as sukuma wiki) and Swiss chard (spinach). </p>
<p>Unhealthy ‘junk’ food was <a href="https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/oped/comment/fast-food-chains-invade-kenya-unleashing-obesity-ncds--1359086">gaining popularity</a>, especially among younger people. This trend was worrying because Kenyan communities risked losing their healthy traditional foods and the cultural heritage associated with them, including language, knowledge, skills and practices. </p>
<p>This carried the risk of serious consequences. First, it would narrow dietary diversity. Second, it would increase the dependence on market food, which consequently increases household spending on food. Third, it would have a negative impact on people’s health. And lastly, it would deny producers and marketers of traditional foods (who are mainly women) opportunities to make money. </p>
<p>To address the growing bias against traditional Kenyan foods, local and international institutions, including research organisations, government ministries, non-governmental and community based organisations, and universities rolled out <a href="https://cgspace.cgiar.org/handle/10568/104087">nutrition research</a> on the value in local foods. </p>
<p>This was done in three phases. The first phase, 1995 to 1999, prioritised 24 vegetables out of a total of 210 in Kenya for detailed research and promotion. Prioritisation was based on preference by local communities, marketability and health benefits. </p>
<p>Phase two (2001 to 2006) focused on vegetable seed collection, improvement and distribution, as well as developing protocols for cultivation. Researchers also documented recipes, carried out nutritional analyses, increased awareness of the health benefits of these 24 vegetables and linked farmers to markets. </p>
<p>By 2003, the tide had begun to turn. Traditional vegetables had been introduced in most supermarkets and negative attitudes had largely changed. Today, traditional leafy vegetables such as mchicha, managu and saga are <a href="https://www.bioversityinternational.org/e-library/publications/detail/african-leafy-vegetables-come-out-of-the-shade/">commonplace</a> in restaurants, street markets and homes. And eating them no longer attracts stigma.</p>
<p>This push to promote and safeguard traditional foods in Kenya, <a href="https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=vcUtv87pFIcC&pg=PT7&lpg=PT7&dq=promoting+traditional+vegetables+in+in+kenya,+patrick+maundu,+coordinated&source=bl&ots=osdrT2h2fE&sig=ACfU3U0mJ8F-2KBsFdtnkGuTABeyyE139Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjpiqmTuZH2AhUCQBoKHQdCBMQQ6AF6BAgcEAM#v=onepage&q=promoting%20traditional%20vegetables%20in%20in%20kenya%2C%20patrick%20maundu%2C%20coordinated&f=tru">which I was a part of</a>, caught UNESCO’s attention. During the institution’s 16th session of the <a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/functions-00586">Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage</a> in December 2021, Kenya’s efforts were nominated and then placed on the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices (<a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/Decisions/16.COM/8.c.3">Decision 16.COM 8.c.3</a>).</p>
<p>UNESCO’s Register of Good Safeguarding Practices allows states, communities and other stakeholders to share successful experiences and examples of transmitting their living heritage (traditional foods, in the case of Kenya). </p>
<h2>The case for selection</h2>
<p>The intangible heritage in traditional foods includes knowledge, social practices, skills, language, beliefs and taboos related to food. All these constitute the foodways of a cultural group. Foodways also include knowledge and practices about producing and using food, and encompass recipes, decorative skills, names of food species and uses of food in ceremonies.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/BSP/success-story-of-promoting-traditional-foods-and-safeguarding-traditional-foodways-in-kenya-01409">selecting the Kenyan case</a>, the intergovernmental committee noted that it:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>led to the safeguarding of foodways and traditional foods</p></li>
<li><p>promoted traditional foods for wider use for better health and livelihoods</p></li>
<li><p>promoted intergenerational exchange of knowledge by including schoolchildren</p></li>
<li><p>addressed major threats to the use of traditional foods</p></li>
<li><p>was supported by evidence.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>The listing of Kenya’s efforts on the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices is a significant decision for the country, and reflects the principles and objectives of the <a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/intangible-heritage-domains-00052">2003 Convention</a> on safeguarding intangible heritage. </p>
<p>This means that the approaches used to promote local foods in Kenya can be applied at regional and international levels, and can serve as a model for safeguarding food cultural heritage.</p>
<p>Years of research have shown that these neglected traditional foods are highly nutritious. They are also part of the local food culture and are adapted to local environments. </p>
<h2>Nutritional and cultural value</h2>
<p>The leaves of the <a href="https://www.feedipedia.org/node/144">spider plant</a>, for example, give <a href="https://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=US201301903979">many times</a> more vitamin A than cabbage. <a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/vitamin-a/">Vitamin A is vital</a> for skin, eyes and general growth. </p>
<p>Another important plant is <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10681-014-1081-9">leaf amaranth</a>, which gives up to 12 times the amount of iron and calcium, and nearly twice the amount of fibre as cabbage.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0924224415000990#:%7E:text=Cassava%20leaves%20are%20a%20rich,protein%2C%20minerals%2C%20and%20vitamins.&text=Antinutrients%20and%20cyanogens%20in%20cassava%20leaves%20restricts%20their%20use%20as%20human%20food.&text=Consumption%20of%20improperly%20processed%20cassava%20leaves%20might%20cause%20various%20diseases.&text=Economical%20detoxification%20processing%20without%20degrading%20the%20nutrients%20is%20required.">leaves of cassava</a>, a major vegetable in central African nations, are rich in proteins. A single serving, or 100 grams of the leaves, can provide up to three times the recommended daily intake of vitamin A in children and adults. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00394-020-02447-2">fruit pulp of the baobab</a> can supply as much as ten times the amount of vitamin C as an orange, by weight.</p>
<p>Insects, such as flying termites, and birds, like quails, are a major source of protein, and many communities have developed skills for trapping them. Other important local foods include mushrooms, of which there are hundreds of edible types. A loss of knowledge about them is rendering them unusable.</p>
<p>The high nutrient content in traditional foods and vegetables means they can help alleviate malnutrition. In Kenya, for instance, <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/fr308/fr308.pdf#page=187">stunting in children</a> under five years in 2008-2012 was at 35.3%, going down to 26% by 2014. </p>
<p>Additionally, many developing countries, including Kenya, are battling a <a href="https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/fast-food-eating-away-africas-progress">new problem</a> – the rise in non-communicable diseases like <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5912924/">cancer and heart diseases</a>. Traditional vegetables show high antioxidant activity and can be useful for preventing these diseases.</p>
<p>When a species loses its value in a community or society, it is likely to disappear. When the species is lost, it takes with it all its associated intangible cultural heritage. Promoting indigenous foods promotes conservation of species (and biodiversity), which is good for the planet. It also slows or halts cultural erosion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176384/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patrick Maundu receives funding from the Government of Kenya and Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT to support work on traditional foods</span></em></p>Facing a growing bias against indigenous crops, Kenyan researchers set out to showcase the value in local options - and set a global standard.Patrick Maundu, Ethnobotanist, National Museums of KenyaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1372292020-05-11T19:48:24Z2020-05-11T19:48:24ZWhat Canada knows about food crises can help prevent shortages and protect workers during coronavirus<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331852/original/file-20200430-42942-fqt5n7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=112%2C479%2C3779%2C2482&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Food is a measure of how countries respond to crises from access to pricing to shortages.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(nrd/Unsplash)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As news of the pandemic began circulating, Canadians hurried to grocery stores, laying in supplies for the upcoming crisis. By mid-March, experts had begun warning <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6688655/coroanvirus-canadians-food-shortages/">against hoarding</a>. There is plenty of food in our supply chain, they said; do not “panic buy” lest we create shortages — and very real hardships — for vulnerable members of our communities. </p>
<p>As an historian of Canadian food, I am alarmed to see how pressures for productivity <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6856544/bc-coronavirus-outbreak-poultry-plant/">have endangered</a> — and in some cases <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/cargill-alberta-covid-19-deena-hinshaw-1.5537377">tragically taken</a> — the lives of food workers. These tragedies are preventable and untenable. And there is historical precedent for strong government intervention in our food marketplace.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332557/original/file-20200504-83745-1ivecse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332557/original/file-20200504-83745-1ivecse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332557/original/file-20200504-83745-1ivecse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332557/original/file-20200504-83745-1ivecse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332557/original/file-20200504-83745-1ivecse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332557/original/file-20200504-83745-1ivecse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332557/original/file-20200504-83745-1ivecse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Food stability and security are influenced by histories of colonialism and a history of governments exerting control over foodways.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>They brought their foods</h2>
<p>The greatest crisis affecting Canadian food history started about 400 years ago: the <a href="https://doi.org/10.7202/019373ar">colonization of Indigenous food</a>. Since time immemorial, Indigenous peoples have <a href="https://www.fnha.ca/Documents/Traditional_Food_Fact_Sheets.pdf">practised sustainable food production, distribution and consumption</a>. </p>
<p>When Europeans arrived, however, they brought their foods with them. By Confederation, <a href="https://utorontopress.com/ca/edible-histories-cultural-politics-4">English</a> and <a href="https://www.septentrion.qc.ca/catalogue/a-table-en-nouvelle-france">French</a> Canadians were transposing their preferences for beef, pork, sugar and wheat upon the northern American landscape. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-unequal-health-system-may-make-remote-indigenous-communities-more-vulnerable-to-the-coronavirus-134963">Canada's unequal health system may make remote Indigenous communities more vulnerable to the coronavirus</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>As settlement increased, a battery of measures meant that Indigenous peoples faced <a href="https://doi.org/10.7202/1033506ar">increased barriers</a> to their own food. <a href="https://doi.org/10.7202/1033506ar">Reserves</a>, the <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/pass-system-in-canada">pass system</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/B07-020">residential schools</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03404373">forced resettlement</a>, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/ca/academic/subjects/history/american-history-general-interest/pemmican-empire-food-trade-and-last-bison-hunts-north-american-plains-17801882?format=HB&isbn=9781107044906">species extinction</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-013-9591-y">habitat loss</a> have been especially harmful. </p>
<p>On the plains, for example, the extinction of wild bison in the 1870s dealt a severe blow to individual and <a href="https://utorontopress.com/ca/medicine-that-walks-3">community health</a>. Simultaneously, Prime Minister John A. MacDonald’s determination to push a railway through to the Pacific Ocean, together with his plan to fill the plains with European wheat farmers, spurred his government to enforce settlement on reserves, including through <a href="https://uofrpress.ca/Books/C/Clearing-the-Plains2">forcible removals</a>. Such actions were heinous. They also barred access to traditional animal and plant food.</p>
<p>Well into the 20th century, the food available to Indigenous peoples through rations and residential schools was carbohydrate-heavy and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01459740.2013.828722">devoid of most nutrients</a>. It was often also rancid. To this day, Indigenous people are three times more likely than non-Indigenous people to face <a href="https://anishinabeknews.ca/2020/01/09/new-study-finds-first-nations-in-canada-face-serious-problems-with-food-supply/">food insecurity</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334160/original/file-20200511-49584-omqfw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334160/original/file-20200511-49584-omqfw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334160/original/file-20200511-49584-omqfw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334160/original/file-20200511-49584-omqfw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334160/original/file-20200511-49584-omqfw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334160/original/file-20200511-49584-omqfw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334160/original/file-20200511-49584-omqfw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indigenous food remains a sustainable and viable way fo producing food as documented by authors Dolly and Annie Watts of the Liliget Feast House.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.annielwatts.com/wpf.htm">Annie Watts/Arsenal Pulp Press</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>State control of Canadian food</h2>
<p>The effects of colonization show how state oppression has created and maintained food insecurity. It is, in fact, instructive to compare the difference between how the Canadian state has treated Indigenous people’s access to food, on the one hand, and British and Euro-Canadians’ access, on the other. </p>
<p>During the First and Second World Wars, the Canadian government moved to protect the food supply. During the First World War, Britain called upon its empire to increase shipments of beef, pork, butter, sugar and flour to the mother country. </p>
<p>In response, (and as <a href="https://utorontopress.com/ca/purchasing-power-2">I demonstrate in my recent book</a>) — Canada stepped up production of these goods. It also introduced 28 orders-in-council that regulated meat, dairy, sugar and wheat consumption. At no time did Canada introduce rationing during this war; instead it urged compliance through propaganda, fines and jail sentences. </p>
<p>Things were different the next war. Having witnessed skyrocketing inflation between 1917 and 1921, the federal government created <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/wartime-prices-and-trade-board">the Wartime Prices and Trade Board (WPTB)</a> in 1939. </p>
<p>Designed to curb inflation, reduce shortages and secure supplies for overseas, the WPTB was an unprecedented intervention. In 1941, the WPTB introduced “<a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/food-will-win-the-war">comprehensive price, rent, and wage controls</a>.” The next year, it introduced rationing. To purchase meat, sugar, butter, preserves, tea and coffee, Canadians had to use ration coupons. </p>
<p>The last restrictions weren’t lifted until 1947. Even then, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/CHR.83.4.483">shoppers protested</a>. As soon as restrictions were removed, <a href="https://utorontopress.com/us/radical-housewives-2">prices rose</a>. </p>
<h2>What we can learn from the past</h2>
<p>Today’s problems differ from those of other times. Especially pressing are dangers affecting <a href="https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/covid-19-southwestern-ontario-outbreak-puts-migrant-farm-workers-in-spotlight/">agricultural</a>, <a href="https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/04/24/Alberta-Meat-Packers-COVID-Outbreak/">butchery</a> <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/essential-workers-talk-about-how-covid-19-affects-them-1.4883241">and grocery</a> workers. There are also important difficulties that food distributors encounter when retooling wholesale products <a href="https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/saputo-inc-sees-demand-shift-from-food-service-to-retail-amid-covid-19-pandemic-1.4869609">for retail</a>.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, other problems are familiar. Now more than ever, it is important to address how disruptions affect food insecurity. Some First Nations are already taking action against <a href="https://thenarwhal.ca/adapting-to-coronavirus-how-b-c-first-nations-balance-food-security-and-conservation/">possible shortages</a>. Intermittent shortages in the retail sector — caused by supply disruption, increased consumer demand and decreased wholesale demand — also affect shoppers who cannot buy in bulk. Empty grocery shelves further affect those who shop infrequently in efforts to socially distance.</p>
<p>As Canadians experienced during the First World War, shortages often precipitate <a href="https://utorontopress.com/ca/purchasing-power-2">price hikes</a>. Already, Atlantic grocery distributors are <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/atlantic-grocery-distributors-prices-rise-1.5534470">reporting changes to prices</a>. In the North, further inflation would be unconscionable, given that northerners already struggle with <a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-unequal-health-system-may-make-remote-indigenous-communities-more-vulnerable-to-the-coronavirus-134963">outrageous prices</a>. </p>
<p>In the past, much finger-pointing accompanied price markups, with some arguing that profiteers deliberately raised prices and others suggesting that inflation was the inevitable <a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/buying-happiness">result of disequilibrium</a>. </p>
<p>Whatever the causes of food instability, however, there are demonstrable viable solutions, in both the past and present. To this day, Indigenous food systems <a href="https://foodsecurecanada.org/resources-news/newsletters/1-indigenous-food-sovereignty">are equitable</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/indigenous-food-1.4294388">sustainable</a>. </p>
<p>During the Second World War, William Lyon Mackenzie King’s Liberal government’s interventions protected both producers and consumers. Its main instrument, the WPTB, also — and completely unintentionally — improved many <a href="https://wartimecanada.ca/essay/eating/food-home-front-during-second-world-war">people’s diets</a>. Restrictions kept prices affordable while rationing ensured greater availability. </p>
<p>It is time now to revisit how Canadians produce and distribute food. The twin spectres of food insecurity and fatal illness demand such consideration.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137229/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donica Belisle receives funding from SSHRC. </span></em></p>Food is essential to survival. It is also essential to identity. During times of national crisis like the coronavirus pandemic and in the historical landscape, food issues become prominent.Donica Belisle, Associate Professor of History, University of ReginaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1343242020-04-26T12:01:29Z2020-04-26T12:01:29ZMigrant workers face further social isolation and mental health challenges during coronavirus pandemic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328949/original/file-20200419-152614-90ypqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C232%2C4412%2C2662&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Migrant workers from Mexico maintain social distancing as they wait to be transported to Québec farms after arriving in April at Trudeau Airport in Montréal. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/local-growers-feel-stress-pressure-coping-with-covid-19-pandemic/wcm/07067fd2-eab4-4b39-9c38-b6c3f480c379">When Canada closed its borders to visitors, growers lobbied for migrant workers to be excluded</a> from the restrictions. <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6808130/coronavirus-foreign-workers-blanchet/">The Canadian government agreed</a> and demanded that the newly arrived workers <a href="https://www.facebook.com/fiveoakscentre/photos/pcb.10157765174860804/10157765164385804/?type=3&theater">be placed in a 14-day mandatory quarantine</a>. </p>
<p>Forced to share their living quarters with many other workers, the migrants will be hard-pressed to maintain the social distance required to contain the spread of COVID-19. Canadian growers argue that without migrant workers imported from Mexico, Jamaica and many other world countries, Canadians <a href="https://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/border-closure-threatens-growing-season-food-supply-say-producers/">would not have enough food to eat</a>. </p>
<p>But can we adequately protect these essential workers? And will the pandemic enhance other problems migrant workers experience such as xenophobia, social isolation and the resulting mental health issues? </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328950/original/file-20200419-152602-9dzrsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328950/original/file-20200419-152602-9dzrsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328950/original/file-20200419-152602-9dzrsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328950/original/file-20200419-152602-9dzrsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328950/original/file-20200419-152602-9dzrsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328950/original/file-20200419-152602-9dzrsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328950/original/file-20200419-152602-9dzrsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328950/original/file-20200419-152602-9dzrsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Migrant workers are a sizable part of Canada’s food supply chain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Migrant workers in southwestern Ontario</h2>
<p>According to a recent report by <a href="https://cahrc-ccrha.ca/news-events/news-releases/more-diverse-workforce-essential-success-canadian-agriculture">the Canadian Agricultural Resources Council</a>, employment of temporary migrant workers increased from 45,600 in 2014 to nearly 60,000 in 2017. That means migrant workers made up one-sixth of all jobs in the Canadian agricultural labour force. </p>
<p>Ontario <a href="https://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/border-closure-threatens-growing-season-food-supply-say-producers/">hires 14,000</a> temporary migrants to work in the agricultural sector each season. In southwestern Ontario, Leamington and the neighbouring municipality Kingsville have received an annual intake of <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/migrants/2017/10/09/leamington-is-at-the-frontlines-of-the-boom-in-migrant-workers-heres-how-its-changed.html">5,000 to 6,000 workers</a>, the vast majority of whom are from <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/mexican-workers-victims-abuse-canadian-farms-1.4820458">Mexico</a>. </p>
<p>The growth in the migrant worker population in this area has been triggered by the rapidly growing <a href="http://choosewindsoressex.com/leamington">$1-billion greenhouse industry</a>. With 2,000 acres under glass or plastic, this region represents the largest concentration of greenhouses in North America, according to the <a href="http://choosewindsoressex.com/leamington">municipality of Leamington</a>.</p>
<h2>Overcrowded housing and possible contagion</h2>
<p>While essential for this booming industry, migrant workers are left unprotected from the spread of COVID-19 and its social and emotional spin-offs. Their housing conditions constitute the greatest threat to these workers. </p>
<p>For the past two years, we’ve been speaking to migrant farm workers and community members in southwestern Ontario about social integration. Housing conditions were one of the topics we discussed. In 2017, Leamington’s <a href="https://www.leamington.ca/en/municipal-services/resources/Boarding-House-Study-FINAL-April-18-2018.pdf">243 field and greenhouse parcels</a> required on- or off-site accommodation for migrant farm workers. </p>
<p>Many off-site houses have been illegally converted to boarding houses for migrants. Safety of these houses has been a <a href="https://www.leamington.ca/en/municipal-services/resources/Boarding-House-Study-FINAL-April-18-2018.pdf">concern</a> for the municipality. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322163/original/file-20200322-22622-23s1oc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322163/original/file-20200322-22622-23s1oc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322163/original/file-20200322-22622-23s1oc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322163/original/file-20200322-22622-23s1oc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322163/original/file-20200322-22622-23s1oc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322163/original/file-20200322-22622-23s1oc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322163/original/file-20200322-22622-23s1oc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Migrant workers in Leamington attending English language classes in a church basement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Tim Brunet)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A Jamaican worker interviewed in our study describes his living conditions: “Eight guys living in one house, four guys per bedroom, just one washroom and one stove.” Of the housing on the farm, a Guatemalan worker said: “The problem is that we are many people living in a single house. At this moment there are 60…. In the rooms with bunk beds.” </p>
<p>Migration researchers <a href="http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0188-70172016000100085">Díaz Mendiburo and McLaughlin</a> found seven housing-related problems that affect migrants’ physical and mental health, with over-crowding being prominent among them. </p>
<p>With extraordinary prescience, a public health worker from Windsor, Ont., interviewed in our study commented on the potential for spreading of infectious diseases in migrant houses: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“If you’re going to put a whole bunch of people living together, sharing a bathroom and sharing a kitchen, infectious, you’re just increasing the risk of infection to spread.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>She then went on to say those who contract infectious diseases are shunned by their co-workers and the isolation may trigger depression.</p>
<h2>Prejudice and social exclusion likely to rise</h2>
<p>The mental health decline among migrant workers is likely to be exacerbated by the fear of contracting or spreading COVID-19. </p>
<p>As we learned from our research, <a href="https://windsorite.ca/2016/07/leamington-launches-new-program-for-cultural-diversity-training/">Leamington promotes cultural diversity</a> but ambivalence, tensions and racism persist. Migrant workers have little time in the day and week to meet their own basic needs, including shopping for food, a task that has generated considerable anxieties. </p>
<p>Even before the pandemic, migrants felt excluded. According to one migrant worker: “People look at you differently. You are stereotyped…. Everyone always judges you.” Says another: “Sometimes you walk into a supermarket and some people feel uncomfortable.” This feeling of being hyper-visible and yet invisible was echoed by one health care worker, “somehow with farm workers and migrant farm workers, they just don’t exist. And they know that.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328951/original/file-20200419-152591-1my1gzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328951/original/file-20200419-152591-1my1gzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328951/original/file-20200419-152591-1my1gzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328951/original/file-20200419-152591-1my1gzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328951/original/file-20200419-152591-1my1gzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328951/original/file-20200419-152591-1my1gzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328951/original/file-20200419-152591-1my1gzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Two migrant workers sort and pack peaches in the early morning sun for transport to market from a fruit farm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is also a danger that the perception of and attitudes towards migrant workers by the wider community will change for the worse. Cast as workers and not citizens, migrant workers already experience mental health struggles that are, according to health care workers, “situational.” </p>
<p>Similarly, a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMHSC-05-2017-0018">study of migrant workers</a> in British Columbia found that a sense of unworthiness, loneliness and social isolation engenders depression and anxiety. Depression and anxiety are likely to intensify given the restrictions the pandemic response demands.</p>
<h2>Protecting essential workers</h2>
<p>Migrant workers produce, harvest, slaughter and process the food we eat. As countries close their borders to non-citizens, the value of migrant labour to food production becomes clear. </p>
<p>The United Kingdom even called for a “land army” — evoking the Second World War — of domestic workers to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/20/farmers-call-for-land-army-to-sustain-uk-food-production-during-coronavirus-crisis">replace the 60,000 seasonal workers</a> it relies on yearly. Meanwhile, the United States, which relies on some <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/u-s-restricts-visas-farmworkers-raising-concerns-about-food-supply-n1164216">250,000 seasonal workers</a>, has halted its visa program. <a href="https://www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2020/03/13/for-migrant-workers-in-nc-coronavirus-may-be-hard-to-avoid/">Local agencies</a> there also say that social distancing, health care and risk of coronavirus transmission will be threatened by cramped housing and limited community supports.</p>
<p>Canadians are able to do things like eat, bathe and isolate without fear of deportation. And just like Canadian citizens, migrant workers need ongoing education in social distancing, illness and mental wellness in these difficult times. They all need open access to the internet and information in their own languages to keep abreast of their family’s welfare and to inform themselves in what is an evolving crisis. Their housing arrangements also need to be rethought. </p>
<p>While Canadians are pressed to isolate at home, for migrant workers, housing is not a home.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134324/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tanya Basok and Glynis George have received funding from the MITACS Partnership Grant program to conduct this research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Glynis George has received funding from MITACS for this project. </span></em></p>The demands of social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic will make it increasingly difficult for migrant agricultural workers to meet their basic needs.Tanya Basok, Professor, University of WindsorGlynis George, Associate professor, University of WindsorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/870522017-11-15T21:44:05Z2017-11-15T21:44:05ZNo, turkey doesn’t make you sleepy – but it may bring more trust to your Thanksgiving table<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194876/original/file-20171115-19799-1kdyhqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Don't blame the turkey for those snores coming from the living room!</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/slicing-turkey-522962479">Shannon Jordan/Shutterstock.com </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>‘Tis the season for giblets, wattles and snoods – oh my. On Thanksgiving and Christmas, Americans consume about 68 million turkeys – one for about every five of us. In fact, <a href="http://extension.illinois.edu/turkey/turkey_facts.cfm">29 percent of all turkeys</a> gobbled down in the U.S. are consumed during the holidays.</p>
<p>And where turkey is being eaten, there is inevitably talk of tryptophan – a naturally occurring chemical found in turkey and other foods. This building block of protein often takes the blame for eaters feeling sleepy soon after the Thanksgiving meal.</p>
<p><a href="http://extension.illinois.edu/turkey/turkey_faqs.cfm">Science has cleared tryptophan</a>, though – it’s <a href="http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/77/1/128.abstract">not the culprit</a> when it comes to drowsiness after the feast. There are far more important factors leading to those post-turkey comas, not least of which is my Uncle Clarence’s story about parking at the airport. Add that to free-flowing booze combined with a <a href="http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/47/3/433.abstract">load of carbohydrates</a> followed by plenty more booze and you have a foolproof recipe for <a href="http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/85/2/426.full">dozing off on the couch</a>. Turkey, chicken, lamb and beef all <a href="https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/nutrients/report?nutrient1=501&nutrient2=&nutrient3=&fg=13&fg=17&fg=5&max=25&subset=1&offset=0&sort=f&totCount=112&measureby=g">contain roughly the same amount of tryptophan</a> – ranging from 0.13-0.39 grams per 100 grams of food – yet the sleepiness myth has never surrounded those other foods.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194877/original/file-20171115-19789-x4zpvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194877/original/file-20171115-19789-x4zpvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194877/original/file-20171115-19789-x4zpvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194877/original/file-20171115-19789-x4zpvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194877/original/file-20171115-19789-x4zpvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194877/original/file-20171115-19789-x4zpvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194877/original/file-20171115-19789-x4zpvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194877/original/file-20171115-19789-x4zpvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Overeating and drinking are more likely at the root of your post-feast nap.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/homemade-turkey-thanksgiving-dinner-mashed-potatoes-157931939">Brent Hofacker/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So tryptophan is off the snooze-inducing hook. But researchers in the Netherlands suggest it does have a different psychological effect: They’ve discovered that doses of <a href="https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/L-tryptophan#section=Top">tryptophan</a> (chemically known as L-tryptophan and abbreviated TRP) can promote interpersonal trust – that feeling you get when you look somebody in the eye, shake her hand and think, “I can cooperate with this person and she would reciprocate.” </p>
<p>In a study <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797613500795">published in the journal Psychological Science,</a> pairs of volunteers were each given an oral dose of 0.8g of TRP or a placebo. For comparison, a <a href="http://extension.illinois.edu/turkey/nutrition.cfm">100g standard serving of turkey</a> about the thickness of a deck of playing cards contains <a href="http://www.dietandfitnesstoday.com/tryptophan-in-turkey-breast.php">about 0.31g of tryptophan</a>.</p>
<p>Each duo then sat in separate cubicles and played a game where one person (the truster) was given US$7 and had to decide how much to transfer to the other person. The transferred money was then multiplied by three and the trustee could give back part of the tripled money.</p>
<p>The more money you’re willing to give away in the first place, the greater your return in the end – but you have to trust the other person to cooperate. A very simple and profitable game if played right.</p>
<p>The researchers found that the TRP group gave $4.81 on average and the placebo group offered only $3.38. This is a sizable 42 percent increase in transferred money between the two groups.</p>
<p>So what’s going on? Here’s the brain science behind how the tryptophan-trust connection works. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ars.usda.gov/northeast-area/beltsville-md/beltsville-human-nutrition-research-center/nutrient-data-laboratory/">TRP is an essential amino acid found in many foods</a> including eggs, soybeans, chocolate, cheeses, fish, nuts and, of course, turkey. The brain region associated with interpersonal trust – known as the medial prefrontal cortex – is powered by the neurotransmitter serotonin. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers found throughout the body that transmit signals from one nerve cell to another.</p>
<p>Our bodies synthesize many neurotransmitters from simple amino acids which are readily available in our food and can be quickly converted in a small number of biosynthetic steps. The neurotransmitter <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.174.4013.1023">serotonin is controlled in part by the release of TRP</a>. This means that as you increase levels of TRP you’re able to release serotonin in the brain region specially designed to process trust. Think of a flashing neon sign that reads “trust this person, trust this person.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194880/original/file-20171115-19782-1guxkf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194880/original/file-20171115-19782-1guxkf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194880/original/file-20171115-19782-1guxkf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194880/original/file-20171115-19782-1guxkf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194880/original/file-20171115-19782-1guxkf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194880/original/file-20171115-19782-1guxkf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194880/original/file-20171115-19782-1guxkf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194880/original/file-20171115-19782-1guxkf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A plate of turkey won’t convince you to buy into Cousin Gerald’s pyramid scheme.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/people-celebrating-thanksgiving-holiday-tradition-concept-497011660">Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Keep in mind, however, that our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.256">decisions to trust or not</a> to trust do not rely solely on ingesting TRP. In the real world we take into account personality factors, how well we know someone, previous cooperation with that person, tone of voice, eye contact, body language <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02312.x">and so on</a>. These all have a hand in shaping the conscious and unconscious rules that govern our pro-social behavior and trust preferences.</p>
<p>So this holiday season, eat your turkey (or salmon or cashews or cottage cheese or chocolate) and remember that few things are more pleasurable than the joy that comes from sharing a holiday meal with loved ones. Science shows us that tryptophan can promote social bonding, but there still is no substitute for giving thanks. Trust me.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87052/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin Bennett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Remember that story about the molecule found in turkey that makes you drowsy? Research shows it’s a myth – tryptophan doesn’t cause you to nod off, but it may be connected to cooperation.Kevin Bennett, Full Teaching Professor of Psychology, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/593512017-11-14T02:48:18Z2017-11-14T02:48:18ZThe story of America, as told through diet books<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194210/original/file-20171110-29345-10a635u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">John Fekner's art warned others of toxins poisoning the planet. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:John_Fekner#/media/File:Jftoxicleft.jpg">Fekner at English Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“The South Beach Diet” sold <a href="http://newsroom.nutrisystem.com/nutrisystem-inc-acquires-south-beach-diet-brand-from-sbd-holdings-group-corp/">23 million</a> diet books. Dr. Atkins sold another <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/18/nyregion/dr-robert-c-atkins-author-controversial-but-best-selling-diet-books-dead-72.html">15 million</a>. Even lesser-known diet books like Christian best-sellers “The Maker’s Diet” regularly sell millions of copies. </p>
<p>This isn’t a new trend. The 1918 diet book “Diet and Health: With Key to the Calories” sold two million copies by 1940 and was published in more than 55 editions. Combined, just these few series could fill every shelf in the Library of Congress and still have a copy left over for every American public library. </p>
<p>Why do we find the stories told by diet books so persuasive? What is it about this near-impossible quest that’s seduced reader after reader over the last century? </p>
<p>Diet books provide the narrative key – not only to our 20th century Western obsession with weight loss, but our culture as a whole. If culture, as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Clifford-Geertz">anthropologist Clifford Geertz</a> once put it, is made up of the “stories we tell ourselves about ourselves,” then diet books are troves of these stories, at once wildly democratic and deeply intimate. </p>
<p>I’ve spent the last five years reading hundreds of diet books. As I explain in my upcoming book, <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/diet-and-the-disease-of-civilization/9780813589640">“Diet and the Disease of Civilization</a>,” diet books and nutritional advice offer needed insights into the philosophical debate in America about who we are and how we should live.</p>
<h2>The disease of civilization</h2>
<p>In an echo of Genesis, diet books recount an earlier, Edenic paradise of health. They narrate our fall from grace, then exhort dieters to reform their lifestyles and return to that earlier ideal. They pathologize the relationship between human health and modernity by insisting that we should return to a more “natural” lifestyle. </p>
<p>Take the <a href="http://thepaleodiet.com/">paleo diet</a>. This diet holds up an original Paleolithic paradise as an ideal world, characterized by social equality, effortless health and natural beauty. Today’s world looks grim by comparison.</p>
<p>The paleo diet implies that agriculture brought about mankind’s fall from grace, ripping Paleolithic peoples from their state of nature and introducing civil society and all of its many problems. It promises its <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/12/27/257669972/was-2013-really-the-year-of-the-paleo-diet">three million American followers</a> a chance to recover some of that <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/579270/pdf">original world</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185512/original/file-20170911-1373-u7fb97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185512/original/file-20170911-1373-u7fb97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185512/original/file-20170911-1373-u7fb97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185512/original/file-20170911-1373-u7fb97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185512/original/file-20170911-1373-u7fb97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185512/original/file-20170911-1373-u7fb97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185512/original/file-20170911-1373-u7fb97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Expulsion from the Garden of Eden’ by Thomas Cole depicts the edge between Paradise and a hostile world ravaged by civilization.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Museum of Fine Arts in Boston</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520242401">Devotional diets</a> offer the most obvious example of a fallen society. Christian weight loss plans like <a href="http://theedendiet.com/">the Eden Diet</a> fold the spirit into the larger claim of the diet genre on the whole: namely, that Americans today are fat, sick and sad because our world is out of whack. These books suggest that Western civilization denies human nature and that disease is the inevitable cost of modern life. </p>
<p>All of these stories combine to create a <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/06/want-to-lose-weight-put-down-the-diet-book.html">powerful critique of modernity</a>. Our Puritan forefathers decried Americans for failures of spirit. Our diet gurus today rage that our bodies are ill and our willpower weak. Both insist that only individual reform – of spirit or of body – would rescue the health of the body politic. </p>
<h2>The ‘toxins’ of modern life</h2>
<p>In an elegant story of a pure, preindustrial world, detox diets push for a cleaner body and a cleaner environment. </p>
<p>Published since the 1980s, detox diets blame pollution, contamination and the general toxicity of modern life for the rise of obesity and other noncommunicable diseases. These diets include food addiction in the broader drug and alcohol addiction framework. </p>
<p>Detox diets helped introduced <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/25474358">“toxicity”</a> as a metaphor in public discussions about food, addiction and obesity in the U.S. Today, obesity prevention researchers and alternative food activists blame a <a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-causes/food-environment-and-obesity/">“toxic food environment”</a> for food addiction and rising obesity rates. </p>
<p>This concept mediates between <a href="http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199857081.001.0001/acprof-9780199857081">conservative arguments for personal responsibility</a> and liberal beliefs in government intervention. Toxicity is the middleman in the relationship between environment and citizen. </p>
<p>Few detox diets pinpoint actual toxic substances like mercury in tuna or specific preservatives in processed foods. Instead, toxic foods or a toxic society are easy scapegoats in a world so tragically saturated with <a href="https://archive.org/stream/fp_Silent_Spring-Rachel_Carson-1962/Silent_Spring-Rachel_Carson-1962_djvu.txt">material toxins like DDT</a>. For dieters, “toxins” are nearly always vague shorthand for all that is wrong with American culture, politics and people. </p>
<p><a href="http://news.stanford.edu/press-releases/2016/01/13/pr-diet-lit-johnson-011316/">1984’s “Detox”</a> opened with a sentence typical of the genre: “It is now a fact that harmful substances are everywhere: in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the fresh vegetables we eat, and the clothes we wear. The environment, once so familiar and trustworthy, is becoming a stranger as toxic chemicals permeate our atmosphere, lakes, oceans, and soil.” The book advised Americans to detoxify their diets and protect themselves from pollution with masks and filters.</p>
<h2>Purify your body… and clean up the world</h2>
<p>Many diet books straddle the political line between diet and manifesto. Rather than accept environmental damage as irrevocable, these books often urge dieters to vote for environmentalist candidates, support organizations like the Sierra Club or, at the very least, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Great-American-Detox-Diet-Cleaning/dp/1594864845">practice consumer activism.</a> </p>
<p>In 1971, food activist Frances Lappé’s best-selling <a href="http://smallplanet.org/books/diet-small-planet">“Diet for a Small Planet”</a> was at once a political blueprint for a better world and a meal-by-meal diet. Lappé championed environmental vegetarianism and railed against industrial agriculture in the path-breaking book, which has since sold <a href="https://www.smallplanet.org/frances-moore-lappe">three million copies</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138312/original/image-20160919-11134-1wu1fo1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138312/original/image-20160919-11134-1wu1fo1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138312/original/image-20160919-11134-1wu1fo1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138312/original/image-20160919-11134-1wu1fo1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138312/original/image-20160919-11134-1wu1fo1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138312/original/image-20160919-11134-1wu1fo1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138312/original/image-20160919-11134-1wu1fo1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Life in a Peaceful New World’ illustrates the religious idea of returning to a holy world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">pamphlet, Adrienne Rose Johnson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a way, detox diets use selfishness as a springboard. They rally self-concerned readers not simply to improve their own lives, but to save the world. By <a href="http://pollan.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/05/07/voting-with-your-fork/?_r=0">“voting with your fork,”</a> alternative food activists use consumer dollars to promote a vision of whole foods, real small-scale farms and a diverse bounty of unprocessed produce.</p>
<p>This naive, wistful vision has the power to create activists from cynics: Think of the continued relevance of the 1984 “Detox” promise that “By the year 2000, we should all be breathing cleaner air, eating unprocessed and uncontaminated foods, and drinking water that is fit to drink.” </p>
<h2>A vision for the future</h2>
<p>Many diets today respond to anxiety over the coldness of modern life by romanticizing a <a href="https://archive.org/details/lettersonagricul00wash">pioneer past</a>, built on the concept of the agrarian democracy advocated by Thomas Jefferson. This kind of Jeffersonian republicanism advocated for a nation of independent yeoman farmers insulated from city corruption, deeply invested in American soil and, in turn, the American endeavor. </p>
<p>But they also relay more radical food politics into an easy-to-understand set of food philosophies that issue a call to action. They call on us to detoxify our bodies and our nation, curing the sickness of both body and body politic. </p>
<p>These books tell the story of a people who – despite the sometimes unending tragedies of modern life – reject the world-weariness that plagues our cynics and depresses our idealists. Dieters plod along: They are optimists who recognize the hungry, difficult work of everyday life, but still plan to recapture a lost world, perhaps even better than it was before.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59351/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adrienne Rose Bitar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Diet books aren’t just fluff. They offer a powerful insight into who Americans are – and how we wish the world could be.Adrienne Rose Bitar, Postdoctoral associate, Cornell UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/860352017-11-13T01:01:57Z2017-11-13T01:01:57ZThe strange story of turkey tails speaks volumes about our globalized food system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193827/original/file-20171108-14182-18ak4eh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Headed for export?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/aH4bfM">Ryan McDonough</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Intensive livestock farming is a huge global industry that serves up millions of tons of beef, pork and poultry every year. When I asked one producer recently to name something his industry thinks about that consumers don’t, he replied, “Beaks and butts.” This was his shorthand for animal parts that consumers – especially in wealthy nations – don’t choose to eat.</p>
<p>On Thanksgiving, turkeys will adorn close to <a href="http://extension.illinois.edu/turkey/turkey_facts.cfm">90 percent</a> of U.S. dinner tables. But one part of the bird never makes it to the groaning board, or even to the giblet bag: the tail. The fate of this fatty chunk of meat shows us the bizarre inner workings of our global food system, where eating more of one food produces less-desirable cuts and parts. This then creates demand elsewhere – so successfully in some instances that the foreign part becomes, over time, a national delicacy.</p>
<h2>Spare parts</h2>
<p>Industrial-scale livestock production evolved <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/a0158e/a0158e02.htm">after World War II</a>, supported by scientific advances such as antibiotics, growth hormones and, in the case of the turkey, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/11/the-supersized-american-turkey/281843/">artificial insemination</a>. (The bigger the tom, the harder it is for him to do what he’s supposed to do: procreate.) </p>
<p>U.S. commercial turkey production <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/livestock-meat-domestic-data/">increased</a> from 16 million pounds in January 1960 to 500 million pounds in January 2017. </p>
<p>That includes a quarter-billion turkey tails, also known as the parson’s nose, pope’s nose or sultan’s nose. The tail is actually a gland that attaches the turkey’s feathers to its body. It is filled with oil that the bird uses to preen itself, so about 75 percent of its calories come from fat.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193832/original/file-20171108-14215-9vse2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193832/original/file-20171108-14215-9vse2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193832/original/file-20171108-14215-9vse2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193832/original/file-20171108-14215-9vse2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193832/original/file-20171108-14215-9vse2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193832/original/file-20171108-14215-9vse2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193832/original/file-20171108-14215-9vse2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193832/original/file-20171108-14215-9vse2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ready to eat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/dBeeHr">Mark Turnauckas</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s not clear why turkeys arrive at U.S. stores tailless. Industry insiders have suggested to me that it may simply have been an economic decision. Turkey consumption was a novelty for most consumers before World War II, so few developed a taste for the tail, although the curious can find <a href="http://www.soulfoodandsoutherncooking.com/how-to-cook-turkey-tail.html">recipes online</a>. Turkeys have become larger, <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/11/turkey-bigger-thanksgiving-butterball-antibiotics/">averaging around 30 pounds today compared to 13 pounds in the 1930s</a>. We’ve also been breeding for breast size, due to the American love affair with white meat: One prized early big-breasted variety was called <a href="https://modernfarmer.com/2014/11/turkeys-got-broad-white-breasts/">Bronze Mae West</a>. Yet the tail remains. </p>
<h2>Savored in Samoa</h2>
<p>Rather than letting turkey tails go to waste, the poultry industry saw a business opportunity. The target: Pacific Island communities, where animal protein was scarce. In the 1950s U.S. poultry firms began dumping turkey tails, along with chicken backs, into markets in Samoa. (Not to be outdone, New Zealand and Australia exported “mutton flaps,” also known as sheep bellies, to the Pacific Islands.) With this strategy, the turkey industry turned waste into gold. </p>
<p>By 2007 the average Samoan was consuming more than 44 pounds of turkey tails every year – a food that had been unknown there less than a century earlier. That’s <a href="http://www.nationalchickencouncil.org/about-the-industry/statistics/per-capita-consumption-of-poultry-and-livestock-1965-to-estimated-2012-in-pounds/">nearly triple</a> Americans’ annual per capita turkey consumption. </p>
<p>When I interviewed Samoans for my book <a href="https://islandpress.org/books/no-one-eats-alone">“No One Eats Alone: Food as a Social Enterprise</a>,” it was immediately clear that some considered this once-foreign food part of their island’s national cuisine. When I asked them to list popular “Samoan foods,” multiple people mentioned turkey tails – frequently washed down with a cold Budweiser.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193838/original/file-20171108-14205-17phee6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193838/original/file-20171108-14205-17phee6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193838/original/file-20171108-14205-17phee6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193838/original/file-20171108-14205-17phee6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193838/original/file-20171108-14205-17phee6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193838/original/file-20171108-14205-17phee6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193838/original/file-20171108-14205-17phee6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193838/original/file-20171108-14205-17phee6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">American Samoa is a U.S. territory covering seven islands in the South Pacific.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NPS_american-samoa-regional-map.jpg">National Park Service</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>How did imported turkey tails become a favorite among Samoa’s working class? Here lies a lesson for health educators: The tastes of iconic foods cannot be separated from the environments in which they are eaten. The more convivial the atmosphere, the more likely people will be to have positive associations with the food. </p>
<p>Food companies have known this for generations. It’s why Coca-Cola has been ubiquitous in baseball parks for more than a century, and why many McDonald’s have PlayPlaces. It also explains our attachment to turkey and other classics at Thanksgiving. The holidays can be stressful, but they also are a lot of fun. </p>
<p>As Julia, a 20-something Samoan, explained to me, “You have to understand that we eat turkey tails at home with family. It’s a social food, not something you’ll eat when you’re alone.”</p>
<p>Turkey tails also come up in discussions of the health epidemic gripping these islands. American Samoa has an obesity rate of <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/battling-american-samoas-75-percent-obesity-rate/">75 percent</a>. Samoan officials grew so concerned that they <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/05/14/182568333/samoans-await-the-return-of-the-tasty-turkey-tail">banned turkey tail imports</a> in 2007.</p>
<p>But asking Samoans to abandon this cherished food overlooked its deep social attachments. Moreover, under World Trade Organization rules, countries and territories generally cannot unilaterally ban the import of commodities unless there are proven public health reasons for doing so. Samoa was forced to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-20/an-samoa-lifts-ban-on-high-fat-turkey-tails/4699506">lift its ban</a> in 2013 as a condition of joining the WTO, notwithstanding its health worries.</p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/242318480" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Author Michael Carolan cooks turkey tails for the first time.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Embracing the whole animal</h2>
<p>If Americans were more interested in eating turkey tails, some of our supply might stay at home. Can we bring back so called <a href="http://www.restaurant.org/Manage-My-Restaurant/Food-Nutrition/Cost-Management/Serving-up-the-whole-animal-Nose-to-tail-cooking">nose-to-tail</a> animal consumption? This trend has gaining some ground in the United States, but mainly in a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/24/iowa-pig-tail-trend/1862573/">narrow foodie niche</a>.</p>
<p>Beyond Americans’ <a href="http://modernnotion.com/the-world-war-ii-campaign-to-get-americans-to-eat-organ-meat/">general squeamishness</a> toward offal and tails, we have a knowledge problem. Who even knows how to carve a turkey anymore? Challenging diners to select, prepare and eat whole animals is a pretty big ask.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193839/original/file-20171108-14221-sh1zwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193839/original/file-20171108-14221-sh1zwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193839/original/file-20171108-14221-sh1zwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193839/original/file-20171108-14221-sh1zwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193839/original/file-20171108-14221-sh1zwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193839/original/file-20171108-14221-sh1zwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193839/original/file-20171108-14221-sh1zwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193839/original/file-20171108-14221-sh1zwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Oxtails were a popular Depression-era meat cut in the United States, but now are found more frequently in Asian cuisine; shown here, oxtail soup at a Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/oEfLU4">T. Tseng</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Google’s digitization of old cookbooks shows us that it wasn’t always so. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=j3MEAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+American+Home+Cookbook&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiaqtfUzZHXAhWH14MKHfneDy4Q6AEIKzAA#v=onepage&q&f=false">“The American Home Cook Book</a>,” published in 1864, instructs readers when choosing lamb to “observe the neck vein in the fore quarter, which should be of an azure-blue to denote quality and sweetness.” Or when selecting venison, “pass a knife along the bones of the haunches of the shoulders; if it smell [sic] sweet, the meat is new and good; if tainted, the fleshy parts of the side will look discolored, and the darker in proportion to its staleness.” Clearly, our ancestors knew food very differently than we do today.</p>
<p>It is not that we don’t know how to judge quality anymore. But the yardstick we use is calibrated – intentionally, <a href="https://islandpress.org/books/no-one-eats-alone">as I’ve learned</a> – against a different standard. The modern industrial food system has trained consumers to prioritize quantity and convenience, and to judge freshness based on sell-by-date stickers. Food that is processed and sold in convenient portions takes a lot of the thinking process out of eating. </p>
<p>If this picture is bothersome, think about taking steps to recalibrate that yardstick. Maybe add a few <a href="https://sustainablefoodcenter.org/latest/gardening/heirlooms-for-thanksgiving-dinner">heirloom ingredients</a> to beloved holiday dishes and talk about what makes them special, perhaps while showing the kids how to judge a fruit or vegetable’s ripeness. Or even <a href="https://www.chowhound.com/post/turkey-tails-819469">roast some turkey tails</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86035/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Carolan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The fate of turkey tails shows how Americans have shifted from eating whole animals to focusing on choice cuts – and the surprising places where unwanted parts end up.Michael Carolan, Professor of Sociology and Associate Dean for Research & Graduate Affairs, College of Liberal Arts, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/822942017-11-07T03:29:56Z2017-11-07T03:29:56ZThe long, strange history of dieting fads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184784/original/file-20170905-32174-ly2c4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Another day, another diet.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/diet-woman-measuring-body-weight-on-650125099?src=Xp1V1Ltm0rHhW45CXDWTKQ-1-6">Yuriy Maksymiv/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Of all the parasites that affect humanity I do not know of, nor can I imagine, any more distressing than that of Obesity.” </p>
<p>So started <a href="https://archive.org/details/letteroncorpulen00bant">William Banting</a>’s “Letter on Corpulence,” likely the first diet book ever published. Banting, an overweight undertaker, published the book in 1864 to espouse his success after replacing an excessive intake of bread, sugar and potatoes with mostly meat, fish and vegetables. </p>
<p>Since then, fad diets have appeared in many forms. To what length will people go to achieve their desired figure? As a professor of nutrition and eating behaviors, my sense is the history of dieting shows vanity outweighs common sense. </p>
<h2>Liquid-based diets</h2>
<p>Let’s jump back to 1028, the year <a href="http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-william-the-conqueror">William the Conqueror</a> was born. Healthy most of his life, he became so overweight in later years that he went on a liquid diet consisting of almost nothing but alcohol. He lost enough weight to resume riding his cherished horse, but a riding accident soon led to his untimely death. </p>
<p>We do know of one case in which consuming more alcohol than food allegedly led to longevity. In 1558, Italian nobleman <a href="http://hipporeads.com/the_immortality_diet_how_diet_and_age_intersect/">Luigi Cornaro</a> restricted himself daily to 12 ounces of food and 14 ounces of wine. Rumor has it he lived to a ripe 102 years of age, earning his approach the nickname The Immortality Diet.</p>
<p>Another alcohol-focused plan, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/2004/04/21/cz_af_0421feat.html">The Drinking Man’s Diet</a>, was introduced in the 1960s. This included so-called “manly” foods like steak and fish, along with as much alcohol as desired.</p>
<p>Poet <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16351761">Lord Byron</a> credited his thin, pale look to vinegar and water. This practice reemerged in the 1950s as the popular <a href="http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,811634,00.html?iid=chix-sphere">Apple Cider Vinegar Diet</a>, which instructs people to drink a mixture of equal parts honey and vinegar. The latest version, although not scientifically supported, claims that three teaspoons of apple cider vinegar before each meal will curb cravings and cut fat.</p>
<h2>Cleanses</h2>
<p>“Cleaner” liquid diets, cleanses and detoxes are designed to supposedly rid the body of toxins, despite our natural ability to do so.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184781/original/file-20170905-32174-1pn0llp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184781/original/file-20170905-32174-1pn0llp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184781/original/file-20170905-32174-1pn0llp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184781/original/file-20170905-32174-1pn0llp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184781/original/file-20170905-32174-1pn0llp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184781/original/file-20170905-32174-1pn0llp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184781/original/file-20170905-32174-1pn0llp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 1950 ad for ‘vitamin candy.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nesster/7988128448">nesster/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1941, alternative health enthusiast Stanley Burroughs created the Master Cleanse, or <a href="http://themastercleanse.com/master-cleanse/lemonade-diet/">Lemonade Diet</a>, to eliminate cravings for junk food, alcohol, tobacco and drugs. All you had to do was consume a mixture of lemon or lime juice, maple syrup, water and cayenne pepper six times a day for at least 10 days. Beyoncé <a href="http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/The-Stars-of-Dreamgirls/6">made this popular again</a> in 2006, saying she lost 20 pounds in two weeks. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.doctoroz.com/article/dr-ozs-5-day-summer-cleanse">TV physician Dr. Oz</a> and others have since promoted their own versions, varying in length and foods allowed. Most include a daily laxative and copious amounts of water.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/861235/prolinn_diet/">Last Chance Diet</a>, published in 1976, consisted of drinking a very low-calorie liquid a few times per day. The main ingredient was a blend of predigested animal byproducts – think hide, horns and tendons. This “meat smoothie” was taken off the market after several followers died. </p>
<p>More recently, the Green Juice plan became popular. Many were captivated by the promise of a deep cleanse or quick weight loss, while others saw it as an easy way to consume more fruits and vegetables. One of the original recipes called for apples, celery, cucumber, kale, lemon and ginger. </p>
<h2>Celebrity diets</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.faena.com/aleph/articles/andy-warhols-foolproof-new-york-diet/">Andy Warhol</a> had a different approach to maintaining his physique. He reportedly ordered foods he disliked when out at restaurants, asking for a to-go box upon leaving. He would then give this to a homeless person. </p>
<p>Sleeping was another possibility. Elvis Presley was rumored to be an advocate of the Sleeping Beauty Diet. Its long pill-induced sleeping bouts were said to inhibit eating. </p>
<p>A more recent effort to mimic celebrities, the <a href="https://www.diet.com/g/hollywood-diet">Hollywood 48 Hour Miracle Diet</a> was joined by the Hollywood 24 Hour Miracle Diet, the Hollywood Daily Miracle Diet Drink Mix Meal Replacement and various dietary supplements. </p>
<h2>Get slim quick</h2>
<p>In the early 1900s, overweight businessman Horace Fletcher slimmed down and made dieting a pop culture phenomenon with his <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9693596">Chewing Diet</a>. He recommended chewing food until it became liquid to prevent overeating. </p>
<p>Another method rumored to be popular in the early 1900s was the <a href="http://www.snopes.com/horrors/vanities/tapeworm.asp">Tapeworm Diet</a>. Theoretically, one would swallow a tapeworm or tapeworm pills. The worm would then live in your stomach and consume some of your food. While vintage advertisements have been found, there is no evidence that tapeworms were actually sold.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184782/original/file-20170905-24230-1f5yzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184782/original/file-20170905-24230-1f5yzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184782/original/file-20170905-24230-1f5yzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=733&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184782/original/file-20170905-24230-1f5yzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=733&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184782/original/file-20170905-24230-1f5yzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=733&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184782/original/file-20170905-24230-1f5yzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184782/original/file-20170905-24230-1f5yzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184782/original/file-20170905-24230-1f5yzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tapeworm, anyone?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/39736050@N02/8212182572">fdaphotos/flickr</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other diets have allured fans over the years with the promise of easy weight loss through a single miraculous food. There’s the Grapefruit Diet, which recommends half a grapefruit before every meal; The Peanut Butter Diet and the Ice Cream Diet, both promising as much of said food daily as desired; and the Shangri-La Diet in 2006, which claimed you could beat hunger by drinking olive oil about an hour before each meal.</p>
<p>One standout example was the <a href="https://www.diet.com/g/cabbage-soup-diet">Cabbage Soup Diet</a>, first popularized by celebrities in the 1950s. This diet involved consuming nothing but soup for seven days. The original recipe called for cabbage, vegetables, water and dry onion soup mix, but other renditions added ingredients like fruit, skim milk and beef. It became trendy again every ten years or so, with the internet making it easier to share. </p>
<h2>Alternative ideas</h2>
<p>Some diets and their supporting theories went beyond food. </p>
<p>In 1727, writer Thomas Short observed that overweight people lived near swamps. His <a href="http://www.active.com/nutrition/articles/11-weirdest-diets-in-history">Avoiding Swamps Diet</a> thus recommended moving away from swamps. </p>
<p>Instead of moving away from swamps, <a href="http://www.snopes.com/breatharians/">Breatharianism</a> recommends not eating. Followers in a 2017 interview claimed food and water are unnecessary, saying they subsist on spirituality and sunlight alone. The prolonged fasting would eventually lead to starvation, but devotees have been spotted eating and drinking. </p>
<p>The more dangerous <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/dangerous-diet-trend-cotton-ball-diet/story?id=20942888">Cotton Ball Diet</a> surfaced in 2013. Dieters reported consuming up to five cotton balls at a time, saying they felt full and lost weight. With its unfortunate side effect of intestinal obstruction, this diet faded away. </p>
<p>But not all unusual ideas are bad. The Seven Day Color Diet, published in 2003, suggested eating foods of only one color each day. For example, red day would include tomatoes, apples and cranberries. This actually emphasizes healthful foods to include, rather than crazy concoctions or restrictions. </p>
<p>While intriguing, fad diets are usually short-term quick fixes. They may produce initial rapid weight loss, but this is more likely due to their lower calorie intake than the follower’s usual diet, and often consists of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2016-2385">water loss</a>. </p>
<p>Instead, we should remember that there’s no simple secret to losing weight. Achieving sustained weight loss and maintenance requires reducing your calorie intake and increasing your activity levels – with or without grapefruit and cabbage.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82294/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melissa Wdowik does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For centuries, people have been trying to lose weight in all sorts of ways – including drinking vinegar, avoiding swamps and stocking up on grapefruit.Melissa Wdowik, Assistant Professor of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/866492017-11-02T17:27:06Z2017-11-02T17:27:06ZIn America’s sandwiches, the story of a nation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193075/original/file-20171102-26483-ais8mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/roast-beef-sandwich-on-plate-pickles-675902929?src=dhOfZe0q8WbQgSGvfCnEXw-1-41">Anna_Pustynnikova</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Everyone has a favorite sandwich, often prepared to an exacting degree of specification: Turkey or ham? Grilled or toasted? Mayo or mustard? White or whole wheat?</em> </p>
<p><em>We reached out to five food historians and asked them to tell the story of a sandwich of their choosing. The responses included staples like peanut butter and jelly, as well as regional fare like New England’s chow mein sandwich.</em> </p>
<p><em>Together, they show how the sandwiches we eat (or used to eat) do more than fill us up during our lunch breaks. In their stories are themes of immigration and globalization, of class and gender, and of resourcefulness and creativity.</em></p>
<hr>
<h2>A taste of home for working women</h2>
<p><strong>Megan Elias, Boston University</strong></p>
<p>The tuna salad sandwich originated from an impulse to conserve, only to become a symbol of excess. </p>
<p>In the 19th century – before the era of supermarkets and cheap groceries – most Americans avoided wasting food. Scraps of chicken, ham or fish from supper would be mixed with mayonnaise and served on lettuce for lunch. Leftovers of celery, pickles and olives – served as supper “relishes” – would also be folded into the mix. </p>
<p>The versions of these salads that incorporated fish tended to use salmon, white fish or trout. Most Americans didn’t cook (or even know of) tuna. </p>
<p>Around the end of the 19th century, middle-class women <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/98859/land-of-desire-by-william-r-leach/9780679754114/">began to spend more time in public</a>, patronizing department stores, lectures and museums. Since social conventions kept these women out of the saloons where men ate, lunch restaurants opened up to cater to this new clientele. They offered women exactly the kind of foods they had served each other at home: salads. While salads made at home often were composed of leftovers, those at lunch restaurants were made from scratch. Fish and shellfish salads were typical fare. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193068/original/file-20171102-26483-15wim46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193068/original/file-20171102-26483-15wim46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=841&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193068/original/file-20171102-26483-15wim46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=841&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193068/original/file-20171102-26483-15wim46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=841&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193068/original/file-20171102-26483-15wim46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1057&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193068/original/file-20171102-26483-15wim46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1057&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193068/original/file-20171102-26483-15wim46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1057&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 1949 ad in Ladies’ Home Journal announces a ‘Revolution in Tuna.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/The_Ladies%27_home_journal_%281948%29_%2814766583732%29.jpg">Internet Archive Book Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When further social and economic changes <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/out-to-work-9780195157093?cc=us&lang=en&">brought women into the public as office and department store workers</a>, they found fish salads waiting for them at the affordable lunch counters patronized by busy urban workers. Unlike the ladies’ lunch, the office lunch hour had time limits. So lunch counters came up with the idea of offering the salads between two pieces of bread, which sped up table turnover and encouraged patrons to get lunch to go. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520261846">When canned tuna was introduced in the early 20th century</a>, lunch counters and home cooks could skip the step of cooking a fish and go straight to the salad. But there was downside: The immense popularity of canned tuna led to the growth of a global industry that has severely depleted stocks and led to the unintended <a href="https://swfsc.noaa.gov/textblock.aspx?Division=PRD&ParentMenuId=228&id=1408">slaughter of millions of dolphins</a>. A clever way to use dinner scraps has become a global crisis of conscience and capitalism. </p>
<p>I like mine on toasted rye.</p>
<hr>
<h2>East meets West in Fall River, Massachusetts</h2>
<p><strong>Imogene Lim, Vancouver Island University</strong></p>
<p>“Gonna get a big dish of beef chow mein,” Warren Zevon <a href="https://play.google.com/music/preview/Tzmgsphpess3y2zc3oglxr4aira?lyrics=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=lyrics&pcampaignid=kp-lyrics&u=0#">sings</a> in his 1978 hit “Werewolves of London,” a nod to the popular Chinese stir-fried noodle dish. </p>
<p>During that same decade, <a href="https://folklife.si.edu/talkstory/2015/songs-for-ourselves-an-asian-american-music-playlist">Alika and the Happy Samoans</a>, the house band for a Chinese restaurant in Fall River, Massachusetts, also paid tribute to chow mein with a song titled “<a href="https://soundcloud.com/moyamoya4201/alika-and-the-happy-samoans">Chow Mein Sandwich</a>.”</p>
<p>Chow mein in a sandwich? Is that a real thing?</p>
<p>I was first introduced to the chow mein sandwich while completing my doctorate at Brown University. Even as the child of a Chinatown restaurateur from Vancouver, I viewed the sandwich as something of a mystery. It led to a post-doctoral fellowship and <a href="http://wordpress.viu.ca/limi/files/2012/07/ChowMeinSandwiches1994o.pdf">a paper</a> about Chinese entrepreneurship in New England. </p>
<p>The chow mein sandwich is the quintessential “East meets West” food, and it’s largely associated with New England’s Chinese restaurants – specifically, those of Fall River, a city crowded with textile mills near the Rhode Island border. </p>
<p>The sandwich became popular in the 1920s because it was filling and cheap: Workers munched on them in factory canteens, while their kids ate them for lunch in the parish schools, especially on meatless Fridays. It would go on to be available at some “five and dime” lunch counters, like <a href="http://www.enterprisenews.com/news/20160407/lunch-counter-memories-at-kresges-department-store-in-brockton">Kresge’s</a> and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/18/business/woolworth-gives-up-on-the-five-and-dime.html">Woolworth</a> – and even at <a href="http://photobucket.com/gallery/http://s143.photobucket.com/user/genalof/media/BLOG/09BLOG-6.jpg.html">Nathan’s</a> in Coney Island.</p>
<p>It’s exactly what it sounds like: a sandwich filled with chow mein (deep-fried, flat noodles, topped with a ladle of brown gravy, onions, celery and bean sprouts). If you want to make your own authentic sandwich at home, I recommend using <a href="https://www.famousfoods.com/newengland-chow.html">Hoo Mee Chow Mein Mix</a>, which is still made in Fall River. It can be served in a bun (à la sloppy joe) or between sliced white bread, much like a hot turkey sandwich with gravy. The classic meal includes the sandwich, french fries and orange soda.</p>
<p>For those who grew up in the Fall River area, the chow mein sandwich is a reminder of home. Just ask famous chef (and Fall River native) Emeril Lagasse, who came up with his own “Fall River chow mein” <a href="https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/fall-river-chow-mein">recipe</a>. </p>
<p>And at one time, Fall River expats living in Los Angeles would hold a “Fall River Day.” </p>
<p>On the menu? Chow mein sandwiches, of course. </p>
<hr>
<h2>A snack for the elites</h2>
<p><strong>Paul Freedman, Yale University</strong></p>
<p>Unlike many American food trends of the 1890s, such as the Waldorf salad and <a href="http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O93019/chafing-dish-cover-benson-william-arthur/">chafing dishes</a>, the club sandwich has endured, immune to obsolescence. </p>
<p>The sandwich originated in the country’s stuffy gentlemen’s clubs, which are known – to this day – for a conservatism that includes loyalty to outdated cuisine. (The Wilmington Club in Delaware continues to serve <a href="https://www.saveur.com/history-of-turtle-soup-hunting">terrapin</a>, while the Philadelphia Club’s specialties include veal and ham pie.) So the club sandwich’s spread to the rest of the population, along with its lasting popularity, is a testament to its inventiveness and appeal. </p>
<p>A two-layer affair, the club sandwich calls for three pieces of toasted bread spread with mayonnaise and filled with chicken or turkey, bacon, lettuce and tomato. Usually the sandwich is cut into two triangles and held together with a toothpick stuck in each half. </p>
<p>Some believe it should be eaten with a fork and knife, and its blend of elegance and blandness make the club sandwich a permanent feature of country and city club cuisine.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193071/original/file-20171102-26448-193bmll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193071/original/file-20171102-26448-193bmll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193071/original/file-20171102-26448-193bmll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193071/original/file-20171102-26448-193bmll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193071/original/file-20171102-26448-193bmll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193071/original/file-20171102-26448-193bmll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193071/original/file-20171102-26448-193bmll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The club sandwich: A perfect blend of elegance and blandness.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/club-sandwich-on-rustic-wooden-background-188159096">Alena Haurylik</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2015/11/the-evolution-of-club-sandwich.html">As far back as 1889</a>, there are references to a Union Club sandwich of turkey or ham on toast. The Saratoga Club-House offered a club sandwich on its menu beginning in 1894. </p>
<p>Interestingly, until the 1920s, sandwiches were identified with ladies’ lunch places that served “dainty” food. The first club sandwich recipe comes from an 1899 book of “salads, sandwiches and chafing-dish dainties,” and <a href="http://www.cntraveller.com/news/2012/january/in-praise-of-the-club-sandwich">its most famous proponent</a> was Wallis Simpson, the American woman whom Edward VIII abdicated the throne of Great Britain <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2016/11/edward-viii-wallis-simpson-wedding-photos-auction">to marry</a>. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, an 1889 article from the New York Sun entitled “An Appetizing Sandwich: A Dainty Treat That Has Made a New York Chef Popular” describes the Union Club sandwich as appropriate for a post-theater supper, or something light to be eaten before a nightcap. This was one type of sandwich that men could indulge in, the article seemed to be saying – as long as it wasn’t eaten for lunch.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193059/original/file-20171102-26462-1mm46ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193059/original/file-20171102-26462-1mm46ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193059/original/file-20171102-26462-1mm46ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193059/original/file-20171102-26462-1mm46ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193059/original/file-20171102-26462-1mm46ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193059/original/file-20171102-26462-1mm46ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193059/original/file-20171102-26462-1mm46ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New York City’s Union Club served an early version of the club sandwich that was a hit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Union_Club_NYC_003.JPG">Gryffindor</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<h2>‘The combination is delicious and original’</h2>
<p><strong>Ken Albala, University of the Pacific</strong></p>
<p>While the peanut butter and jelly sandwich eventually became a staple of elementary school cafeterias, it actually has upper-crust origins.</p>
<p>In the late-19th century, at elegant ladies’ luncheons, a popular snack was small, crustless tea sandwiches with butter and cucumber, cold cuts or cheese. Around this time, health food advocates like John Harvey Kellogg <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=4UkSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA140&dq=peanut+butter+inauthor:John+inauthor:Harvey+inauthor:Kellogg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiiuKHl953XAhUT5GMKHQe7A3MQ6AEIMzAC#v=onepage&q=peanut%20butter%20inauthor%3AJohn%20inauthor%3AHarvey%20inauthor%3AKellogg&f=false">started promoting</a> peanut products as a replacement for animal-based foods (butter included). So for a vegetarian option at these luncheons, peanut butter simply replaced regular butter.</p>
<p>One of the earliest known recipes that suggested including jelly with peanut butter appeared in a 1901 issue of the Boston Cooking School Magazine. </p>
<p>“For variety,” author Julia Davis Chandler <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=diUjAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22some%20day%20try%20making%20little%20sandwiches%2C%20or%20bread%20fingers%2C%20of%20three%20very%20thin%20layers%20of%20bread%20and%20two%20of%20filling%2C%20one%20of%20peanut%20paste&pg=RA1-PA188#v=onepage&q&f=false">wrote</a>, “some day try making little sandwiches, or bread fingers, of three very thin layers of bread and two of filling, one of peanut paste, whatever brand you prefer, and currant or crabapple jelly for the other. The combination is delicious, and so far as I know original.”</p>
<p>The sandwich moved from garden parties to lunchboxes in the 1920s, when peanut butter started to be mass produced with hydrogenated vegetable oil and sugar. Marketers of the Skippy brand targeted children as a potential new audience, and thus the association with school lunches was forged. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IPDH87kq-6M?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A Skippy peanut butter television ad from 1986.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The classic version of the sandwich is made with soft, sliced white bread, creamy or chunky peanut butter and jelly. Outside of the United States, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/09/peanut-butter_n_5105203.html">is rare </a> – much of the world views the combination as repulsive. </p>
<p>These days, many try to avoid <a href="https://www.salon.com/2012/03/03/the_rise_and_fall_of_white_bread/">white bread</a> and <a href="http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-rise-and-fall-of-trans-fat-20131107-story.html">hydrogenated fats</a>. Nonetheless, the sandwich has a nostalgic appeal for many Americans, and recipes for <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/food-sqirl-recipe-peanut-butter-and-jelly-sandwich-jam">high-end versions</a> – with freshly ground peanuts, artisanal bread or unusual jams – <a href="http://www.thecheapgourmet.com/2007/08/gourmet-peanut-.html">now circulate on the web</a>. </p>
<hr>
<h2>The Daughters of the Confederacy get creative</h2>
<p><strong>Andrew P. Haley, University of Southern Mississippi</strong></p>
<p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotch_woodcock">Scotch woodcock</a> is probably not Scottish. It’s arguably not even a sandwich. A favorite of Oxford students and members of Parliament until the mid-20th century, the dish is generally prepared by layering anchovy paste and eggs on toast.</p>
<p>Like its cheesier cousin, the Welsh rabbit (better known as rarebit), its name is fanciful. Perhaps there was something about the name, if not the ingredients, that sparked the imagination of Miss Frances Lusk of Jackson, Mississippi.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193072/original/file-20171102-26448-lh4msg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193072/original/file-20171102-26448-lh4msg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193072/original/file-20171102-26448-lh4msg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193072/original/file-20171102-26448-lh4msg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193072/original/file-20171102-26448-lh4msg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193072/original/file-20171102-26448-lh4msg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193072/original/file-20171102-26448-lh4msg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193072/original/file-20171102-26448-lh4msg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The United Daughters of the Confederacy cookbook features a take on the Scotch woodcock.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://digilib.usm.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/missana/id/1279/show/1254">McCain Library and Archives, The University of Southern Mississippi</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Inspired to add a little British sophistication to her entertaining, she crafted <a href="http://digilib.usm.edu/cdm/ref/collection/missana/id/1268">her own version</a> of the Scotch woodcock for a 1911 United Daughters of the Confederacy fundraising cookbook. Miss Lusk’s woodcock sandwich mixed strained tomatoes and melted cheese, added raw eggs, and slathered the paste between layers of bread (or biscuits). </p>
<p>As food historian Bee Wilson argues in her <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ydR5na_9fnYC&lpg=PP1&dq=bee%20wilson%20sandwich&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false">history of the sandwich</a>, American sandwiches distinguished themselves from their British counterparts by the scale of their ambition. Imitating the rising skylines of American cities, many were towering affairs that celebrated abundance. </p>
<p>But those sandwiches were the sandwiches of <a href="https://restaurant-ingthroughhistory.com/2014/01/19/early-chains-baltimore-dairy-lunch/">urban lunchrooms</a> and, later, diners. In the homes of southern clubwomen, the sandwich was a way to marry British sophistication to American creativity.</p>
<p>For example, the United Daughters of the Confederacy cookbook included “sweetbread sandwiches,” made by heating canned <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/offal">offal</a> (animal trimmings) and slathering the mashed mixture between two pieces of toast. There’s also a “green pepper sandwich,” crafted from “very thin” slices of bread and “very thin” slices of green pepper. </p>
<p>Such creative combinations weren’t limited to the elites of Mississippi’s capital city. In the plantation homes of the Mississippi Delta, members of the Coahoma Woman’s Club served sandwiches of English walnuts, black walnuts and stuffed olives ground into a colorful paste. They also assembled “Friendship Sandwiches” from grated cucumbers, onions, celery and green peppers mixed with cottage cheese and mayonnaise. Meanwhile, the industrial elite of Laurel, Mississippi, served <a href="http://digilib.usm.edu/cdm/ref/collection/missana/id/1351">mashed bacon and eggs sandwiches</a> and <a href="http://digilib.usm.edu/cdm/ref/collection/missana/id/1351">creamed sardine sandwiches</a>.</p>
<p>Not all of these amalgamations were capped by a slice of bread, so purists might balk at calling them sandwiches. But these ladies did – and they proudly tied up their original creations with ribbons.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86649/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Five food experts peer under the bread to plumb the histories of the country’s unique sandwiches, from favorites like tuna fish to lesser-known fare like the woodcock.Paul Freedman, Chester D. Tripp Professor of History, Yale UniversityAndrew P. Haley, Associate Professor of American Cultural History, The University of Southern MississippiImogene L. Lim, Professor of Anthropology, Vancouver Island UniversityKen Albala, Professor of History, University of the PacificMegan Elias, Associate Professor of the Practice of Gastronomy, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.