What Americans eat has changed drastically in the past 100 years. The nation transformed from having a relatively wholesome and nourishing food system—in the early 1900s, wealthy Europeans would travel to the United States for vacation simply to enjoy the splendid cuisine—to having a food culture laden with fats, sugar, and ultra-processed unhealthy foods today. As a result, our healthcare system currently spends roughly $1 trillion annually to combat diet-related diseases, which account for the majority of American deaths. How did we get here?
Historian Allen Pietrobon, an associate professor of global affairs at Trinity Washington University, leads a visual journey through the culinary history of the United States during the past century. Sample world-famous American restaurants of the turn of the 20th century and push a wonky-wheeled shopping cart through the 1950s “dark ages” of American cuisine with cavernous supermarkets peddling frozen TV dinners and gelatin salads. Explore watershed moments and crises, such as Prohibition, World War II and the urban riots of 1967-68, that radically changed how and what we eat. While these occurrences led to government policies aimed at alleviating temporary problems in our food system, the results included an unintended flood of cheaper and more highly processed foods.
Ultimately, see how what Americans were eating over the decades had a major impact on American society.
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