Little would one know that something as simple as the bread one uses to make their sandwich could cause so much havoc and debate in the late 1800s to the early 1900s. The debates over whether or not white bread was healthy, or whether homemade bread is healthier than store-bought bread consumed the minds of many Americans during this period. According to Aaron Bobrow-Strain, “well-meaning efforts to change the country through its bread ended up reinforcing forms of race, class, and gender exclusion – even when they also achieved much-needed improvements in America’s food system.” But what does this mean? Well, the varying belief on quality and health of bread was closely tied to who was making the bread. Through the production, distribution, and purchase of bread during the late 19th and early 20th century, one is able to discover the views on race and social class that surrounded the country during this period.
The outbreak of foodborne diseases influenced the nation to become concerned of germs in the presence of their cooking. Scientists during the late 19th century insisted that the mothers’ cooking did not do an adequate job of killing the bacterial microbes that were, in turn, killing the community. This belief of the scientists spread throughout America and resulted in a majority of people purchasing their bread from factories instead of homemaking it. However, germ suspicion continued to occur and America began to inspect the bakeries to ensure that they met healthy standards. Upon inspection, many of the committee members on the New York State Factory Investigating Committee believed that the real problem was the cleanliness of immigrant workers. For instance, “The city health commissioner, Ernest Lederle, argue...
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... early 20th century in the United States. When something would go wrong, such as the spread of foodborne illnesses, the blame would be put on women because they were not doing a sufficient job baking bread. When the foodborne illnesses continued to happen and the anxiety of germs was heightening, the immigrants were blamed because America viewed them as dirty. Furthermore, the consumption of white bread would indicate wealth and the progression of America, while dark bread signified inferiority. Fortunately in the 21st century, most of the issues regarding racial division have been resolved and wheat bread, which is actually healthier for the body, is viewed just as equal as white bread when it comes to social and racial hierarchies.
Works Cited
Bobrow-Strain, Aaron. White Bread: A Social History of the Store-bought Loaf. Boston: Beacon, 2012. Print.
In her essay, “Food’s Class Warfare,” author Tracie McMillan promotes the inclusion of both “individual changes and structural ones” (217), particularly “class consciousness” (217), in the fight for quality diets in America. She reveals the most common sides of the healthy food debate as the inherent “just-buy-better stuff logic” (215) and the opposing “structural challenges of eating well” (215). The main strategies for defeating the American “obesity epidemic” (216) have been reaching out to the individual, as well as changing the structure of the American food system itself. The favorite concept for structuralists is “food deserts - neighborhoods with insufficient grocery stores and thus insufficient supplies of healthy food” (216). She deems the concept insufficient in practice, as it ignores smaller markets and equates large stores with a healthy food source. While the individual viewpoint and structuralists argue with each other, they share common ideals. According to
the growing concern about the quality of food in America the government took action to
Nestle, Marion. Safe Food: Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2003.
Cost effective items were pivotal to their survival. As for eating such foods for many of years, those dishes that were made became critiqued throughout time to much tastier meals. Such meals were passed down from generation to generation, creating a unique history behind it. Also, during that time “Soul Food” was distinguishing its own meaning and identity, “There is no doubt that the slave trade left a profound and everlasting mark on the souls of enslaved Africans, but Opie makes a startlingly simple argument, offering a definition of soul that describes not slaves but the positive attributes of all of humankind.”(Evans 223) Laretta Henderson claims that, “in its culinary incarnation, "soul food" was associated with a shared history of oppression and inculcated, by some, with cultural pride. Soul food was eaten by the bondsmen. It was also the food former slaves incorporated into their diet after emancipation. Therefore, during the 1960s, middle-class blacks used their reported consumption of soul food to distance themselves from the values of the white middle class, to define themselves ethnically, and to align themselves with lower-class blacks. Irrespective of political affiliation or social class, the definition of “blackness” or “soul” became part of everyday discourse in the black
In Tracie McMillan’s article, “Food’s Class Warfare,” she discusses the possible problems and solutions of food equality among the classes. She believes, as does Alice Waters an organic chef, that “good food should be a right and not a privilege” (McMillan 1). “To secure the future of America’s food supply” (2) there are two camps of belief. The first, “just-buy-better-stuff” (2), is a belief that is based on an individual’s choice. Ultimately the choice is ours to make and we must be wise in what we eat. The second, structural challenges, argues that having access to healthy food will be what solves the problem. Although both sides have great points, McMillan believes it will take both working together, to change the way we eat.
American towns industrialized all throughout the nineteenth century, irresistible ailments developed as a genuine danger. The presentation of new workers and the development of vast urban zones permitted already confined sicknesses to spread rapidly and contaminate larger populations. As industrialization occurred, towns developed into cities, and people relocated to them. The expanded interest for shoddy lodging by urban vagrants prompted ineffectively assembled homes that poorly accommodated individual cleanliness. Outside laborers in the nineteenth century frequently lived in cramped dwellings that consistently lacked fundamental comforts, for example, running water, ventilation, and toilets. These conditions were perfect for the spread
The history of white bread is more important than we think. I will be reviewing the book White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf written by Aaron Bobrow-Strain. This book is about how white bread historical impacted the food production during the industrial revolution. Bobrow- Strain main argument is that the industrial revolution has changed the way food is produced and consumed. The main focus of the was on the production of white bread and how it has changed over time. Also, he look at the changes in the society and how that changed the production of white bread. He starts of being explaining bread was made in the homes, then bakeries, then
In the beginning of the 1900’s, the country made dramatic changes toward progressivism in domestic issues. These changes were first made by President Theodore Roosevelt, who signed the Pure Foods and Drug Act of 1906. This bill was made, “For preventing the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated or misbranded or poisonous or deleterious foods, drugs, medicines, and liquors, and for regulating traffic therein, and for other purposes.” This would help bring progressive change to many manufacturing industries that were newly developed in the late nineteenth century. These jobs were dangerous to an equal and fair way of living for the American working class and were resolved by this act.
Despite many people working for companies that cared so little for their employees, upper class citizens had no idea what was going on behind closed doors. It took muckrakers, investigative journalists who exposed the horrors of factory jobs, for the wealthy to see what poor, immigrant workers had to do for a living. Even the president at the time, Theodore Roosevelt, was not fully aware of what conditions these workers were subjected to. He sent two trusted men to investigate a certain meat-packing facility, and The Neill-Reynolds Report was the result. In this report, it was revealed to Roosevelt, along with the nation, that the men “saw meat shoveled from filthy wooden floors… in most cases damp and soggy…” and that the workers arrived every day to their jobs only to face “the expectoration of tuberculosis and other diseased workers,” (Doc B). Not only did people in the meat-packing industry have to work in dangerous conditions, but their health was at serious risk as well, from both fellow employees and the raw meat that was handled daily. Fortunately, once word of this reached President Roosevelt, he passed the Federal
Mintz, Steven. "Food in America." Digital History. History Online, 2007. Web. 01 Apr. 2012. .
“Out of every $1.50 spent on a large order of fries at fast food restaurant, perhaps 2 cents goes to the farmer that grew the potatoes,” (Schlosser 117). Investigative journalist Eric Schlosser brings to light these realities in his bestselling book, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Schlosser, a Princeton and Oxford graduate, is known for his inspective pieces for Atlantic Monthly. While working on article, for Rolling Stone Magazine, about immigrant workers in a strawberry field he acquired his inspiration for the aforementioned book, Fast Food Nation:
Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Print.
Food is traditionally considered as a simple means of subsistence but has developed to become filled with cultural, psychological, religious, and emotional significance. Consequently, food is currently used as a means of defining shared identities and symbolizes religious and group customs. In the early 17th and 18th centuries, this mere means of subsistence was considered as a class maker but developed to become a symbol of national identity in the 19th centuries. In the United States, food has been influenced by various cultures such as Native American, Latin America, and Asian cultures. Consequently, Americans have constantly Americanized the foods of different cultures to become American foods. The process on how Americans have Americanized different cultures’ foods and reasons for the Americanization is an important topic of discussion.
Decades later, and even in a new age of American “freedom” and “opportunities,” not much has really changed. In the American food industry, the presence of an oppressive class system is very rampant; hidden from view, but influential as ever. Because the way the food reaches our plates straight from the stores makes it seem like a simple method of growing and transporting, the complex system, or system of systems, is very much hidden behind a wall of what it seems to be. Citizens fail to realize that in this food supply chain, everyone plays a vital role, whether directly or passively contributing to the system. In 1880, roughly “80% of Americans worked in agriculture toiling to feed themselves and others,” which is now reduced to 2% of Americans
Throughout the Bible, bread was of great importance. It was a source of food, a currency of exchange, an example of hospitality, and even a gift from God. Because bread was of such great importance in the Israelites lives, it became a term that represented the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus became known as the “Bread of Life.” This paper will go into more depth about the importance of bread and the “Bread of Life.”