A network for those interested in the history of nutrition and related fields. This network is intended for the growing number of scholars, teachers, documentary filmmakers, and museum and library professionals engaged with the history of nutrition in any time period or region.

Recent Content

Source of the Month: Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Publications online at the National Agricultural Library

February's source of the month is an online, primary source archive of publications by the Food and Nutrition Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. This collection consists of over 600 fully digitized reports and publications, spanning the years 1969-2009. The collection can be accessed online at this link.

The Early Modern Reception of Galen’s “Simple Medicine” and “On the Powers of Foods” -- online conference, 6-7 April 2022, 10.00 am -6.30 pm (CET)

I'm forwarding the announcement of  an upcoming  online conference about ancient/medieval/early modern theories of nutrition.  I'm looking forward to it!

Karen Reeds, PhD, FLS
Princeton Research Forum, a community of independent scholars:  http://www.princetonresearchforum.org/

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Journal Announcement: Special Issue on Food as Medicine of "Rhetoric of Health and Medicine"

I would like to bring to the group's attention a recent special issue of Rhetoric of Health and Medicine on the topic of Food as Medicine. As co-editor, I wrote the introduction to the issue, which is freely available here

The articles include: 

Re: Source of the Month: "Locating low-protein life: post-war colonial nutrition science, subsistence metabolisms and food cultures in the South-Western Pacific Islands," by Alexandra Widmer

Thanks for bringing this article to our attention, Josh! I started the nutrition elective I'm teaching right now with a brief lecture on the history of nutritional concepts, including the protein standard. The medical students have been researching different diets, including Paleo--so we talked about what "authentic" means for whom, when, and where--and one will be presenting on how to raise a healthy child on a vegetarian or vegan diet.

Source of the Month: "Locating low-protein life: post-war colonial nutrition science, subsistence metabolisms and food cultures in the South-Western Pacific Islands," by Alexandra Widmer

January’s source of the month is Alexandra Widmer’s recent article, “Locating low-protein life: post-war colonial nutrition science, subsistence metabolisms and food cultures in the South-Western Pacific Islands,” in Food, Culture & Society.

New Peer-reviewed Paper to Read.

Happy New Year for 2022. 

Dear Nutrition Research List Members,

Just to inform you that a new peer-reviewed paper has been published, in Academia Letters, explaining the methodology for deciphering the language and writing system for the Medieval manuscript MS408 (Ischia, Voynich). The paper is titled: The Manuscript and the Meandering Mind. There are many pages of useful historical information yet to be translated. The mansucript includes much information about the foodstuffs and nutritional beliefs of Ischia, Vulcano and Lipari. 

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