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Hungry for Reassurance: Turn-of-the-Twentieth-Century Cultural Anxieties and the Diet Debate, 1890-1914

Mulligan , Erin Rose
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1467743345

Abstract Details

2016, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, American Culture Studies.
At the turn of the twentieth-century Americans across the nation were theorizing about diet; what diets were best, what diets could lead to individual and national degeneration, which diets could solidify white American superiority, and how the eating habits of individuals reflected the character of America more broadly. I describe this popular conversation as the diet debate. Although this was not a debate in the sense that there were two individuals or two very distinct camps arguing over a point, I have found patterns in my primary source analysis that reveals an informal debate with various actors expressing contrary opinions on the subject of diet across the nation between 1890 and 1914. This project also specifically looks at the diet debate through the lens of prominent cultural anxieties at the turn of the twentieth-century. Contextualizing the diet debate alongside broader cultural anxieties allows for a nuanced look at turn-of-the-century American culture and the role diet played in identity formation and the negotiation between individual Americans and broader societal fears. The three cultural anxieties explored here are the neurasthenia epidemic, the progressive concerns about poverty, alcoholism, and safe food, and the general anxiety about race deterioration and race relations associated with growing the American empire through immigration and imperialism. This project, by looking at how these general anxieties surfaced in the diet debate, shows how cultural anxieties permeated the diet debate and, conversely, how diet debaters capitalized on those anxieties to stake their claims in both reassuring and inciting ways.
Timothy Messer-Kruse, Dr. (Advisor)
Scott Martin, Dr. (Committee Member)
111 p.
American History; American Studies
Late nineteenth-century; early twentieth-century; food; diet; meat; vegetarianism; cultural history

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Mulligan , E. R. (2016). Hungry for Reassurance: Turn-of-the-Twentieth-Century Cultural Anxieties and the Diet Debate, 1890-1914 [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1467743345

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Mulligan , Erin . Hungry for Reassurance: Turn-of-the-Twentieth-Century Cultural Anxieties and the Diet Debate, 1890-1914. 2016. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1467743345.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Mulligan , Erin . "Hungry for Reassurance: Turn-of-the-Twentieth-Century Cultural Anxieties and the Diet Debate, 1890-1914." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1467743345

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.