- University of California Press
Canned: The Rise and Fall of Consumer Confidence in the American Food Industry Volume 68
Key Metrics
- Anna Zeide
- University of California Press
- Hardcover
- 9780520290686
- 9.1 X 6.2 X 0.9 inches
- 1.1 pounds
- History > United States - General
- English
Book Description
A century and a half ago, when the food industry was first taking root, few consumers trusted packaged foods. Americans had just begun to shift away from eating foods that they grew themselves or purchased from neighbors. With the advent of canning, consumers were introduced to foods produced by unknown hands and packed in corrodible metal that seemed to defy the laws of nature by resisting decay.
Since that unpromising beginning, the American food supply has undergone a revolution, moving away from a system based on fresh, locally grown goods to one dominated by packaged foods. How did this come to be? How did we learn to trust that food preserved within an opaque can was safe and desirable to eat? Anna Zeide reveals the answers through the story of the canning industry, taking us on a journey to understand how food industry leaders leveraged the powers of science, marketing, and politics to win over a reluctant public, even as consumers resisted at every turn.
Author Bio
Anna Zeide is an associate professor of history at Virginia Tech. She is also the founding director of the College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences Food Studies Program. She studies food as a way of understanding environmental change, dynamic cultural practices, consumer behavior, technology, health, and justice.
Her first book, Canned: The Rise and Fall of Consumer Confidence in the American Food Industry (University of California Press, 2018) won a James Beard media award in 2019.
She's now working on a history of food waste, on a book on U.S. History through 15 Foods, and editing an anthology on the making of modern food.
Source: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Videos
Community reviews
Write a ReviewNo Community reviews