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The National Archives, in Washington, DC, has an exhibit called \u201cWhat\u2019s Cooking, Uncle Sam? The Government\u2019s Effect on the American Diet<\/a>.\u201d It\u2019s a terrific exhibition, open through January 3. If you care about food, the State, agriculture, the table, and what\u2019s in your body and what\u2019s in our bodies<\/a> and body politic, it\u2019s well worth the visit.<\/p>\n At the same time walking through this bit of history is, at best, a bittersweet experience, given where the United States is today. Lettuce recalled<\/a> due to listeria contamination. A peanut company<\/a> that sickened hundreds is fighting tooth and nail to keep its records closed. With thirteen deaths, and rising, the cantaloupe listeria<\/a> contamination is now the deadliest food poisoning \u201cevent\u201d the country has suffered in twelve years, since 1998, when listeria killed 21 people.<\/p>\n Not surprisingly, recent polls show that \u201cAmericans\u201d don\u2019t trust their food \u201csystem\u201d<\/a>, and I would say they don\u2019t trust their government either<\/a>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why the exhibition is bittersweet. It documents a period in which people hoped, and with reason, that the United States federal government would address food<\/a> production and distribution, would address hunger, would address everything having to do with \u201cthe American Diet.\u201d In 1974, the US government actually paid Dick Van Dyke to explain, in clear and direct language, the meaning of food labels: \u201cRead the label, set a better table<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n But that was 1974. Today? The United States has a First Lady, Michelle Obama, who cares, genuinely, about food, health, the obesity crisis, diet, and well being, and who has absolutely no power whatsoever. Otherwise, the battle continues.<\/p>\n It is the battle, in fact, as shown in the exhibit that may be of most interest. Although the exhibit seems to focus on \u201cUncle Sam\u201d, it\u2019s actually all the aunts, sisters, mothers, daughters, female partners who forced the State to pay attention to the food system, from field to fork<\/a>, and to do something, rather than just blather on.<\/p>\n The exhibit shows that the food industry was never too concerned about consumers\u2019 health or well being, and the food industry, from early in the country\u2019s history to present, has never been short of cash or of \u201cfriends in high places.\u201d So what\u2019s a woman to do? Organize. Demonstrate. Protest. Turn aprons into lab coats, turn lab coats and aprons into placards, turn lab coats and aprons and placards into movements, legislation, and sustained structures.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s what women did. Women who self identified as farm women, as mothers, as housewives, as home economists, as nutritionists, as teachers, as provisioners. In the twentieth century, women forced the State to engage in school lunch programs. In the nineteenth century, women, like \u201cMrs. Duragnac\u201d, forced the State to address the contamination of food products, such as exploding ketchup containers and lethal candies, to mention just two items. From the beginning of the United States to today, women have been engaged in one long, continuous food uprising. It\u2019s all in the Archives.<\/p>\n So, Uncle Sam, thanks for your interest. You would never have done a thing, however, if it weren\u2019t for the army of Sammie\u2019s and Sammy\u2019s \u2013 aunts and all their friends and kin \u2013 pushing, pulling, prodding, and lighting the fire. Aunt Sammie haunts the history of the American diet.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n