The History of the Food Pyramid

Government influence over food is an integral part of the way we eat in the twenty-first century. The educational system teaches children about the food pyramid, or plate, or whatever shape the nutritional recommendations come in these days, from a very young age. However, though these nutritional requirements are generally presented in a serious, apparently scientific fashion, the fact that they shift so frequently indicates that perhaps we shouldn't put too much stock in government recommended diets. I find this is best exemplified by the first of these food pyramid type suggestions produced by the U.S. Government. In 1941, based on research done by the Food and Nutrition Board, the government passed the Recommended Dietary Allowances, the first official government endorsement of a certain diet. The RDAs allowed for the creation of “the basic seven” diet, introduced in 1943, and they seem to have been widely disseminated. While my childhood food pyramid encouraged a basic five of grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy, meat/other proteins, and fats/oils/sweets, each in decreasing amounts, the "basic seven" model makes no distinctions in terms of amounts, other than suggesting that you "eat some foods from each group every day," and their food groups are certainly... different. First we have "green and yellow vegetables," then "Oranges, tomatoes, grapefruit... or raw cabbage or salad greens," and "Potatoes and other vegetables and fruits." The next three are more familiar: "Milk and milk products," "Meat, poultry, fish, or eggs," and "Bread, flour, and cereals." What really makes this chart great and bizarre, however, is the final food group, "Butter and Fortified Margarine," and the fact that it then encourages you to "eat any other foods you want." Though in some ways it isn't so different from more modern government recommendations, the fact that butter is so strongly encouraged instead of relegated to a space for things that should be eaten sparingly, if at all, indicates that these were vastly different historical circumstances, and that impacts how the government views food. It certainly casts doubt on the current recommendations, and the current circumstances, such as massive grain production and subsidies, that might be motivating them. Personally, I think I'd like to avoid government recommendations, but if I'm going to be listening to them at all, I'll stick with the Basic Seven, which at least give me an excuse to cook every butter heavy Julia Child recipe I can find.

If you're interested in this kind of history, you can check out the website for an exhibition called What's Cooking, Uncle Sam? that the National Archives put together a couple years ago, which includes the poster above among a variety of other interesting images: http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/whats-cooking/index.html