Sacred Sacred Cow, Mad Cow: A History of Food Fears (Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History)
Ferrieres traces the long history of consumers' fears of foods in their quotidian diets. She focuses initially on legislative attempts to improve the state of public health through regulation of meat butchery and processing. Beginning with fourteenth-century accounts from the town of Mirepoix in the south of France, she finds a local lord considering a measure to ensure that only wholesome meat be sold and that fair profits for the town's butchers be preserved. Even at that early date, good politics sought to encourage commerce. Succeeding centuries gave rise to fear of novel foods from the newly discovered Americas. Potatoes and tomatoes both engendered outcries against their consumption lest the public be poisoned. Later times raised fears that some food preservation techniques harmed consumers. Public exposure of conditions in Chicago's stockyards led to vast government oversight to preserve workers' well-being and the public's confidence in newly established mass markets. A highly scholarly book, Ferrieres' accomplishment provides a historical foundation for anyone interested in development of public policy regarding what we eat.Mark KnoblauchCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved