The Politics of the Table: Nutrition and the Body in Modern Germany (Repast: Studies in the History of Nutrition)

How nutrition and the body became matters of national importance in modern Germany. What does it mean to eat well, and why should it matter to the nation?In The Politics of the Table, historian Kristen Ann Ehrenberger uncovers how food became a matter of political concern in modern Germany, tracing the evolution of nutritional science from the laboratory bench to the family dinner table between 1890 and 1935.This compelling study reveals how everyday meals became sites of public policy, scientific authority, and cultural identity.Germans were encouraged to see their bodies not only as private entities but also as integral parts of a larger social organism in matters ranging from calories and vitamins to ration cards and state-sponsored hygiene exhibitions.Ehrenberger introduces the concept of the "scalar body" to explain how individuals were imagined as connected to one another through the acts of eating, drinking, and digesting.Using a wide array of sources including cookbooks, popula