ABSTRACT
When the contributors to ICREFH's tenth symposium assembled in Oslo in September 2007, they met to discuss what, for them, was an unusual research question. Never before had they attempted to consider changes in food consumption over such a short time span – a single century – which assumed that all the countries under consideration experienced similar stages of development within the same period. The question posed was, in essence, how did food consumption change in Europe in the twentieth century and why are so many Europeans now overweight? The outcome of the discussion summarized in these chapters shows a considerable similarity of approach and invites some attempt at comparison by the editors. The criticisms frequently levelled by reviewers at volumes emanating from conferences, namely that there is a lack of coherence in the mix of topics, is hardly valid in this book. Its sections consider the major influences on European food consumption in the twentieth century and invite comparisons across national boundaries. In short, all European countries have been affected by the industrialization of their food industries and, by the end of die twentieth century, every state in Europe had begun to show concern for the extent to which its population had become overweight and to consider the future implications if this weight gain were unchecked.
