Whose Science of Food and Health?

Scientific knowledge of food and nutrition is organized around a paradox—or at least the appearance of a paradox. Science, in its traditional construction, claims to produce knowledge that is abstract, timeless, replicable, and universal. ¹ The social activities of producing, distributing, and using food, on the other hand, are more obviously relational, contextualized, politicized, and embodied activities. As in many health-related fields, this disjuncture is managed, and at least partially obscured, by a gendered division of labor (Smith 1987:83–84). Nutritional scientists—historically, mostly men—develop “basic” knowledge of food and human sustenance, while professional dietitians and public health nutritionists—mostly women—are given the complex and often frustrating tasks of using the findings of nutritional science to solve problems in particular material settings. Authorized knowledge moves in one direction, from scientists “down” to practitioners, whose broader knowledge of food in the life-world is typically understood as mere application of general principles.