Provides an alternative history of nutrition in the U.S. that focuses on the power of scientific language. Mudry looks at language used in the United States to communicate about health and nutrition, and reveals its effects on reframing, reshaping, and controlling what and how Americans eat. Analyzing the USDA and American federal food guidelines over the past one hundred years, Mudry shows how the language of nutrition has evolved over time.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-205) and index.

Eating by numbers: how language shapes food and eating -- The early history of American nutrition research: from quality to quantity -- Reading Federal nutrition guides: quantification as communication strategy -- The food pyramid: visualizing quantification -- Scaling the pyramid: criticisms of the USDA -- Talking about taste: alternatives to a discourse of quantification -- Rethinking commonsense: toward a rhetoric of eating.