by Tracy Jamison* “There ain’t no such thing as free lunch…” Economics in eight words, El Paso Herald-Post (June 27, 1938) Recently, when the first lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the new school lunch nutrition guidelines, there were some critiques that the current administration had overstepped their bounds and become [...]
Archive for the ‘Food and Diet’ Category
A Chronicle of the School Cafeteria
Monday, October 1st, 2012On the Codependence of Humans and Honey Bees
Tuesday, July 10th, 2012Ph.D. student Brenda Kellar has been working on the history of honey bee migration along with human beings in the United States. Her article “Honeybees Across America,” began as a research presentation to the Oregon Beekeepers’ Association, and now has been picked up by the Los Angeles County Beekeepers Association. She shows how at critical [...]
Reflection: And God said “No”
Friday, March 2nd, 2012by Tracy Jamison* Mark Lynas is an optimist. On February 29th, Mr. Lynas lectured here at OSU at LaSells Stewart Center on his book, The God Species. According to Mr. Lynas, humans are a God species and consequently we have to “run the planet as if we were gods”. Not the kind of Gods found [...]
Finley challenges the science of Maximum Sustainable Yield
Friday, September 30th, 2011Congratulations to Carmel Finley, who has published a new book that calls into question one of the longest standing concepts in fisheries and marine science. The book, All the Fish in the Sea: Maximum Sustainable Yield and the Failure of Fisheries Management (Chicago, 2011), is the first sustained historical treatment of MSY in the United [...]
Historians and scientists look back at Linus Pauling
Thursday, June 2nd, 2011Long-time OSU historians Mina Carson and Mary Jo Nye (emerita) contributed to a fascinating OPB documentary on chemist and activist Linus Pauling. It includes substantial discussion of the science, the political controversies, and his partnership with Ava Helen Pauling.
The English Diet: Roast Beef and … Salad?
Friday, May 13th, 2011By Anita Guerrini The English diet has been mythologised as one of roasted meats and few vegetables but, as Anita Guerrini concludes from a survey of early modern writings on the subject, the nation’s approach to food has been rather more complicated than that. (Read more in History Today)
