University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health. In Good Taste: Recipes and Tips for Healthful Eating. 1983. Print. Wilson Library North Carolina Collection. 

In Good Taste: Recipes and Tips for Healthful Eating

In Good Taste: Recipes and Tips for Healthful Eating is a cookbook published in 1983, written by students, faculty, and alumni of the Department of Nutrition in the School of Public Health. It contains recipes, tips, and a daily food guide that outlines food groups, their nutrients, and appropriate portion sizes. In Good Taste was written at a time when health and nutrition was becoming of greater interest to Americans because of the influx of processed foods and rapidly rising rates of obesity (Popkin). However, funding for public health institutions was inadequate at this time. There was not an outstanding concern for health and nutrition by federal and state governments. Nonetheless, there was still a movement to train people in public health and nutrition through alternative fundraising. This cookbook was created and sold to raise money for the Department of Nutrition Masters in Public Health Scholarship fund. It aimed to subsidize insufficient health institution funding and to promote healthy nutritional lifestyles in the area.

In Good Taste shows that there was an existing general consciousness about health and nutrition in Chapel Hill. The people of the Department of Nutrition presumably thought there would be enough people in Chapel Hill concerned about health and nutrition to purchase the cookbook and consequently allow them make a profit off of the cookbook.

     University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health. In Good Taste: Recipes and Tips for Healthful Eating. 1983. Page 124. Print. Wilson Library North Carolina Collection.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health. In Good Taste: Recipes and Tips for Healthful Eating. Page 58. 1983. Print. Wilson Library North Carolina Collection.

It encourages people to revert back to at-home cooking and to use alternative ingredients and cooking methods that are lower in sodium and fat. One example of this is a recommendation to substitute yogurt for sour cream and mayonnaise in dressings. Another example is a recommendation to try “imaginative combinations of vegetables and/or seasonings” instead of salting and buttering vegetables.

The increasing attentiveness to the health of the general public in the 1980s is embodied by In Good Taste, specifically in Chapel Hill. It has both short-term and long-term intentions for influencing widespread, healthy lifestyles.

 

Mary Grace Beard

 

Popkin, Barry M et al. “Global nutrition transition and the pandemic of obesity in developing countries” Nutrition reviews vol. 70,1 (2012): 3-21. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3257829/.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health. In Good Taste: Recipes and Tips for Healthful Eating. 1983. Print. Wilson Library North Carolina Collection.