Food and Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill. Personal photograph by author. November 3, 2018.
This 1928 booklet, “Food and Health,” captures the voices of those responsible for the WELCOME IN Cafeteria in Chapel Hill: Mrs. W. E. Trotman and Miss Ruth Sawyer. This cafeteria was established in 1927, and its dominant idea was “to serve good food at reasonable prices” (Sawyer, Trotman 1928 p. 1) Unfortunately, this booklet seems to be all that remains of this cafeteria and these women who once served UNC students.
Despite the lack of additional information on this booklet, it remains important in understanding its Prohibition time period and the Great Depression that was soon to come. Nowhere in this booklet did it mention the benefits of alcohol; it instead focused on the scientific aspects of food: protein, fats, and carbohydrates. This booklet included advertisements for fruits, meats, ice cream, and cigarettes, but still reflected the Prohibition era, omitting alcoholic ads. The nutrition information provided by this booklet would also be useful for the impending Great Depression, when so many people suffered from inadequate resources and nutrient-poor diets.
In modern Chapel Hill, UNC Carolina Dining Services (CDS) focuses on how nutrition relates to healthy living, with a registered dietitian to help students with “weight management, balanced eating, and risk reduction of chronic diseases” (CDS, par. 1). This desire to help student nutrition could be traced back to the WELCOME IN Cafeteria which, similar to CDS, addressed questions about what a student “living a sedentary life requires” for food to maintain a healthy body, including quantities that should be consumed to prevent abnormal conditions. The booklet’s solutions to these questions are based on the chemical makeup of food: the “A. B. C’s of Vitamins” and caloric information of foods. CDS and the booklet also agree that “students’ academic success is closely linked to good nutrition and to living a healthy lifestyle” (CDS, par. 2). Understanding the nutritional concerns of UNC Chapel Hill students of the past helps aid in comprehending why nutrition remains such a major concern to UNC students today.
Elizabeth Sigarto
Works Cited
Food and Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill. Personal photograph by author. November 3, 2018.
“Nutrition.” Carolina Dining Services CDS. Accessed November 07, 2018. https://dining.unc.edu/nutrition/).
Sawyer, Ruth, Trotman, W. E. “Food and Health.” Chapel Hill, NC: Orange Print Shop Chapel Hill, 1928.