A Short History of the American Stomach

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“It certainly never occurs to us that when it comes to our stomachs, we long ago lost all capacity for reason…Our gut has a mind of its own, and that mind is our mind.”—A Short History of the American Stomach

In A Short History of the American Stomach, journalist, academic, and alimentary theorist (if such a philosophical genre can be said to exist), Frederick Kaufman leads us, with no shortage of dry wit and sardonic reflexivity, through the interweaving strands of assorted social, moral and digestive regimes which have, he argues, formed the bedrock of American consciousness from the time of the Pilgrims to the present day.

All the usual suspects of the history books are accounted for, from pilgrim leader Edward Winslow to author Washington Irving, as are key events such as the landing of the Mayflower, the Salem witch hunts and so on. Kaufman, brilliantly unperturbed by tradition or historical mores, re-examines the sources in order that he might piece together the influences of such people and events on the nutritive culture of the time. This is no dusty trawl through the archives, however. In both anecdote and analysis, the exploration of historical antecedents is tied firmly into a narrative about the present.

America, suggests Kaufman, is a nation at whose roots eating is central. Arriving in the new world, the thoughts of the Puritan settlers must, given biological necessity, have turned first, not to God, but to food. Indeed, stepping back further, it was the frequent celebratory feasting which, in the eyes of the Puritans, diverted old world Christians from their dedication to Christ, and this acted as their justification for leaving on a sail boat in the first place.

As important as finding food, Puritanical doctrine laid great credence on denying oneself food. Fasting was considered a perfectly reasonable way to gain a stronger relationship with God, and was, for example, widely practiced in 1690s Salem to assist in purging of the town of witchcraft. For Cotton Mather however, the emphasis was not on preventing the entrance of food to the system, it was the elimination of what was already there. Consequently, he keenly promoted the curative benefits for a variety of ailments which were, apparently, endowed by a damn good vomiting session.

As the text progresses, therefore, it becomes increasingly apparent that the term ‘stomach’ in the title was not chosen merely for rhetorical functionality. Kaufman really is interested in exploring not just the food we eat, but the cultural history of that eating. Unlike those following the more formulaic short history approach, he is comfortable taking a theme and running with it, transgressing the bounds of strict temporal linearity as he goes.

Informed by an in-depth historicity, the work deals with big questions which inevitably make for far more interesting reading. Why do we idolise food in such a way that it enters the contemporary psyche like a form of soft pornography, yet simultaneously vilify ourselves with an avowed preference for food fads and diets when we wish to indulge? Or, what do we mean by terms such as ‘purity’, and how has yearning to reflect this in our consumption patterns been played out in various settings?

In order to answer such questions, Kaufman draws adeptly on a number of diverse bodies of thought. So, the science of creating and raising genetically engineered oysters is sat comfortably with the comments of those eating the final product. This is ideal for most readers, though, for those expert in either science writing or restaurant reviewing, the superficiality of detail intrinsic to Kaufman’s multidisciplinary approach might well wear thin.

The text’s desire to maintain its American-centered approach throughout becomes less tenable as it moves into discussions of contemporary gastric culture. Kaufman views competitive speed eating so far to have been contained as a solely stateside phenomenon, though this is not true; meanwhile matters such as genetic engineering or obesity are of significant global pertinence. Arguably, there are narratives to follow here into which the text, while continuing to remain true to its title, could have delved. Further, Kaufman’s self-imposed geographic limitation enables him to sideline broader substantive issues which could well merit debate.

Accordingly, it could easily be argued that American political and economic hegemony may extend not just to the brain, but also to the stomach. The move towards a typically Western diet, particularly its emphasis on wheat-based carbohydrates, has been linked to increasing obesity and heart disease in parts of the world in which other foodstuffs have, until the recent past, been predominant. Likewise, while the story of GM oysters may make comfortable reading, there is a lot more at stake in the field of genetic modification.

The global right for consumers to choose whether their food has been modified is challenged by American policy makers, who mix GM and non-GM grain and cry foul when European consumers refuse to purchase America’s exported food products. The same grain is then dumped on developing countries, with similarly cynical rhetoric banded about when those countries (for ethical reasons, to maintain their trade links with Europe, or both), choose not to accept.

That said, Kaufman’s richly humorous, insightful, and original analysis into the socio-cultural and biological functions of food, and its place as the underpinnings of a nation, is certainly worthy of praise. There is a lot of material here and, so long as you’re not excessively squeamish, this text is certainly worth a look.

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