From Label To Table
Regulating Food in America
in the Information Age
How did the Nutrition Facts label come to appear on millions of everyday American household food products? As From Label to Table reveals, this legal, scientific, and seemingly innocuous strip of information can be a prism through which to view the high-stakes political battles and development of scientific ideas that have shaped the realms of American health, nutrition, and public communication. By tracing policy debates at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Frohlich describes the emergence of our present information age in food and diet markets and examines how powerful government offices inform the public about what they consume. From Label to Table explores evolving popular ideas about food, diet, and responsibility for health that have influenced what goes on the Nutrition Facts label—and who gets to decide that.
Book Tour
Stay tuned for events online or near you!
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Upcoming Book Tour Events...
Date T.B.D.
Online (Podcast): Interviewed on KCRW's Good Food (NPR) with Evan Kleiman
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Past Book Tour Events:
10 April 2024
Online (remote seminar): Book Talk, "From Label to Table: A history of U.S. food labeling and how advertisers and regulators visualize food as health" – Food Studies Program and CELAT at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
18 March 2024
Online (Podcast): Interviewed on "People & Things" Podcast Series, "66: Xaq Frohlich on the History of Food Labeling," with Lee Vinsel (Watch on: YouTube; Listen on: Spotify | Apple Podcast)
6 March 2024
Online (remote seminar): Book Talk, "From Label To Table: A Critical History of Food Labeling and Lifestyle Politics," – Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) Convergence IT Engineering (CiTE) Seminar series
1 March 2024
Online (YouTub live talk): "Xaq Frohlich's Book Interview," Business History Conference (BHC) Virtual Book Interview Series with Jennifer Black and Arwen Mohun
19 February 2024
Online (Twitter live exchange): Business History Conference (BHC) Twitter Interview with Shane Hamilton
14 February 2024
Online (Podcast): Interviewed on Duke University World Food Policy Center's "Leading Voices in Food" Podcast Series, "E229: From label to table: Regulating food in America," with Norbert Wilson
13 February 2024
Los Angeles, CA, USA: Book Talk, "From Label To Table: A Critical History of Food Labeling and Lifestyle Politics," – UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics and the UCLA Law Resnick Center for Food Law & Policy
12 February 2024
Yorba Linda, CA, USA: Meet-the-Author Book Talk at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
26 January 2024
Austin, TX, USA: Book Talk at the University of Texas (UT) History of Science, Technology, the Environment, and Medicine Colloquium
18 December 2023
Online (Blog Post): "The best history books that explain the origins of our industrial food system," by Xaq Frohlich, on Shepherd.com
29 November 2023
Online (Article): Interviewed by Emily Contois on Nursing Clio, "From Label to Table: An Interview with Xaq Frohlich"
28 November 2023
Online (Podcast): Interviewed on Repast: A food law & policy podcast, "Getting a Full Stomach of Information with Professor Xaq Frohlich," with Diana Winters and Michael Roberts from the Resnick Center for Food Law & Policy at UCLA (Listen on: Spotify | Apple Podcast)
21 November 2023
Online (Blog Post): Guest blog post about, "Labeling “Healthy” Food" on the UC Press Blog
15 November 2023
Online (Podcast): Interviewed on the Auburn University CLA podcast, "'Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know' about the Nutrition Facts label"
14 November 2023
Auburn, AL, USA: Book Launch, "From Label to Table: Regulating Food in American in the Information Age" – AU CLA Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities at Pebble Hill
10 November 2023
Online (Podcast): Interviewed about, "From Label to Table: Regulating Food in America in the Information Age," on New Book Network podcast with Nathan Hobson
9 November 2023
Auburn, AL, USA: Meet-the-Author event at Well Red Bookstore
30 October 2023
Online (Podcast): Interviewed about, "The History of the Nutrition Facts Label," on Unsung History podcast with Kelly Therese Pollock
24 October 2023
Online (Blog Post): The Page 99 Test, "Xaq Frohlich's 'From Label to Table'"
17 October 2023
Raleigh, North Carolina, USA: Book Talk, "Labeling Food Risk and Lifestyle Politics: A Critical History" – North Caroline State University Genetic Engineering and Society Colloquium (Podcast)
––– 17 October 2023: official book publication date –––
10 September 2023
Online (Podcast): Interviewed on This Day in Esoteric Political History podcast, "The First Food Nutrition Labels (1971), w/ Xaq Frohlich," with Jody Avirgan, Nicole Hemmer, and Kellie Carter Jackson (Listen on: Spotify | Apple Podcast)
30 August 2023
Copenhagen, Denmark: Book Talk, "From Label to Table: A Critical History of the Informational Turn in (U.S.) Food Politics,” – University of Copenhagen Department of Food Resources and Economics (IFRO)
29 August 2023
Copenhagen, Denmark: Book Talk, "From Label to Table: How the U.S. FDA regulated food and health markets through standards and labels" – Copenhagen Business School (CBS) Centre for Business History Research Seminar
15 June 2023
Online (Zoom seminar): Book Preview, "From Label to Table: The Origins of the U.S. FDA ‘Nutrition Facts’ Label and what it meant for Food Politics" – Institute of Historical Research (London, UK) Food History Seminar
If you would like me to come to your town for a book talk, please Contact me!
Book Reviews, Public Reception, and Recognitions
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Awards and Recognition:
2024 Auburn Author Award – Auburn University
Finalist for the 2024 Hagley Prize in Business History – Business History Conference (BHC)
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Reviews of the book:
01 May 2024
Rachel Louise Moran, "Review: From Label to Table: Regulating Food in America in the Information Age, by Xaq Frohlich," California History (2024) 101 (2): 88–90.
05 March 2024
"Review of From Label to Table: Regulating Food in America in the Information Age(2023) by Xaq Frohlich" Not Even Past, by Yohad Zacarias (UT Austin Department of History)
18 January 2024
"What can we learn from a food label?" (blog post) In Defense of Processed Food, by Rob Shewfelt (Professor Emeritus of Food Science and Technology at University of Georgia)