New Jane Nickerson Reference
I found this great reference to Jane Nickerson, the first food editor at the New York Times, in this posting from Believer Magazine. The author wrote: “Even Jane Nickerson, the New York Times’ influential food editor, replicated the unbreachable divide between gourmet taste and industrial fortitude. In an article written during the Rockford study, Nickerson compared American white bread to its European counterparts. Opposition to American white bread, she argued, was divided into two camps, one based on health and the other on flavor.
The epicurean critics held a special place in her heart; indeed, they were incontrovertibly correct. Fluffy, limp-crusted, bland industrial white bread couldn’t hold a candle to crisp, nutty-flavored French and Italian breads. Alas—and one can almost hear her sigh echoing across the decades—”health values deal with fact while flavor considerations deal with opinion.” Thus, in the end, readers were better off buying industrial white bread, for their family’s health.”
The author, Aaron Bobrow-Strain, wrote an interesting article in Food and Foodways about the history of white bread. It’s called: “Making White Bread by the Bomb’s Early Light: Anxiety, Abundance, and Industrial Food Power in the Early Cold War.”
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