Goal Of Old City Food Exhibit Is To Show How Govt. Affected The Way Americans Eat
By Hadas Kuznits
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A new food exhibit opens tomorrow in Old City.
The new 'What's Cooking, Uncle Sam?' exhibit opens at the National Constitution Center.
"The goal is to show how the government has affected the way Americans eat," says exhibit curator Alice Kamps with the National Archives Museum.
"The oldest record is from 1776. It's a broadside advertising rations that soldiers would enjoy if they enlisted."
She says there's a lot she found surprising while gathering information.
"The extent to which the government attempts to change the way that Americans eat."
She says the U.S. government has been trying to give U.S. citizens nutrition advice since about 1896.
"At times, for example during World War II, it was considered a matter of national security because about a third of Americans were malnourished and unable to serve."