The diet of the nation: The state, family budgets and the 1930s nutritional crisis in Britain

Abstract

Abstract In 1930s Britain a new attention to physical culture emerged in the shape of a National Fitness Campaign. At the same time a fierce political debate took place over the state of nutritional health of the nation. Left wing activists argued that the working classes were significantly malnourished due to an insufficiency of income. The government responded by arguing that it was the domestic ignorance of the working class housewife that was the problem. This debate raged in public forums from parliament to popular press—the term ‘Hungry England’ becoming a common catchphrase. It enrolled a host of medical experts, public bodies and voluntary organisations. Surveys of poor neighbourhoods were conducted to determine nutritional health. Based on family household budgets, these surveys revealed that working class incomes were insufficient to achieve optimum dietary needs and inferences were drawn regarding the nutritional state of the nation. Ultimately, a host of welfare policies to combat these nutritional deficiencies were initiated and we witness the rise of the British Welfare State. This paper examines the polarised political debates of this period from a governmentality perspective (Miller & Rose, 1990; Rose & Miller, 1992). The framework facilitates an understanding of the way in which diverse actors became enrolled in the two nutritional discourses and the mediating role of experts in the process. It also reveals the influential role of calculative technologies, particularly the budget, within the programmatic of government. Finally, this theoretical approach highlights the governance of the body inherent in these dietary and fitness interventions. The notion of the fit and healthy disciplined body that emerged during this time period reflects the cultural trends to come in terms of contemporary obsessions with diet and body image.