What Is Protein and Why Does It Matter?

Chapter 1 explores the tangled history of protein science and its impact on protein’s emergence as an über-nutrient. The analysis traces how Justus von Liebig’s 1842 designation of protein as the only "true" nutrient and of meat as the optimal source of protein helped secure protein’s cultural ascendence, its insertion into frameworks of racial superiority, and its attachment to capitalist projects, including the making of a global food market. Liebig may have helped establish protein’s enduring status, but his findings were contested at every step, and epistemological uncertainty about protein’s substance and function has persisted into the twenty-first century. Tracing protein’s manifestations and travels across disciplinary and social domains offers a window into the diverse political projects to which this versatile agent has been made to adhere.