The Great Protein Fiasco, Then and Now

Chapter 2 examines one of nutrition history’s most prominent conflicts: the Great Protein Fiasco. During the 1950s and 1960s, considerable resources were invested in the subsequently disproven idea that there existed a deadly “protein gap” between the world’s rich and poor. The chapter analyzes racial and colonial thinking about corporeal expansion and addresses how Western agricultural overproduction helped propel the idea of a global protein crisis. It argues that the persistence of protein fetishization linked to the growth of bodies and empires brings into question the limited scope connoted by the label “fiasco.” It further contends that protein supplementation was mobilized as a market-friendly and technocratic solution to social, agricultural, and labor conditions driving malnourishment. Overall, the chapter shows how protein knowledge helps reproduce physically embodied dichotomies between healthy and unhealthy bodies in concert with responsibilizing discourses of development and lifestyle.