30 review for Never Satisfied : A Cultural History of Diets, Fantasies & Fat

1. 

   5 out of 5

   Araminta Matthews – Jun 25, 2012

   I finished this book, perhaps not ironically, at lunch this afternoon. I found it intriguing--particularly coming off my recent perusal of "Diets that Time Forgot," a BBC reality-television series that followed 9 dieters as they historically-reenacted both time period and diet fads of Victorian, Edwardian, and Roaring Twenties eras. It was fantastic--hence the desire to read this book. While I understand that dieting before industrialization was probably non-existent as food and food sources wer I finished this book, perhaps not ironically, at lunch this afternoon. I found it intriguing--particularly coming off my recent perusal of "Diets that Time Forgot," a BBC reality-television series that followed 9 dieters as they historically-reenacted both time period and diet fads of Victorian, Edwardian, and Roaring Twenties eras. It was fantastic--hence the desire to read this book. While I understand that dieting before industrialization was probably non-existent as food and food sources were not as easily accessible. In other words, people had less stable staples, so dieting was likely not a major concern. Coupled with a worldview of corpulence as opulence, this view of diet is partly owed to fashion, as well. At the same time, I won't deny that I was disappointed that this book only spanned about 200 years of dieting history. At least it starts off with a diet that reared its head in Maine. Comfort food, that. I was most intrigued by the feminist lens through which Schwartz viewed dieting and its clear relationship to women's fashion. I was riveted by the story of the Bloomer costume, The Water Cure, and of course, Dr. Mitchell's Rest Cure (so familiar to me from my years of teaching Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper"). Much of her lens, however, is critical of diets of our past and it is clear that she is also viewing the entire subject through another lens: that lens being an overweight person (which she announces several times in the book). At the same time, I found none of that distracting. In fact, her style is engagin and, as I'd hoped, made history fun!

2. 

   5 out of 5

   Erin – Oct 09, 2018

   Obsession with physical appearance and neurosis about food is not just a modern day phenomenon. I liked the end chapter the best when the author describes a world without fat stigma. It’s written in “acedemese” as opposed to plain English

3. 

   5 out of 5

   Dixie Diamond – Nov 12, 2007

   Highly entertaining and an unusual topic. My only complaint (well, not really a complaint, even) is that it was published before the recent new wave of food beliefs and diet fads such as Atkins/South Beach, veganism, organics, etc., which would be really interesting in discussion.

4. 

   4 out of 5

   Michelle – Dec 31, 2013

   Decidedly not a cookbook. I wanted it to be better, but interesting ideas and a ton of content.

5. 

   4 out of 5

   Nicole G. – Jul 04, 2010

   Would love to read an updated version, yet still entertaining and fascinating despite its datedness.

6. 

   5 out of 5

   LowCarbConfidential – Dec 31, 2011

   A little tough to get into at the beginning because of the anachronistic style, but it begins to pick up as you get used to it and begin to see where he is going with the work...interesting so far.

7. 

   5 out of 5

   shana – Dec 30, 2009

   This was VERY dry and very dated. There were some interesting topics (the portion about fasting, for instance), but they were few and far between.

8. 

   5 out of 5

   Stephanie Fisher –

9. 

   4 out of 5

   Rustard Surface –

10. 

    4 out of 5

    Gemma –

11. 

    4 out of 5

    Tracy Smith –

12. 

    4 out of 5

    ♥ღ AIDA ღ♥ Rodkouli –

13. 

    4 out of 5

    Jenny –

14. 

    5 out of 5

    Lindsay Frahn –

15. 

    4 out of 5

    Sarah –

16. 

    4 out of 5

    Paul M. –

17. 

    5 out of 5

    Raihanna Faran –

18. 

    4 out of 5

    Beth Barnett –

19. 

    5 out of 5

    Joshua Disneyq –

20. 

    5 out of 5

    Susanne Allen –

21. 

    4 out of 5

    Lori Leathers –

22. 

    4 out of 5

    Jnase1 –

23. 

    4 out of 5

    Lisa Vegan –

24. 

    5 out of 5

    Marian –

25. 

    5 out of 5

    Michelle –

26. 

    5 out of 5

    Jennifer Yeomelakis – Oct 16, 2018

    Recommended by Aminatou Sow

27. 

    5 out of 5

    Teresa –

28. 

    4 out of 5

    Kelly –

29. 

    5 out of 5

    Jimmy –

30. 

    4 out of 5

    Eva – Jul 30, 2011

    A promising topic, but wandering and hard to wade through.