Maintenance Phase: The Food Pyramid

November 22, 2022 6:56 AM

In the 1990s, the Food Pyramid was one of the most recognizable symbols in nutrition education. But where did it come from? Why was it created by the agriculture department? And why did it tell us to eat a whole loaf of bread every day?
posted by Gin and Broadband (4 comments total)

Food triangles!
posted by iamkimiam at 11:05 AM on November 22, 2022

I have not done the lazy math to verify this but I assume they went with pyramid rather than triangle to try to better reflect the ratio of the base to the top than the relative areas would do. Not that people are good at visualizing volumes to appreciate that.
posted by janell at 8:33 PM on November 22, 2022

Yeah, trying to communicate to people to pay attention to the depth of the image was waaaaaaay beyond what they should have attempted.
posted by wenestvedt at 8:27 PM on November 23, 2022

I think food triangle would’ve suggested something with three points, like the love or Bermuda types. Pyramid sounds like one thing is being built on top of another.
posted by condour75 at 4:30 PM on November 24, 2022