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"Food is more than just eating and cooking. It&amp;#039;s also an amazing insight into culture and history, a fact borne out today by the centenary celebration of the Economic Research Service&amp;#039;s Food Availability Data System.   Yeah, the name is pretty unwieldy, but ERS \u2013 an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture \u2013 has been documenting the per capita availability of numerous foodstuffs in the United States since 1941. Wait. Since 1941? Didn&amp;#039;t you say today is the centenary celebration, I hear you asking. Well, yes, but the system tracks information back to 1909, which was 101 years ago. Wait. OK, never mind. In any case, ERS provides a wealth of fascinating information, tracking the availability of everything from barley to soft drinks to canned fruit to cheese over the last century. With spread sheets, they follow the rise of, say, commercially produced dextrose in the American diet from 1964, when they first began tracking the sweetener, to the latest figures for 2008. Per capita availability, by the way, peaked in the mid 1990s, and in 2008 the figures are only a little higher than they were 46 years ago.  You&amp;#039;re not a fan of spread sheets, you say? No problem. There&amp;#039;s plenty of analysis, too. Articles published in the agency&amp;#039;s newsletter, Amber Waves, include a look at Americans&amp;#039; response to E. coli contamination of spinach back in 2006 (&amp;quot;Bulk iceberg lettuce, other bulk lettuce, and romaine hearts were clearly shock substitutes..&amp;quot;) and our penchant toward brand loyalty when it comes to buying cheese.  If you&amp;#039;re a food geek like I am, this is fascinating stuff. Pour yourself a cup of coffee (per capita availability peaked in the immediate post-war years of the 1940s) and do a little browsing. It&amp;#039;s a great way to learn more about our history and what fuels it. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.delish.com/food/news/a38125/amber-waves-of-cheese-and-dextrose/>