The advertising was so insidious - especially around food marketing, because of the messed up genius of Edward Bernays, who took advertising from 'look at our product, isn't it good?' to a multifaceted psychological attack on people. You're told as a parent that something is 'vitamin fortified' and doctor recommended - and folks are lulled into a sense of what's good for them.

Historian Christina Ward examines how (and what) corporations taught Americans to eat in the 20th century - as science, capitalism and mass media converged around the home, businesses sold consumers a vision of health and success, all packaged and preserved for the benefit of brands, not the health of people.

Christina is author of the book American Advertising Cookbooks: How Corporations Taught Us to Love Spam, Bananas, and Jell-O from Feral House.