THE STAFF OF DEATH - White Bread: A Social History of the Store Bought Loaf - page 51

no bread) run the risk of reinforcing social hierarchies and exclusions. By turning questions of public
health into issues of individual discipline, the dream of perfect bodies achieved through diet also makes
it easier to ignore the root causes of those problems. The dream of maximum health through self-control
individualizes and medicalizes what, in many cases, are social and political problems.
To be sure, the current wave of gluten intolerance will fade away in time, leaving some significant
mark on our dietary dreams but losing its urgency. The deeper underlying concerns won't go away.
Amylophobias reflect half-articulated concerns about the pathologies of a modern food system, the rig-
ors of competitive striving for status, and the failings of the health care system. They are an index of
anxiety about modern life. These concerns won't go away until we begin to address them directly, rather
than through individual food choices.