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A Rainbow Palate
How Chemical Dyes Changed the West's Relationship with Food
Series: Synthesis
Brief Description
Shows how the widespread use of food dyes influenced understanding of food, science, and technology, as well as trust in science. We live in a world saturated by chemicals—our food, our clothes, and even our bodies play host to hundreds of synthetic chemicals that did not...
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A Rainbow Palate
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Description
Shows how the widespread use of food dyes influenced understanding of food, science, and technology, as well as trust in science.
We live in a world saturated by chemicals—our food, our clothes, and even our bodies play host to hundreds of synthetic chemicals that did not exist before the nineteenth century. By the 1900s, a wave of bright coal tar dyes had begun to transform the Western world. Originally intended for textiles, the new dyes soon permeated daily life in unexpected ways, and by the time the risks and uncertainties surrounding the synthesized chemicals began to surface, they were being used in everything from clothes and home furnishings to cookware and food.
In A Rainbow Palate, Carolyn Cobbold explores how the widespread use of new chemical substances influenced perceptions and understanding of food, science, and technology, as well as trust in science and scientists. Because the new dyes were among the earliest contested chemical additives in food, the battles over their use offer striking insights and parallels into today's international struggles surrounding chemical, food, and trade regulation.
Series: Synthesis
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A Rainbow Palate
Shows how the widespread use of food dyes influenced understanding of food, science, and technology, as well as trust in science. We live in a world saturated by chemicals—our food, our clothes, and even our bodies play host to hundreds of synthetic chemicals that did not exist before the nineteenth century. By the 1900s, a wave of bright coal tar...Paperback$11600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
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How an early modern surgeon and his accessible writings changed medical expertise and the communication of medical knowledge. Between 1497 and 1512, Hieronymus Brunschwig (ca. 1450–ca. 1530), an obscure craftsman from Strasbourg, wrote books on surgery and pharmacy that transformed medical expertise, how it was codified in print, and how it was communicated to new audiences. Brunschwig was an unlikely...Hardback$21999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780226845531
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 05 December 2025
Country: United States
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Illustration: 4 halftones, 3 tables
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 20.0mm
Width: 152.0mm
Height: 229.0mm
Weight: 399g
Pages: 288
About the Author
Carolyn Cobbold is a research fellow at the University of Cambridge, where she investigates the history of food and science. Her work has been published in Annals of Science, Osiris, Ambix, and Business Insurance, among others.
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