Natural food is an umbrella term for food products that have been cultivated with minimal industrial intervention, such as the use of pesticides, additives, and dyes; however, the exact definition of “natural” varies. “Natural food” is sometimes used interchangeably with “health food” and “organic food,” though the latter is a specific standard in the United States reserved for products that have met the requirements established by the United States Department of Agriculture.
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Randy Constant sold non-organic feed to other farmers, who fed it to their animals, which were then sold as organic meat. The scheme began sometime in the mid-2000s and ended after a tip, likely from one of Constant’s competitors, to the US Department of Agriculture. Constant pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but died by suicide before serving time.
By 1996, there were over 6,000 health food stores in the U.S., which generated over $9B in sales. That was still a small number compared to traditional supermarkets, but it was a 17% improvement in annual growth over the previous five years, highlighting a rapidly growing industry.
Almost three decades after Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” a “60 Minutes” segment on the use of Alar, a chemical sprayed on apples, drew national attention and inspired supermarkets and schools to remove apples from their shelves and cafeterias. That same year, the Environmental Protection Agency took action against the use of the chemical in food.
The owner, Nora Pouillon, opened the restaurant in 1979, branding its menu as “additive-free food” to avoid the negative associations people had with “health food.” In 1999, it was certified as an organic restaurant, a standard achieved by using at least 95% organic ingredients.
A 1984 New York Times story noted that Americans were eating less red meat than a decade prior, and that, in general, the country was “talking, thinking and worrying about what they eat to a degree unique in the nation's history.” The feature then details foods that were then considered bizarre: whole-grain muffins, hummus, and a variety of vegetarian dishes. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)
The Whole Earth Catalog, a counterculture guide to alternative living, was a repository for hippie ideas. In 1985, its founder decided to bring Whole Earth to the nascent internet with the Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link, or WELL, an early web forum.
The publication promised hippies “access to tools”—listings for “high quality or low cost” books, devices, and instructions for alternative living, including cultivating natural and organic foods. This archive comprises high-definition scans of nearly all materials published between 1968 and 2002.
The Southern Californian was an eccentric businessman who opened several health food businesses, wrote books on healthy living, and frequently appeared on late-night television, including 28 appearances on “The Steve Allen Show.” He’d also attend Los Angeles area football games and chant “Don’t panic, go organic.”
The grocer jumped into the 1970s health food movement by selling granola, fresh juice, nuts, and raw milk. Joe Coulombe, the company’s founder and namesake, hired “a young hippie woman” from the University of California at Santa Cruz to teach employees the language of the health food movement to properly label their products.
Frances Moore Lappe’s 1971 book provided recipes for vegetarian dishes, introducing millions to soy, sprouts, and tofu. It also argued that a vegetarian diet was a political act that could solve world hunger by redirecting food from livestock to humans.
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