You Are What You Ate: Using Bioarchaeology to Promote Healthy Eating

Abstract

The You Are What You Ate project is a collaboration between historians, archaeologists, museum officers, medieval re-enactors and food scientists. We aim to encourage public debate and personal reflection on modern eating habits through exploration of the dietary choices of the medieval and early modern period. This paper will discuss our osteology workshops, aimed at adults or at school children.

We use archaeological examples of diet-related conditions, including dental disease, scurvy, rickets and gout, plus those associated with obesity such as osteoarthritis and DISH, to help the public visualise how dietary choices can affect the body. This information is delivered via an introductory talk and carefully monitored bone handling sessions – and, for the children, includes the analysis of a plastic skeleton modified to display pathological conditions.

Evaluation data shows that the majority of adults and all children feel they have learnt something new during the sessions, and that this has led them to think about healthy eating. The inclusion of examples of dental pathology has promoted dental hygiene to school children, although it was not one of our primary aims. It is difficult to assess if these short-term experiences translate to long-term knowledge gain or to changes in behaviour.