[The genesis and development of alimentary education: the creation of a norm]

Underscoring the relationship between the biological and the social, this analysis of the literature on alimentation dating from 1934-46 investigates the process through which alimentary education was born and developed. The period can be divided into two segments: from 1934 to 1939, the scientific foundations of national alimentation were laid, while 1940-46 brought the re-ordering of knowledge produced earlier. During the latter period, the conceptual and disciplinary reference points of the science of nutrition were synthesized and defined. The result was the creation of two areas within alimentary education: hygiene and alimentary education, where greater concern was placed on content, and nutritional education, which took shape as a field in itself, focused on teaching instruments.