[Between cooking pot and sick-bed. Dietetics in Germany, 1890-1980]

The article analyses the development of the "dietary assistant" as a profession in Germany. It describes the major steps of its evolution and argues that this evolution mainly depended on two factors. First on the development of nutritional science and dietetics, when the physicians experienced the importance of well-prepared dishes and meals, but realised, that they did not have the practical skills to prepare suitable meals for people with metabolic disturbances. Second the evolution relied on the ambitions of young women, since the beginning of the 20th century, to achieve a qualified job. The German development is compared with that in other countries and the question is raised as to why German dietary assistants, unlike elsewhere, did not achieve the status of an academic discipline.