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Paper short abstract

This paper/presentation outlines the evolution of Medically Tailored Meals (MTMs) in the United States and characterizes the "problems" with food-as-treatment as described by innovators, scientists, clinicians, and other non-profit and for-profit organizations in this domain.

Paper long abstract

Science and Technology Studies and Medical Sociology have collectively neglected exploration of the evolution of food-as-treatment for a variety of diseases and illnesses. This is surprising for several reasons – Food has existed since at least the Hippocratic era as a treatment for a variety of illnesses and is developed in contemporary society in many forms as an intervention and treatment for disease(s). The STS and Medical Sociological research that has been done on food-as-treatment or food-as-medicine reveals an ontological continuum of food and drug in science, describes the ways people move between food and drug in the treatment of illnesses, and outlines the actor-networks implicated in the development of what I call “food drug fixes” in the Global South for conditions like hunger and starvation. For this paper, I take up the call to empirically explore the evolution of what I call ontologically ambiguous food drugs (e.g., food drug fixes) in the United States. I define food drug fixes as food-based interventions and treatments for biomedical and social problems. In this paper I describe the evolution of Medically Tailored Meals (MTMs) and characterize the “problems” with food as described by innovators, scientists, clinicians, and non-profit/for-profit organizations/actors, including the “medicalization” of clinical trial outcomes for MTMs for conditions like diabetes, cancer, HIV, and food insecurity.