Bread alarm in Brussels, 1840. Understanding and theorizing the development of food scares.

In Brussels in February 1840, Piotr Kopczynski published a series of three newspaper articles that caused a commotion because they took seriously the rumors about bread that caused gastrointestinal problems. Journalists, city administrators, doctors, chemists, bakers, and two health boards reacted to the articles, which led to a controversy that lasted a couple of months. The paper analyzes this episode, paying meticulous attention to the views and doings of all actors. It emphasizes the need to know the chronology of food fears to learn when, how, and why people and institutions react. The Kopczynski affair allows to suggest the phases of food fears, that may go beyond time and place. Sources of the paper include reports, magazines, treatises, and especially newspapers, which are carefully read with consideration not only of what was written but also of how. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]