Our daily bread

Food advertising has long played a central role in the consumer poster genre. It's about "our daily bread", we always have to eat. However, the posters also always reflect the social and cultural history of food: How and where is food eaten? Who eats what? What attitude to life and body do eating habits reflect? Meat, which was still lavishly advertised after the Second World War, has largely fallen out of favor today.

At the same time, however, bratwurst, hot dogs and hamburgers have by no means become obsolete as fast food. Food is therefore always subject to fashion and not least an expression of social distinction. Until well into the 1950s, the pigtailed housewife and rosy, well-fed children played an important role in food posters. The advent of ready meals and fast food also changed this narrative and led to the emancipation of women. With more and more new branded products and the first self-service stores, product packaging increasingly comes into focus.

From fat to fit, from being to design: food advertising always reveals how closely healthy nutrition, food as a lifestyle and changing ideals of an attractive body are interwoven. And some trends, such as vegetarian or vegan food, have a long history: the Hiltl opened in Zurich in 1898 as the world's first vegetarian restaurant.