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Xaq Frohlich

@comedoergosum.bsky.social
1.4K followers 554 following 108 posts

Historian and STS scholar at Auburn University | xaqfrohlich.com. Author of From Label to Table: Regulating Food in America in the Information Age. Also works on critical AI literacy and AI ethics.

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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Check out this story about the “Awareness Fracture” from a digital divide on AI, the four tier funnel of AI capability: finance.biggo.com/news/6e74d8f... (Why can't I get more funding for our AI Cafés?) As William Gibson said, “The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed.”
finance.biggo.com
Karpathy Maps AI's "Four-Tier Funnel" of Awareness: Only 5,000 People Worldwide Have Seen True Frontier Capabilities — BigGo Finance
AI expert Andrej Karpathy has proposed a "four-tier awareness funnel" model revealing a profound fracture in global understanding of AI capabilities:…
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Several Auburn University faculty members and myself are leading a discussion about concerns with AI and its impacts on religion and faith, at the Auburn United Methodist Church this Thursday, October 1st 6-8PM: cla.auburn.edu/events/?trum... If you are in the Auburn area, please join us!
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Just published the updated 2026 edition of my "Tech & Civ Guide to the AI Journal"—a human-centered framework for teaching with AI through intentionality, metacognition, source-consciousness, and critical AI literacy. Feel free to borrow and adapt!: auburn.instructure.com/courses/1654... #AIEthics
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Marion Nestle @marionnestle.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
What has MAHA accomplished to date? Background (numbers refer to citations at the end) The Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) commission set an important goal, albeit one ironically similar to Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move” campaign: end childhood chronic disease.[1]…
foodpolitics.com
What has MAHA accomplished to date?
Background (numbers refer to citations at the end) The Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) commission set an important goal, albeit one ironically similar to Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move” campaign: end childhood chronic disease.[1] Unfortunately, hallucinated references in the report suggested that at least some of it had been written by AI, thereby detracting from its scientific credibility.
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Marion Nestle @marionnestle.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Setting the record straight: Calley Means Washington Post reporter, Tim Carman, contacted me for comment about a speech he heard made by RFK Jr’s top food advisor, Calley Means, in which Means made patently false charges about my work.  From Carman's report, MAHA Mondays at the Great American…
foodpolitics.com
Setting the record straight: Calley Means
Washington Post reporter, Tim Carman, contacted me for comment about a speech he heard made by RFK Jr’s top food advisor, Calley Means, in which Means made patently false charges about my work.  From Carman's report, MAHA Mondays at the Great American State Fair miss one obvious problem: Means suggested her research had been bankrolled by sugar and tobacco industries, the latter of which 
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Grateful to the AU CLA media team for this generous write-up on my ASFS Individual Award for Food Studies Pedagogy: cla.auburn.edu/news/article... “Food and Power” has been my signature course for over a decade and it means a lot to see its interdisciplinary, experiential teaching recognized.
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Yes, happy to! I'll make a note to send it to you by email.
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Very excited to have won the ASFS 2026 Pedagogy Award for my Auburn University HIST 3590 course, “Food and Power”! A true labor of love developed over a decade, across countries, communities, and food cultures. Grateful to my students, and can’t wait to teach it again!
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Tim Elfenbein @timelfen.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
New white paper on by @comedoergosum.bsky.social on how food labels operate as policy. I continue to read his work while thinking about the proposals to add labels to scholarly journals. bsky.app/profile/time...
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
I’ve distilled over five years of policy engagement on food labeling into a 10-page white paper: “Food Labels as Policy”: aub.ie/FoodLabelWhitePaper It asks: what happens when governments try to govern through information? Please check it out and share with others! #FromLabelToTable
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
This post by AI-analyst @emollick.bsky.social very nicely summarizes my feelings about the state-of-the-art with AI and AI literacy: open.substack.com/pub/oneusefu... I highly encourage you to read it if you are grappling with education in the Age of AI.
open.substack.com
Choosing to Stay Human
If you go to your favorite social media site, you will find it full of posts that start to look suspiciously similar to each other:
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Today Denmark is discovering the limits of a cashless society. The main credit card system here is out. Restaurant and shop staff are nervously asking you if you carry cash or have a Danish-issued payment card. I feel sorry for foreigners and tourists trying to pay for anything today.
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Centre for Food Policy @foodpolicycitysg.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
If you missed last week's excellent #FoodThinkers webinar by @comedoergosum.bsky.social on food labelling in the US, you can now watch the recording on our YouTube channel 👇 📺 eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
May 2026 Food Thinkers: Xaq Frohlich
The May Food Thinkers webinar, 'From Label To Table: A history of US FDA food labelling policy and the responsibilization of the consumer', delivered by Dr Xaq Frohlich on 12 May 2026.
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
I’m very excited to share that my book, From Label to Table (@ucpress.bsky.social 2023) is now available in Korean translation from 따비 출판사. The Korean edition, titled 이것은 왜 오렌지주스인가, can be purchased through Kyobo here: product.kyobobook.co.kr/detail/S0002... 재미있고 유익한 책입니다. 꼭 읽으셔요 두번 읽으셔요 많관부!!
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Fun fact: this is my book #FromLabelToTable translated into Korean. I just learned that it's out, but this bot found it first.
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
If you missed my talk "From Label To Table: A history of US FDA food labelling policy and the responsibilization of the consumer" on the @foodpolicycitysg.bsky.social Food Thinkers webinar, you can watch it here on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BUZ.... Check it out! #FromLabelToTable
youtube.com
May 2026 Food Thinkers: Xaq Frohlich
YouTube video by Centre for Food Policy
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Centre for Food Policy @foodpolicycitysg.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
🚨TODAY, 4pm BST 🚨 At our #FoodThinkers webinar Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social will talk about the decades-long shift from mandatory #foodstandards towards consumer labels as the primary tool for governing food markets in the US. Book your place 👇 www.citystgeorges.ac.uk/news-and-eve...
Headshot of Xaq Frohlich smiling at the camera
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Centre for Food Policy @foodpolicycitysg.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Why do US policymakers so often reach for a food label rather than a rule? Tune in to our #FoodThinkers webinar with @comedoergosum.bsky.social on Tuesday 12 May at 4pm BST to hear more about what he calls the "informational turn" in US food policy www.citystgeorges.ac.uk/news-and-eve...
Headshot of Xaq Frohlich smiling at the camera
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
One of the more exciting professional accomplishments for me recently was that I received a Teaching Excellence Award from my home institution, Auburn University College of Liberal Arts: cla.auburn.edu/news/article... Teaching is what I love most about my job, so this recognition was extra special.
cla.auburn.edu
CLA presents 2026 faculty and staff awards
The College of Liberal Arts announces its 2026 faculty and staff award recipients.
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Looking forward to sharing my work on the history of food labeling at this great online seminar series, Food Thinkers, next week May 12th (4PM London time). Please join us for what I'm sure will be an interesting discussion!
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
ChatGPT’s new GPT Image 2.0 is getting a lot of attention for handling non-Western text in images. I tested it by asking it to remake my book cover in Korean, styled like a Korean nutrition label. The first result was strong and the follow-up edit shown here pretty spot on. I'm very impressed!
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Very excited to be participating in this Birkbeck workshop on food packaging on May 8th: www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event.... If you're in London and interested in food policy, I highly recommend you join us for what is going to be an interesting discussion. #foodpolicy
bbk.ac.uk
Food and Drink Package Recycling in Urban Food Systems: Contexts and Comparisons, Lessons and Experiences
Food and Drink Package Recycling in Urban Food Systems: Contexts and Comparisons, Lessons and Experiences
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IEEE Spectrum @spectrum.ieee.org · 25/03/2026
"Many people feel that AI is something being done to them rather than developed with them." spectrum.ieee.org/ai-community-enga…
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Excited to see our guest post, “What Happens When You Host an AI Café,” published in @spectrum.ieee.org : spectrum.ieee.org/ai-community.... We need more public conversations, and more voices at the table, about what we do—and don’t—want from AI. Grateful to co-authors Cheryl Seals and Joan Harrell.
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Auburn University just shared a lovely piece about my spring research stay in Denmark at the University of Southern Denmark: wire.auburn.edu/content/ocm/.... I’m exploring regional food branding—New Nordic Cuisine; the Mediterranean diet—and helping to foster cultural exchange. 🇩🇰🇺🇸 #foodstudies
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Are you reading the Nutrition Facts label correctly? I'm quoted in this nice, short piece on common misunderstandings about the label, written by @debbieharry.bsky.social for WebMD's health news section Nourish: www.webmd.com/diet/news/20.... Check it out! #fromlabeltotable #NutritionFacts
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
My college's media team wrote up a nice article about an AI Café event I help co-organize: cla.auburn.edu/news/article... . The idea for the event was to give people a platform to talk about AI which wasn't simply "for" or "against," but to think about what AI in the public interest might look like.
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
Auburn people: Join us next week for a "Science Café on AI" ☕🤖 Nov. 6th, 6:30–8PM Well Red Auburn What is AI? How is it reshaping our world? Join Auburn University experts for a lively Q&A! Free & open to the public! Free drinks for first 20 participants! More info: cla.auburn.edu/events/?trum...
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
Auburn people: Join us next week for a "Science Café on AI" ☕🤖 Nov. 6th, 6:30–8PM Well Red Auburn What is AI? How is it reshaping our world? Join Auburn University experts for a lively Q&A! Free & open to the public! Free drinks for first 20 participants! More info: cla.auburn.edu/events/?trum...
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
My book From Label to Table (@ucpress.bsky.social) turns 2 today! To celebrate I’m sharing a chapter-by-chapter teaching guide I created to explore how food labels shape politics, power & trust, good for Food Law, Nutrition Policy, STS or American Studies courses: www.xaqfrohlich.com/_files/ugd/f...
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 21/09/2025
Oops! And here's the link to it: desperatelyseeking.substack.com/p/three-grea...
desperatelyseeking.substack.com
Three great books about food and nutrition
With a focus on the history of science
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 21/09/2025
Wow! Just came across this very positive review of my book that was published last year by @susanaramirez.bsky.social , and it's in very good company with books by @haushoferl.bsky.social and @charlottebiltekoff.bsky.social . Definitely agree these three books read well together! #FromLabelToTable
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
Excited my book was reviewed in the Journal of American History! Liked this quote in Bryan McDonald's review: "This informative study provides compelling insight to help us understand the effects of legislation and standards making on the American food landscape": academic.oup.com/jah/article/....
academic.oup.com
From Label to Table: Regulating Food in America in the Information Age
Xaq Frohlich's From Label to Table is a detailed and readable history of how food labeling became a critical part of American food regulation and Americans
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
... My class's first assignment thinking about AI was comparing human's claims for intelligence against claims made for other apes versus claims made for AI: auburn.instructure.com/courses/1654.... Opens up a nice irony: Animals are insufficiently rational, but machines are insufficiently emotional.
auburn.instructure.com
Tech & Civ Course Guide to the AI Journal: AI Showcase
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
Yes! I've used the phrase "public interest AI" on grant proposals, drawing from past initiatives on "public interest technology". And I certainly appreciate your journal's consideration of posthumanist frames when critiquing AI...
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
I'm really nerding out on this great critical history of GenAI in the @criticalai-journal.bsky.social : read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/... Just what I needed to wrap my head around how AI can work for the humanities, and the need for more critical AI literacy and human-centered AI.
read.dukeupress.edu
The Origins of Generative AI in Transcription and Machine Translation, and Why That Matters
Abstract. In this essay, written in dialogue with the introduction to this special issue, the authors offer a critical history of the development of large language models (LLMs). The essay's goal is t...
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 23/08/2025
My "Technology & Civilization" students kicked off our first AI-engaged assignment! They asked AI: “What Makes Me Human?” and shared their responses as artifacts on this collaborative Whiteboard. Try it yourself with the Assignment 1 prompt, posted here: auburn.instructure.com/courses/1654...
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
Thanks for sharing! Very interested to hear what other historians think of it!
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Business History Conference @businesshistoryc.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
Thanks for sharing this! Reposting here for those in the #bizhis #appliedhistory community who may be interested. auburn.instructure.com/courses/1654… #BusinessHistory #DigitalHumanities #AILiteracy #HigherEd #HistoryTeaching
auburn.instructure.com
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
Been building something new this summer: a 10-assignment AI Journal for my "Technology & Civilization" undergrad course. It blends AI tools + humanities learning to spark reflection and critical AI literacy. Guide + highlights here: auburn.instructure.com/courses/1654.... Check it out!
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
Auburn-Opelika people, I'm giving a talk at the Museum Of East Alabama in ten days: Saturday, July 26th 11-12PM. It's free and open to the public. I'll be using my book, From Label to Table (@ucpress.bsky.social, 2023), to talk about recent happenings in food politics. Join us for the conversation!
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
My pleasure! I enjoyed the book, and look forward to thinking about ways to use it in my courses.
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
Selfishly wondering whether my book on the history of FDA food labeling might one day help people piece together how we got here. #FromLabelToTable
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
Absolutely love the video graphic accompanying this @nytimes.com story on the ongoing collapse of the @fda.gov: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/08/m... Some thoughts: I count myself among the “F.D.A. watchdogs” who were once constructively critical—now deeply dismayed by the agency’s gutting...
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
Wrote a review for @hnetreviews.bsky.social of a great food studies book, Ways of Eating by @benwurgaft.bsky.social & White: www.h-net.org/reviews/show... Choice quote: “many of the things we imagine to be traditional or permanent features of our lives with food are, in fact, very recent arrivals”
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
One more AI-related course certificate received! This one for Auburn University's Writing Across the Curriculum course, "Teaching Critical Thinking with AI-Engaged Writing Assignments." If you have any good ideas for university-level AI-engaged assignments, I'd love to hear them!
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
Check out this fun conversation I had with historian David Parsons about "MAHA Moms" and food politics past and present on his podcast, Nostalgia Trap, "Ep 416 - America Eats Itself w/Xaq Frohlich": www.patreon.com/posts/131914.... (Also on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and YouTube). #FromLabelToTable
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
Did this fun interview about my book, From Label to Table, with two food historians Kelly Spring and Matt Phillpott, as part of their "Hungry Historians" podcast series: open.spotify.com/episode/1QYV... It's a new #foodstudies series, but they've already lined up some great food studies speakers.
open.spotify.com
Xaq Frohlich - From Label to Table: regulating food in America in the Information Age
Hungry Historians · Episode
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
Unofficially, this was a Fulbright finalist application. Won't go into it further, but you can imagine. Very grateful to the Fulbright Denmark Commission for resurrecting my project!
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Xaq Frohlich @comedoergosum.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
Very excited to announce I'll be doing a research and teaching stay at @sdu.dk in the Spring 2026 semester. Was awarded the 2025-2026 Distinguished Scholar in American Studies Grant from the Binational Commission for Educational Exchange between Denmark and The United States of America.
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