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Story: Public health

Health posters: healthy diet

This Department of Health poster from the 1950s depicts a recommended daily diet. Apart from some difference in quantities, and the mention of fat for cooking, the foods do not differ greatly from what is recommended in the 2000s.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: Eph-D-FOOD-1950s-01

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Kerryn Pollock, Public health – Healthy bodies, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/zoomify/31372/health-posters-healthy-diet (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Kerryn Pollock, published 18 April 2011, reviewed and revised 7 July 2019 with assistance from Richard Edwards.