The presentation delivers, first, some macro data on historical food consumption, most notably in 19th-century France to illustrate historians' research on human physiology, technological change, labor productivity and ultimately economic growth. It then picks up a methodological difficulty that seems blindspotted in this scholarly literature: the use of contemporary food composition tables. Finally, it illustrates this point on some micro or household consumption data from around 1900 in order to open up the discussion on factors – mostly supply – that prompt change in consumer practices by the mid-20th century.