This article investigates the ways in which food author Verburgh has attempted to engineer credibility for himself, his book The Food Hourglass, and the arguments it contains. Through a careful reading and analysis of the text, interviews with the author, and other "credibility conquest" participants, we show that Verburgh engineers credibility through enlisting the authority of science, questioning the integrity of others, and positioning himself as a dissident. This initiates a constant renegotiation of credibility in the interaction between Verburgh, nutrition scientists, and others, in which Verburgh actively constructs his public credibility at the expense of scientific credibility.