This chapter presents a history of human-centered product research including design and product evaluation. The chapter begins with the world of food business in the early 1900s and moves through a variety of themes and disciplines, including the period of testing for quality, the reign of the “golden palate,” the emergence of descriptive analysis, and the growth of psychophysical thinking. The chapter shows the approaches, some of the early research pioneers, some of the types of results obtained, an analysis of “why’s” behind the themes, and the controversies based on intellectual histories. The chapter emphasizes the earlier periods of research and then brings the story up to the 2000s.