Originally conceived as a diptych with The Eateria, this work was sold separately. In an interview with Richard Brown Baker, held September 18, 1963, Indiana noted that the painting was the first of his works to be illustrated in color in a magazine, in the September 20, 1963, issue of Life.
The Dietary was recently on display in Robert Indiana: The Sweet Mystery, at the Procuratie Vecchie, Venice, April 20–November 24, 2024.