The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1857-08-08
" From the Newburyport Herald.
THE rood WE EAT-ITS FITNESS AND
--- XAI.IIE. - Il y

THE FOUD WE EAI-IIS F11NISS AM
VALUE. lace f|
For food, people cannot often tell why
they purchase one thing in preference to
another. They simply say, if flesh or veg
etable, like it better, or it suits me better.
This is instinct speaking for nature, and is
more certain and true, where the appetite
has not been depraved, than any knowledge
derived from study. We inquire, what
should men eat?-and what is the cheapest
and best? Very proper questions indeed,
when food is dear and labor cheap. One
saws that nature and health require vegeta-
BILE and not animal hood; and even then he
ridicules the food of others-the potato OF
the Irishman, the cabbage of the German,
and the garlic of the Spaniard. Orif our
philosopher admits the truth, declared to
Noah after the food, which is well support
ed by the physiological nature of man
Sc ssEvery n,ovimg thing that liyeth shall be
meat for you; even as the green herb have
given you all things"-he still laughs at
Frenchman's soup, or an Esquimaux,s
blubber; the Chinaman's cats, cooked as
they MAY be, or the Africans snake, pre-
pared in the best manner. Now, it is not
alone habit that induces the Englishman to
eat beef, the East India rice, and the vari-
Gus peoples the exact food they have. There
is necessity and fitness in the diet OF
each, founded in nature, and taught by in
stinct long before it is by chemistry; and
for which the unlearned can give no reason.
Life is maintained in the human body by
the assimilation of food, which going thro'
various notifications, becomes blood and
fesh-virtually health and life. What we
shall cat, therefore, depends upon the air
we breathe, the water We drink, the climate
in which we shall live, and generally upon
the powers Of the organization to receive
and incorporate into itself whatever enters
the stomach. Thus it happens that what is
food for one is poison for another; what
are luxuries on the one hand, are rejected
on the other. Take even alcoholic drinks,
so often destructive of life-why are they
50 ?-and why are they so to one more than
another? They are so because the human
stomach cannot generally absorb alcohol and
have it enter into and support life; other
olive oil to the people Of the Mediterranean
countries. Now and then we find person
of capacity to do this; and they drink and
drink and drink to the surprise Of every
body for absolutely it becomes food for
them, and they live while others die, to ex-
treme old age. Whether man can safely
drink alcoholic liquor depends not more up.
on the liquor than upon himself; he may be
one of the hundred, either by nature or hab-
Il. "a master it. 1t is said that Uncertain
,ocal;ties Of Europe, females eat arsenic to
Give them fair complexion, and those who
can adapt their nature to it, can take daily
what under other circumstances, would kill
half a regiment Of soldiers; and the females
of our own country are addictedto like per-
None Of us need poisoneexcept for medi-
c;ne. What is poison, and what is not, we
have said. depends upon circumstances
We W. NIGHT state it in this way. That is food
which repairs the body; and that is poison
ons which retains its peculiar qualities in
sn;te Of the organs Of digestion--which is
senerallv the case with arsenic or alcohol
and Il viii not become part OF the person
tak;no;t, I If this be so, what might be food
70 ns IN health, might be poisonous in de-
=. :, ror,ent or weakness of the digestive or
,,ors. nr even what we take OF proper all
ment is iniurious-in eating or drinking
when taken in larger quantities than can De
consumed. Thus may properly have what
NV na;rhbor cannot have; and under certain
n;ycnm nm stnnces-changed by climate, age,
r. a. T must take what otherwise should
saf,aa. Rrute instinct teaches this. The
horse or the COW, in the interior country,
will run to the person holding II q naaueul s.'I
Of salt, whom they would pass unno.lccul ~ ~
the simple reason thas IN Ing ".Ds =. 1. - &c
and in the food by the sea, there IS more rec. OF
salt than in the country: 30 men MlsnA lu
the tropics will use more salt tnan = i, sae -
temperate and arctic regions, because snsrs
il less in the food they cate
Carry this idea along and we deteInlne
why the various nations differ ID wnas tncy
consume. The Englishman, with ms rumP
of beef and his puncheon OF peers = oniy
the same as the lrishman with hls potato,
supplying the particular dehclency OF ma
ture. il has been ascertained that the va
tor of Ireland contains an unusual amONnt
az lime: the potato, on the contrary nas
loss than any other kind Of food IN general
,;se: and hence the adapatian OF thaI cscu'
lent to the Irishman's wants. 80 the ureeh-
lander sits down and eats his biuobef, OF
the North Russian his solid piece OF tallow,
while the Norwegian peasant makes ms sup-
nor from oak bark bread, the lcelander Fom
the moss Of his rocks, the Otomae IRON 2
necul;ar kind Of clay, the Eastern Asmpc
from the simplest vegetable, the Mes,e5sn J, gsa
Asiatic from sslocusts ind wild honey, 4
the negro from reptiles and worms. nn.,,'sa sse
can see the ,ehy Of all this from ourselAss
In winter, when the intense cold rapaa4
wastes the fatty tissues, we become nsl
Esauimaux, and should become quite, 49,
winters were as long; and we ea1 Sou
cheese as the Dutchman does miicn.cneesp,
and almost drink hogs fat, as the rrelSl. a
man IA does his light wine; but inspr'ngs W. -
the blood thins, dandelions are sumcll
and in summer we are vigorous upon Drss
and means and beas and green corn, Juss !.
some Of the Swiss PEASANTS, Fonus, .na
healthy, hardly ever taste anything ou. ersau %
hutter and cheese. 1t is the height q Iosly,
therefore, to declare that wine is Away z
mocter. MOI o. that animal food Is always un-
necessary; and it may only show our lsns, 80.
rance Of facts, when We ridicale a,s'se' -
neonle for their manner Of life, wnicn' -
ter ali, may be best for them. 80. ia
some tell US that religion reguianses. n.ps .rs
food that most nations consume. re!ns!s
1 tSs rsverse is true; that dietic reiiglonh hs y
founded fan upon the pre- existing habits e sse
Aou".9~ - . Yeo,rc1 an infinite num-