The record-union., 1893-01-31
THEY WANT TO BE TALLER
So the Japanese VIII Cultivate tn,
Habit OF Eating Meat.

So the Japanese VIII Cultivate the
Habit OF Eating Meat.
Ii is somewhat curious circumstance,
says the London telegraph, that at the
very time when we are told that the
characteristic Japanese flower, the chrys-
anthemum, is about to be introduced to
public favor, both in a hot and cold state
OF preparation, the Japanese have come
to the conclusion that vegetable diet,
especially that in which rice is dominant,
IS menu which should more properly
be discouraged than advocated for the
food OF the japanese people. Sir Francis
DE Nlnton, addressing the Manchester
Geographical Society, has stated that in
stead OF the vegetable food to which the
Japanese had hitherto largely accustomed
themselves, 1t had been decided by the
Government to encourage meat diet, it
being thought that by the adoption Of
such policy the stature OF the race
would increase and their physique CON
sequently improve. Sir Francis further
more pointed out that if the denizens of
the land of the chrysanthemum could
only he persuaded to eat more meat the
brightest prospects might be Otle cd to
the cattle ranchers Of Western Canada.
and especially of British Columbia. who
would find in Japan new and remuner-
atiYe market for their cattle. 1t should
not, however, be ignored that European
the native cuisine, although perhaps it
slightly errs in adherence TO a system of
cookery mainly consisting of odds and
ends of various kinds of food, is quite
capable of supplying not only palatable
but elegant meals. Others have not taken
quite so roseate a view of Japanese cuIi-
nary economy, but have animadVerted on
the fact that not only do these remote
Asiatics eat 100 much rice, but that they
consume too much fish
1t IS commonly and truly said that in
England we do not make half as much
use as we should properly do of the har-
vest of the sea, and, although the fisher
les exhibition was socially and financially
a brilliant success, the price of fish has
not been appreciably diminished nor its
consumption largely developed since. 1t
is, at all events, certain that among the
poorer classes fish is not only too dear
but does not seem to be relished to any
marked degree by those whose lot it is to
labor, whereas in Japan fish is a general
article of diet, just as it is in the Sand
wich Islands. Rice, again, although the
staple of the diet OF many millions of Ash
atics in India. China and Japan, has not,
so many medical authorities maintain,
the sustaining power as an article of food
possessed either by meat or bread, or by
pulse.
The professed vegetarians warn us that
we are travelling rapidly along the road
to perdition because we eat meat, but,
while deprecating the bigotry of these
mild fanatics, it is certain that we might.
with advantage to ourselves, consume a
much larger quantity of vegetables than
we actually do. The idea OF a parti-col-
ored chrysanthemum salad may at first
blush appear slightly fantastic, still the
mere question of such novelty in our
cuisine may be ultimately beneficial in
awakening the people and their advisers
to the expediency of making vegetables a
much more important factor in good liv-
ing than has hitherto been the case.