The record-union., 1893-09-02
WHAT Is CHEAPEST FooDs

Ihe purchase OF iood. Ihat Is, he who
ought to save most and have the most
nutritious food, actually pays most and
gets least. Thus, the poor mans food
ought to be the best cooked and the most
strengthening, but, as a rule. it is worst
cooked and is least NJ -ritive. TheMassa-
I.chusetts Bureau of Labor Statistics re-
ports that the inquiry of the bureau proves
unequivocalIy that the rich buy the
cheapest cuts from butchers, and the poor
the highest priced, thereby the rich get
the best meat and pay least for it.. The
| testimony is that the most fastidious are
those who are least able to pay. The
| same testimony comes from New York
| and other great market centers.
Food costs more than clothing and
shelter, but we give less attention to it
than to either of the others. We look
sharp to see that coat fits, or that roof
does not leak, but we are careless as to the
nutritive qualities Of the food we buy.
The reason is that people know SO little
hbOub LHSS6 values.
How many know that there is more
nutrltive quality in pound of wheaton
flour than in seven pounds of oysters?
The latter are the most filling" but the
former will longer and better sustain life.
There is as much that goes TO sustain life
and build up wasting tissue in five cents
worth of beans or Goldfish as in half dol
lars worth of tenderloin steak, salmon or
lobster, says Professor Atwater.
Very largely it is true that the best gro
ceries, the finest goods, the most costly
brands, are very far from being so whole
some and strength and happiness giving
as the coarser and cheaper grades. In
steaks round steak is valuable as a con-
tributor of strength compared to tender
ION and porterhouse as four is to one.
Seven and nalf cents worth of bread
gives to the consumer more protein and
more calories of energy than thirty cents
worth of oysters. Sirloin beef gives but
siXty-eight and in some cases eighty-six
/ paw oAiAS dli1 lIOtl CGU 10 l,1iU cal
ories of energy, while beef neck at six to
eight cents pound gives no less than 2I8
protein grams and 2,795 calories of en-
ergy. Salt cod is double the energy value
of fresh salmon, and the hens egg is
thrice as strength producing as is the
| oyster.
PrOfpGEnF A Afvya iz 1F H.
that about one-sixth of all the food we
purchase is absolutely wasted; that is one
days food for the family out of every six
/ days food is squandered through un-
! economic methods.
But We cannot enter, in this article, into
the reasons he advances in support of
that statement. We may say, however.
that the waste is not all in casting aside
food, nor in cooking. but is partly in the
selection of food that is not of the most
energy-producing quality. Not that there
need be any Limitation whatever upon
varieties of food, or tastes but that in
| meeting the demand for variety we waste
in selecting the brand. Then there is
the needless waste due to uneconomic
cookery, etc.; the waste in improper stor-
age, and in other ways.
1t is well for all the people to ask them
selves: us Professor Atwater right when
he declares, that a large body of the peo-
pie in this country by their practice say.
to economic closely is beneath us. We
do not want to live cheaply, but we want
to live WE'LL" But in fact they are not
only not living well but are doing that
which reduces strength and limits COM
fort But how shall these things be REM
edied among the people? By informa-
ton pressed upon them; by experiments
that will convince them; by proofs made
that they can live cheaper and better at
the same time.