The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-09-04
WHAT TO EAT.

When cooking schools were first estab-
listed the design of their founders was to
teach the science of dietetics as well as
the culinary art. and chemistry acquainted
the public with some startling revelations.
But after the public had got over its sur
prise it fell back into the old rut, and peo-
pie ate the things which they had been
accustomed to eat, without regard to nutri-
ment or price. Professor Atwater is now
trying to rouse them afrssh Some OF the
words he uses-such as protein-are not
now generally employed in the sense he
ascribes to them; but his argument is I'M
derstood by those who note that when he
says protein he means nitrogen.
The main bulk of the human body con-
ssts OF elements which can be reduced to
nitrogen. carbon and hydrogen. OF these
the body loses daily something like two
and a half ounces of nitrogen and half
pound of carbon. ana to be healthy these
must be replaced in the food II the 70 cd
does not contain the requisite amount of
nitrogen the body will lot be nourished
and the tissues will be impoverished if it
does not contain the requisite amount OF
carbon the body will lack heat and the
energy will decline. The problem in
dieteiics is to determine what foods sup
ply the requisite amounts of nitrogen and
carbon, and u OF too much of either. Pro-
lessor Atwater examines thirty four COM
mon articles of food, and ranges them in
the order of their merit in this respect. 1t
is curious to note how widely custom de-
parts from sound rule in this regard.
The average man at a restaurant will
order for his meal sirloin steak, two
eggs and a cup of coffee with milk.
Now. the steak stands twelfth in the list
Of articles supplying nitrogen and likewise
twelfth among those which furnish car
bon. in other words it is very nearly the
least useful of all the foods we consume.
Neck of beef or shin of beef is far better :;
they rank fifth among the producers of
nitrogen and tenth among those of ear bon.
But beef contains so little carbon that a
man who undertook to live upOn it without
farnaceOus food would have to eat 312
pounds day to supply his BODY with the
necessary heat and energy.
Eggs are very poor food. They rank
eleventh in the list of nitrogen kers
and fifteenth in that of carbon-makers.
Tea and coffee supply the system with n
small quantity Of caffein, which is nutri-
from the milk which is mixed with them,
and milk ranks tenth among the fur
nishers of nitrogen and eleventh among
the furnishers Of carbon.
The best foods. both for nitrogen
and carbon. are the cereals, cornmeal,
wheaton -four ana oatmeal. Other vese-
tables, SUCH as potatoes. come after them.
Professor Atwater finds more nitrogen in
vegetables than some other writers on
detetics; and as a matter Of fact, purely
vegetable diet often tends to a weakening
oil fiber and tissue. Among the animal
foods he allots the first place TO salt cod
fish and for supply of carbon salt pork.
1t is curious that so high rank should be-
allotted TO two articles OF food which are
so little used in Oriental countries that in
many they are prescribed by religious
law. Chicken tanks ninth among the pro-
ducers of nitrogen, and sixteenth among
those of carbon. They are about on a par
with eggs. Other animal foods, such as
mutton and salmon. are near the end of
the list The very poorest of the animal
foods is oysters; which accounts for the
death of shpwrecked mariners who have
to live on shellfsh.
1t seems paradox to say that the cheap
est GODS are the most wholesome; but as
matter of fact he who eats the toughest
portions of the steer, and accompanies
them with the plainest dishes of cornmeal
OF wheaton porridge, will get more good
outof his food than the man who con-
sumes the most expensive meats and the
choicest daintes in the market. In tho
Franco-German war the commissariat
made exhaustive studies of the art of feed
ing their men, and they came to the con-
clusion that the mortality from disease
was in inverse ratio TO the cost Of the COM
missariat.