The record-union., 1895-03-12
FOOD AND BRAINS.
Racial Characteristics That Have
Their Root in the Kitchen

Racial Characteristics That Have
Their Root in the Kitchen.
No student of the periodical liter ature
OF england In the early part of this CEN
tury will have forgotten Jeffry's diatri be
on Goethe in particular and German let
ters in general, which hes pronounced to
have strong cabbage-im mpregnated odor
as OF the cooking of strong-smelling
viands 10 back kitchens. 1t is quite true
that we are rather inclined to look down
upon the culinary taste of the German
and to regard his potent wienerwurst.
blutwurst, sauerkraut and other sayory
not TO say odorous yiands as things rather
coarse and vulgar in themselves, even if
we do not turn the shallow materialistic
motto, Der mench ist was er isst" on
the nation that originated it, and argue
that people SO devoted to strong foods
must necessarily be wanting in refine
ment. The truth is that there is much
TO be said on the other side, or rather
1t must be allowed that the maxim
cited has so much of validity that
mighty nation is likely to be nation of
mighty eaters, while nation whose over
rehned gastronomic taste confines it to
light and delicate foods, starch, sugar and
pastry, Is likely to drop behind in the
race, no matter what may be its natural
endowments. This lesson is brought out
IN pointed and forcible way by the
bllnd pianist, Edward Baxter Perry. a
man OF education and originality, who
writes for NlLSsc warning as 10 the
danger of under-nutrition, based on his
observation OF the work of American and
German students. 1t is difficult for any
one to question Mr.. Perry's statement
that americans when brought into close
and rlgld competition with Germans find
that the latter possess more strength
more endurance, more power of applica-
tlon ana more physical vigor than them
selves, SO that, in spite of our natural tall
ents and fine mental endowments, they,
as rule, excel US as students, thinkers
and artists.n
The main cause for this, Mr., Perry
thinks, is to be found in the difference in
diet. 1he well-to-do classes in Germany
eat heartily OF rich and substantial food,
and among the poorer people black bread,
sausage, cheese, onions and cabbage are
the staple articles. In this country, on
the other hand, what he calls vanity and
false economy lead to the use of fine
white flour, from which almost eyery
element but starch has been carefully
eliminated by patent processes to secure
the extra whiteness and lightness so
gratifying to fastldious housekeepers. and
the genteel but unnutritious potato, which
Is seen only occasionally on a German
liable. A lemon pie two inches thick,
Mr.. Perry sarcastically observes. will
atone to most families for the most un-
substantial first courses, beside having
the extra advantage of spelling the d.
gesnon, and, by consequence, the appe-
tite
tastldlous Americans, he adds, elevate
their noses at the Germans vulgar and
plebelan taste in food, but it tells in their
favor when it makes them harder STU
dents, closer thinkers and more learned
saVants tnan ourselves, and reluctant as
we may be TO own it, endows them as
surely with superior emotional and art
1stlo capacity. There is, no doubt, some
exaggeration in all this, and vet there is
kernel of truth as well, which ought to
be taken to heart 1t is likely that the
pest led class IN this country to-day are
the rich people, who can eat what thew
want, and in spite of fancy cookery man
age TO get good deal of substantial food
and the better paid laborers, who are not
above frequent boiled dinnersp and the
stronger and more nutritious vegetables,
1t is among the classes between the gen.
teel folk of limited income who must
have pastry even if they cut down on
their meat, and would not dream of fill
Ing their plaster tenements with
the door OF strong vlands that the real
starvation comes. For it is starvation
when worker has to live on his nerves
and goad his rebellious system with uuin-
Inc or strong coffee, just as truly as
though 1t ended in rigor mortis instead Of
nervous prostration.
The last few years have seen a notable
spread of enlightenment in regard to the
properties and relative values of foods.
an enlightenment which is sure to spread
still further with the development of the
cooking school, and it may be that the
coming generations will progress toward
strength as rapidly as the past genera
tions have gone in the opposite direction
1t has been fashionable to attribute the
undue nervous development of Ameri-
cans entirely to climate, but it remains to
be seen whether scientific gastronomy.
taken together with the wholesome ten
uency TO outdoor sports which. has
sprung up in these latter days. cannot
put check to tendency which could re-
suit only in the extinction Of the Ameri
can race.-Springfield Republican.