The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-12-19
THE W|SEST FARE.
Further Notes on What
We Eat.
A Correspondents Comments ON a
Recent Food Discussion i'm
This Journal,

Editor Advertiser: If for no other
reason than the opinion l hold. that
the question of What to Eat" needs
more ventilation, it afforded me pleas
ure TO peruse letter over the sigma
ture, can Interested Kamaaina:" also
your article, What to Eat" both of
which appeared in Saturdays issue of
the Advertiser. With your permission
| would be glad to pass a few COM
| ments thereon, not in the spirit of an
tagonism but with the humble endeav-
or to, if possible, throw a little more
| light on the subject
While the price of meat, or, rather,
| the increased cost of that commodity,
affords good peg on which to hang a
| tale, to my mind the cheapness or dear
ness of that article does not affect what
L consider the main point, namely,
which diet, meat or a vegetarian,
| best sustains and develops for the best
good the various functions of our phys
| ical being? l might just state paren-
| thetically that in my judgment there
| is little room for economiZing between
a mixed meat and properly classified
| from the saving that will accrue from
a much minimized doctors bill. Your
| lady correspondent makes reference
| to Daniel and his colleagues, but as
| that gentleman developed such a fear
| full and lurid imagination, | purposely
take pleasure in submitting other shin
| ing examples of what vegetarianism
has produced, namely, Pythagoras, Soc
| rates, Seneca, Plutarch, Chrysostom,
Buddha, and, later, Professor Newman
| of the University of London, Richard
Wagner, Isaac Newton, Remenyi, the
violinist; Benjamin Franklin, Emer-
| son, Horace Greeley, and a host of 9TH
| ers, noted as philathropists, men of
| letters, etc.
1t is gratifying to note that in your
article, What to Eat" you allow that
diet of fruits, nuts and vegetables
will keep the average person in excel
| lent health and spirits, but why qualify
your statement by suggesting the wis
dom of return to a flesh diet on the
plea that variety is the spice OF life?
Can you not find variety enough in ma
lures storehouse? | humbly think So
By eating the foods which the soil pro-
duceS we receive our nOurishment pure
and wholesome at first hand and not
through the medium of animal life
which, in a very heavy percentage of
cases, is diseased. Under such circum-
stances we absorb germs that produce
cancer, consumption, tapeWorms, trf
chinae and an endless variety of fatal
diseases that otherwise we would es-
cape.
You state that man is naturally ON
nivorous, but this is matter of dis
pute, as we can gather from the opin-
ions of such men as Professor Sir
Charles Bell, F. RS, who states that
1T is, think not going too far to say
that every fact connected with the hu-
man organization goes to prove that
man was originally formed frugivo-
rOus animal" Apart from this phase
of the question, it is an undoubted fact
proved by the writer's personal expe-
rience that a vegetarian diet kills the
appetite for alcoholic beverages and is
the keystone through which many ex-
cesses and appetities are brought I'M
der subsection. You, Mr. Editor, assert |
that fiesh-eaters are ever the progress |
i've races and the pioneers of COM |
merce, and grant that the use of meat |
makes man aggressive and combative, |
seeking conquest and fresh fields to ex-
plot. If this tends toward your ideal |
of civilization, we'll and good; | would |
even suggest that our warriors be fed |
largely on rare meats, but the civili-
cation attained through a people nur-
tured on a vegetarian diet is that of
the fine arts, poetry, high moral Gull
ture, respect of property rights, and
peace and goodwill to all men.
While apologizlng for trespassing on
your space to such an extent, I would
like to add that wide field for female
missionary work lays open along the
line of hygienic cookery; for until
make this matter a scientific
study in domestic practice carried out
and inculcated into the minds of their
families, SO long will rapine and blood
shed, blind passions and domestic inf
deity run riot and the advent of the
time when peace on earth, etc, shall
reign be delayed
MALIHTNI.