Los Angeles herald., 1907-09-12
VIVA T The
LAPS EAT
SAMPLE BILL OF FARE IN
NIPPON
MENU CONTAINS BUT LITTLE
MEAT
BILL OF FAT
NIPPON
Returned Traveller Says Japanese
Dietary Habits Are Admirable,
but May Not Do
Here

Here is a typical bill of fare of jap
anese family in moderate circumstances.
All Japanese, generally speaking, live
simply, whether of high or low station
in life, and the menu given herewith,
supplied by a Japanese who has made
a study of the dietary habits of his peo-
pie, may fairly be taken as typical of
that in force with all classes of people of
Japan:
Breakfast (from to 1880 a. M
Misc soup. with vegetables.
Boiled rice, pickles and tea
Sometimes raw egg or boiled sweet soy beans
or matto'
Lunch (12 noon.
Fish boiled in soya
Vegetables boiled in soya.
Boiled rice. picSles.J tea.
Supper (from to $500.
Soya soup. Vegetables.
Raw fish sliced, eaten with soya sauce.
or broed fish
or fish boiled with vegetables
or small quantity of butchers meat,
or fowl and vegetables.
Rice Tea.
The misc, soya sauce and topi are all
products of the soya bean, on which,
with rice, the Japanese physique may
be said to be built up.
All dishes at a Japanese meal are
placed before the eater on tray, ana
not in separate courses, and the japanese
eats of each frugal portion, and eats 1t
slowly and carefully. Rice Is the main
foodstuff, with the soya bean close
second. and it is calculated that the av-
erage healthy Japanese adult consumes
about nine very small bowlfuls OF rice
daily.
I'm the island nation of JAPAN" says
Prof. Chittenden In the New York Times,
''whose exploits in war have recently at
tracted the attention of the civilized
world, we find a people the great ma
jority of whom have remained I'M
touched by the prodigality of western
civilization, and whose habits and Gus
toms still bear the imprint of simplicity
and frugality."
Powers of Endurance
Yet the people of no other nation, as
MANY observers have pointed out, espe-
cially since the war with Russia, nave
greater powers of physical endurance or
greater bodily strength and agility, pro-
portion to average body, weight ana
stature. And in view of the fact that of
late a DOGGY war cloud has been floating
in the sky above the sea that separates
the shores of the island kingdom from IN
Gle Sans domains an examination OF the
diet of the Japanese becomes OF especial
interest For upon the diet OF an army
and navy is based that army or navy's
fighting powers, its strength, Its endur-
ance and it's courage, to large extent,
for well-nourished fighters are holder and
drawer than the starvelings
''It is plainly evident" says Prof. Chit
tenden, that the daily diet of the great
bulk of the Japanese people has been
characterized by a very low proteid Cor
non-meat) standard, as contrasted with
the standards of the majority of Euro
pean and American people The fact is
brought forward merely as confirmatory
evidence on large scale OF the perfect
safety of lowering the consumption of
proteld food below the amounts which
commonly accepted standards call for.
Generations of low proteid feeding, with
the temperance and simplicity in dietary
matters thereby implied, have certainly
not stood in the way Of phenomenal de-
velopment and advancement when the
gateway was opened for the ingress of
modern ideas from western civilization"
What Mr.. Fletcher Says
Horace Fletcher, who has lived in Japan
for many years at various times, and who
is one of the few white men living today
who have personal knowledge of the life
in Japan in feudal days, was asked re-
garding the diet of the Japanese and the
value its study has for Americans today.
"a great many observers have called
attention to the remarkable efficiency
which the Japanese fighters display on
the slim and simple diet" said Mr..
Fletcher, but 1, for one, think that
such observations have little value for
us in comparison with the value of
studying models of simple living among
our own people. We are racially differ
emit from the Japanese. While a great
deal may be gained by studying them,
and while 1t is true that much of their
dietary habits are admirable, still we
are not Japanese, and what may suit
them may not suit us, at least not so
we'll as habits followed Wy men of our
own race. If we seek for models of SOL
diers and sailors who are splendid ex
amples of energy and efficiency on a low
proteid diet, combined with thorough
mastication, we need not go beyond our
own army and navy circles.
1.-THE Importance Of dietetics in connec-
ton with military efficiency Is today be-
coming as generally recognized as the
fact that the nutrition of the body has
very much to do with the vitality and
temper of the mind in other directions of
human efforts Mans nourishment, In
deed, has developer new branch Of