Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-12-24
PHYSIOLOGIC VALUEOFFLAvORS
High Prices for Pleasing Foods May
 Re Money We'll Sncn1


 The physiologlc value of havors has been frequently commented up, on, and the subject deserves the widest publicity to check the grow. Ing tendency of certain class oi dietetists to consider that the only useful ingredients in foods are the tissue building and energy producing chemical compounds. Foods must possess much more than carbon and nitrogen to make them wholesome and the laboratory takes no account Of such intangible things as flavor and bouquet. It is now asserted that the high prices paid for certain pleasing foods is really money well spent, even if the "nutritive" value is less than cheaper, more tasteless things. The craving for these dain- ties is an expression of a natural need, and health suffers if they are unattainable. Even savages have their occasional spreads" the civ ilized banquet" is as old as civiliza- tion. and both seem 10 satisfy a wholesome craving.
 
 explained by the fact that digestion, at least in man, Is dependent upon tiavors, without which it is so defec- tive that We do not obtain the good of the food we swallow. As far as experiments go, they substantiate these assertions, for the sight and smell of pleasing food starts the flow H,IiI uh 1ico able odors and sights stop it. Delicatessen, then, would seem to be staples, for they are necessary. The talk of being able to subsist on a few cents a day is simply nonsense and leads to deterioration of health. What seems to be eXtravagance in food purchases may be wholesome instinct. The high cost of living is partly due to the cost of the flavors We need. We commend these ideas to our worthy dietetic economists. Laymen may not be so foolish as the physiologists themselves.
 The inefficiency of plain foods must be startling shock to all who have so strenuously advocated the
  CT who can never buy a dainty does not show up well as workman. Even a horse wants change now and then, and the cat is an incor- rigible thief. The lower races which subsist on plain and unvaried foods are inefficient wOrkmen, but if they are given more varied diet they do quite well. Military men have found it impossible to confine an army to a fixed ration, for every soldier spends more or less of his money for occasional dainties. Res taurants follow armies even into battle. Are luxuries to be classed as necessities? Of course, one woulu not so class dish of nightingales' as oysters, caviar, and a host of fruits and vegetables, all of low nutritive value, are necessities on ac- count of the intangible qualities of taste and odor which have escaped the notice of our new physiologists It has often been said that the alcO- holic tendencies of soldiers and sail ol D Ol Iol lHCI lllllCS WSlC dll CApl CS' sion of deprayed nervous systems due to plain, tasteless, unvarying foods. This may be true, for alco- holism is sign of nervous depres- sion. Since the diet of these men has been greatly improved by the addition of ''luxuries," drunkenness has been enormously reduced.
 The adulteration of condiments and tlavors thus takes on an entire ly new aspect, Our pure food laws most wisely included them, but per haps mostly to prevent fraud. Yet there is urgent need for inspection and control of all such articles in, cluding those generally considered luXuries. but which may be neces- sities whose impurity injures public health. Attention has often been called to the fraud by which two cents worth of apple sauce is col ored, favored and put in a fancy jar and sold for 50 cents. It is generally assumed that the fraud was not inimical to health, but fl these new ideas are well grounded there is a serious damage, for the buyer does not get what he really