The Port Gibson reveille., 1909-08-19
THE FOODS OF NATIONS
Each Race Feeds to Suit the Con
ditions of Climate
Experie@ce Has Led to the Proper so
lection of Food by the Inhabi-
tants Of Different Parts
Of tho Globe.

It is only within very recent perio,
/ that the science of nutrition has re
ceived much attention even in scien
tifc way; only within very few year
| that anything has been done to Civ,
popular instruction upon the subject
: If we had waited, writes Edward At
kinson in the New York Sun, for tht
scientist to tell us how to live, we might
long since have begun to diminish IL
numbers. Each race, perhaps each
body of inhabitants occupying a given
section of the earth's surface. appears
to have established by process Of nat
ural selection a national food, which
can be procured at least cost, and which
when analyzed is found to contain the
nutrients, protein, starch and fat, in
about the right proportion to suit the
conditions of the climate.
Beginning with the so-called rice-fed
nations or races, whose rations consist
in large quantity of rice or starchv
food, it appears that they add the re-
quisite amount of nitrogen byconsum-
ing peas and beans. Living mainly in
hot countries, they do not need so
much fat In India the element of fat
is derived from a peculiar kind of but
ter called ghee. In that combination
is found complete food at the least
cost.
Moving into Europe, we find that thA
nutrition of the working classes of
Italy consists mainly of polenta, form
OF Indian corn or maize meal, which in
itselfs is nearly complete food, but
being little short of nitrogen, modi-
cum of cheese is added, the chief ele-
ment in the diet of the Italian. hove
ever, being macaroni and cheese, manv
of the cheeses being made from the
skim milk after the cream has been
taken off, as these are richer in nitro
gen. Macaroni and cheese with salad
Is substantially complete food.
Passing over to Switzerland we again
ind cheese furnishing that which is the
most important and the most expensive
in every dietary, the nitrogenous por-
tion. In France more meat is eaten,
but in the stock pot, or pot au feu,
every element of meat and vegetation,
including remnants of bread and every
thing that contains nutrition, is con-
verted over into nearly complete food,
to which the customary salad and bread |
serve as a remainder.
In England the relative scarcity of
meat is made up by the abundant con-
sumption of cheese, bread and cheess
serving as the mainstay of the working
people, the cheese supplying the de-
6ciency of the wheat in protein. In 1
Scotland oatmeal is the mainstay, and
In the grain of the oat is to be found a
food more nearly corresponding to the
of complete nutrition
than in any other single variety of food
which is known to exist. The Irish,
from choice or from necessity
so much upon potatoes, are a people Of
low vitality, not tenacious of
life, and as rule, not long lived ex-
,ept wnen removed to other regions
where they can secure more complete
nutrition.
In the northern nations of Europe
ish and rye bread together form
cheap and complete basis for nutrition;
The fish consisting of herring, which
supplies very large amount Of fat, or
If salmon or of some other varieties.
Crossing the ocean, in New England
Ve find in the baked beans and brown
bread made from the maize meal, ra-
ion at low cost which is very complete
n its proportions of energy.
Passing into Canada we come to an
.ntirely different dish, pease porridge,
made into combination with coarse
rackers and bit OF pork, furnishing a
trong and complete ration at almost
he minimum of cost.
Again, moving to the southern states,
he customary ration of the coloredl
nan, which he chooses in preference to I
.lmost any other kind of food, consists
# three and one-half pounds of bacon
md peck of maize meal per week, to
which are added few vegetables from
he field, making perhaps the cheapest
alton at the least cost in ratio to the
orce it contains than can be found any
where. In Mexico the "tortilla," OF
,ean, furnishes the nitrogen in connec- +
ion with a diet of other materials, very
neager at the best.
Necessity has probably been the
eacher in each case; the experience of
many generations has probably led to
he final selection, and the habit Of
eeding upon these enforced rations has
eveloped an inherited appetite for
hem which in many instances has be-
ONE so strong that change to a diff
erent diet, even as well balanced as
hose named, leads for the time being
o indigestion and to disease. 1 have
een told that the southern negro will
e afflicted with dyspepsia if his Gus
Omary ration when at work is changed
rom the usual hog and hominy to either
aeon and wheat bread or to corn bread
nd beef
The Pansy Fable.
A pretty fable of the pansy is current