Los Angeles herald., 1910-08-14


best met by five regular meals, each o
light and easily digested food. He II
not then furiously hungry at any time
If he has not a proper appetite for fiV'
meals then the times should be length
ened. Here the best test in the end II
the way that any particular custom
agrees with the child.
The extra meals need not be made ol
any particular trouble. A cup of breat
and milk. or slice of bread and but
ter, or sandwich, serve the purpose
as we'll as anything. The thing to bt
attended to is simply that it shall be
given at a fairly regular time. The
habit of piecing irregularly is harm
full. Children with this habit seem al
ways more or less hungry, but rarely
have a normal appetite for good foods
at mealtime.
Another cause of hasty eating is lack
of attention to the food. Late studies
in the digestibility of foods prove thai
those foods are most easily and thor
oughly digested and most truly nour-
ishing which are eaten with pleasure
The enjoyment of the taste of food
stimulates digestion in an excellent
manner. 1t is matter of common
knowledge that appetizing food causes
1.-The mouth to water" as the saying is
The same stimulation affects the other
digestive glands. Digestion is improved
by the very fact of enjoying food. The
tasting and thinking of the taste make
it necessary to chew the food, and to
eat more slowly.
The sense of taste is of great value in
avoiding the foods which are unfit for
eating. If people gave more attention
to the taste of food there would be less
danger of ptomaine poisoning, as well
as of other less dangerous forms OF
poisoning. There are thus three very
good reasons why people should taste
their foods. and should develop keen
sense of taste. Children may be taught
to use this sense of taste in several
ways. At least part of the table talk
should be given to the taste of the vari-
Gus foods. Sometimes the flavor may
be made the subject for discussion. In
some kinds of food ingredients may be
kept secret and the children be al
lowed to determine from the taste what
fruits or vegetables enter into its COM
position. A number of methods for the
development of the sense of taste may
be improvised. The only thing impor-
tant is that some methods may be used
by means of which children may be
taught to use this very helpful and neg
lected sense.
Among a certain class of people meal
time is considered as an unavoidable
time of "coaling up,'' a necessary evil,
to be hastened through with as quickly
as possible and with as little diversion
of thought from the important affairs
of the day as possible. Among another
certain class eating is thing of phys
ical enjoyment, and a gastronomic er-
ror is a crime. Life is endurable only
because it makes eating possible. These
have no conception of the digestibility
of food-their only thought is that this
that or the other thing tastes good, and
that it does not cause immediate and
violent pain.
There is another class of people, and
may their number never increase, who
spend the mealtime talking about the
digestibility of the various classes OF
food on the table. They speak with an
air of unlimited wisdom of the tenden-
cy of tomatoes to produce cancer, OF
the danger of worms upon lettuce, of
the injury that olive oil does to the
liver, of the bad breath that even the
slightest flavor of onion produces, OF
the hives sure to result from the use OF
egg in any form; but by the time al
this discussion is ended the salad has
disappeared to the last scraping.
Between all these errors is a happy
mean. The food values are understood
by the person providing the menu. The
process of eating is one of the daily
pleasures, and its enjoyment is in
creased by the social delight of meeting
others at the table. The taste of the
food is part of the pleasure. The dis
cission of the taste of the articles pro
vided is part of a proper table talk
The discussion of food values, of di,
gestibilty, of individual digestive pow.
ers is impolite and eXecrable. Other
subjects of conversation should not bt
SO nrofound or sc affecting as to lesser