Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1913-07-11
PRODUCER OF FOOD
United States Leads in Supply
Of Great Staples.
Raises Products for Own People and
Many Other NatIons-Eaeh coun.
try and Epoch Has Questions
... ... Of Food Supply. , ~

Many Other Nations-Each Coun.
try and Epoch Has Questions
60. .. Of Food Supply.
Washington.-Each country and
each epoch has its special food prob
lens. During the last 400 years and
more the United States has passed on
from the conditions prevailing in a
newly discovered country, with only a
| small area under cultivation, and has
become producer of food and other
great staple products not only for its
own people, but also for export to 9TH
er nations. An equally great change
has taken place with respect to the
different regions of the United States.
AS the country has been developed
frontier conditions OF living have re.
ceded, until today, as never before,
the food problems Of country and town
are approaching each other, and 1t is
no longer the case that the rural COM
munity is, as regards its supply of
staple food. largely independent and
the urban community largely depen-
dent.
Each must rely on the other for in
general the farm-grown crop is milled
and the live stock Is slaughtered in
the large establishments where facili-
ties are adequate, as they could not be
in the case of home enterprise. And.
indeed, in all economic ways the two
regions are perhaps more naturally In
terdependent than ever before. All
this means that many problems re.
lated to food demand are studied in
order that the best use may be made
Of agricultural food crops by the far
mer who grows them. the manufac-
turer who converts the raw material
into food products, the merchant who
supplies the food to the household and
the housewife who selects and pre-
pares 1t for the family table.
Some Of the problems which pertain
to this subject have been studied by
the Federal department Of agriculture
and c. F. Langworthy, has compiled
the data regarding food conditions as
4 whole, the characteristics Of the
American diet and the special prob
lens of housekeepers in. both country
and town. The majority of persons
set their pleas of the food habits OF a
race or region from popular writings
and often the source of information Is
inaccurate or incomplete. II writer
~ <hok at In, NoNu I'm ola n
is pork and beans and brown bread.
or that in the south 1t is corn meal
and pork, every one knows that the
statement is very inadequate. With
the question of diet in less familiar
regions, the discrepancy is not SO OBJ
vious.
1t 10 often said and Is generally be.
lieved that the diet in the United
States is generous and that the range
in variety of food products is unusu.
ally large. The dietary combines many
customs and food habits Of the races
which have helped to make up the
population, but in its general charac-
ter it is British, as is natural, for the
bulk Of the earlier settlers were from
Great Britain and brought the Gus
toms and manners of the old home
with them, adapted them to the new
country, and passed them on to the
succeeding generations. AS time
has passed marked changes in the
character Of the diet have taken place.
owing largely to improved methods Of
cultivation of food crops. to better
methods Of transportation and storage.
to improvements in milling and other
manufacturing processes which per-
tain to food, to improvement in house
construction and kitchen appliances
and to similar factors. Whether the
value OF the daily diet has changed
when considered from the standpoint
Of the amount of nutritive material
supplied is another matter, and one
which is more difficult to decide
As an illustration of changed food
conditions, facts relating to the diet
In public institutions may be OF In.
terest, as it seems fair to say that
such a ration bears the same rela.
ton to the food habits Of any one
period as does a corresponding one to
those of another. In an account OF
the diet in a large institution In Bos.
ton in 1850 very simple ration was
supplied in which bread. molasses, pc.
tatoes and salt pork were the staples.
In recent studies carried on in the
same city in a similar institution the
ration is much more varied and con-
tains many articles. euch as oatmeal
fresh and dried fruits, tapioca and
sago which would have been consid'
cred Injuries In most homes In 1850.
It Is not without interest to consid'
er in more detail some OF the factors
which have modified dietary habits.
In northern regions Of the United
States, in earlier times, the vegetable
supply in the summer was fairly album
dant, but in the winter was limited to
q few varieties, chiefly root crops
which were Of good keeping quality
Eggs, salt meats and less commonly
poultry were staple summer foods. but
fresh beef, mutton and pork were more
abundant in winter than in summer
because they could be kept in good
condition frozen. The lack of variety
of vegetable foods In winter and OF
fresh meat in summer was, without
doubt the reason for the great abun.
dance Of preserves and pickles which
every housewife deemed necessary, and
for the great number of kinds of pastry
cake and similar dishes. In other
words, there was craving for variety