The Washington herald., 1915-09-07
Peculiarities in Eating.
BY JOHN ID. BARRY,

BY JOHN d. BARRY.
Occasionally we find rebel who turns from
whole system of eating and begins, to speak,
all again, getting down as far as he can, to
the point of view of the perfectly normal human
animal He scorns eating flesh as barbarous and
disgusting. He lives on the products of nature,
vegetables, fruits, nuts, milk and the other unms-
takably wholesome foods. Usually he thrives.
Sometimes he looks little paler than the rest OF
us. Here is the only criticism we can make on
his personal appearance. But there are great dis
advantages in such revolt. 1t puts one at odds
with the rest of the world. 1t tends to force one
into sequestered social life which in ITSELF may
be unwholesome. 1t takes courage for any one to
so among his friends and to refuse what they offer
him to eat 1t also takes quality that is far less
attractive, apparent indifference to hospitality.
The French have a saying that we all verify,
appetite comes in eating" 1t offers comfort and
encouragement to those who take special in
tercst in food. There are people who if they did
not respond to The social appeal Of eating. would
not cat more than once day. Mark Twain used
to tell his friends that meal day all he
cared for and all he ate while he was away from
home, travelling by himself. At home or while
visiting friends he would appear a. table three
times day just for the sake of sociabty. Eating
with friends is unquestionably one of the greatest
pleasures in life. Often it makes people cat when
they are scarcely that they are eating Often
IT makes the people unconscious of the quality of
their food Here, by the way, is a criticism upon
sociability at table which l have heard made by a
gourmand: IL: bores me very much to eat good
dinner with clever people. They keep me from
giving iull appreciation to the dishes" There are
many people, lovers of good eating 200, who be-
come SO absorbed in talk at table that, when the
meal is they would have difficulty in recalling
what it consisted Of
One physician deplores the skill in cooking
developed by civilized living. He considers it an
unquestionable menace to health. He says that
food, by being abnormay attractive creates an
abnormal appetite. Moreover, the wide variety
OF dishes is in itself incentive to appetite. So,
at an elaborate, we'll p. 7psred meal the average
person eats far more than is required. This ply
sician advocates returning to the old-fashioned
ways, where at each meal there was one chief
dish to which the eaters devoted themselves al
most exclusively. He himself makes point of
eating one dish only at meal indugng himself
only occasionally in piece OF bread and biscuit
as an accompaniment The consequence is that
he lives on an astonishingly small amount of food
each day.
1t is curious to find how quickly ono can adjust
oneself to reduced diet At first the reduction
may be accompanied by extreme and violent hum
ger. In few days the hunger disappears. The
system is striving to adjust itself to the new con-
dtions, more beneficial than the old The effect
speedily shows itself in a clearing of the skin and
frightening of the eyes and an increased alert
ness IN both body and mind. Even undcrfed people
that is, underfed people without appetite, NAV gain
by being put on a still smaller diet IF the smaller
diet arouses in them interest in food the phvsi-
cal effect will improve the powers of assmila-
ton
So much depends upon ones attitude toward
TODD And the happy attitude is usually reached
strange as 1t may SEEM through character As a
rule the well-balanc character knows how to
manage food with reference to its own nhvsica1
system. The Unbalanced character blunders with
TODD exactly as it blundcrs with most things in
lite There are wise people who are able to make
an approximately happy adjustment to food Their
success seems to lie in their power of regulating
their capacity tor caring. If the food is good thcv
can enjoy it If it happens not to be good thev can
still enjoy IT.. The danger OF approaching good
from enjoying food not particularly good The
development of taste may become slavery.
There are rich people who have developed their
taste highly that it can tolerate only certain
kinds of costly and exqusitely prepared food, In
travelling. despite all their resources, they often
hnd themselves in a quandary. Occasionally one
hears OF absurd precautions that they take to pro-
tcct themselves. For example, when one American
millionaire goes abroad, he takes with him live
chickens that he has specially prepared for his
table In the newspapers we read OF women and
men who carry retinuc OF cooks with them wher-
| ever they go For them life must be, in MANY
ways, complicated and difficult thing to manage
They arc certainly not nearly so well off as those
people who can cat and relish whatever is on the
table.
Germany's Finances.
Suppose the allies won. The thought appar
| emily is not permissible in Germany But it is
very clear that another year or two of war in this
| vauntcd. sef-sustaining way and then defeat
would be TOR Germany economic disaster sucI