Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-06-15
TRACING H. c. Of |.
IS INTRICATE lob
Appetites Levy Tribute on
Many Continents, Seas
and Peoples.

why Is tne cost OF 1000 so n1Sn !.
Most answers to that question. ac-
cording to a bulletin from the Ma
tional Geographic Society, go no far
Their than the grocer, the wholesaler.
, or perhaps the cost of farm labor,
But to trace to their sources many
staple edibles found on the American
dinner table one must go beyond state
and national lines and frequently
across the ocean, it Is pointed out.
Let Mr.. Showalter Tell It.
The bulletin quotes from a commu-
nication to the society from William
Joseph Showalter as follows:
Gould we turn loose our fancy as
we dine, we could see great army
might eat. The appetites of men now
levy tribute upon all the continents
and all the seas, and where once
all roads led to Rome. now. they come
directly to our dinner tables.
Let us sit down to dinner and go
over the menu and try to list those
who have assisted in the preparation
of our meal
and sailed nuts. The olives mayhap
are from Spain, the almonds from
California, and the pecans from Tex
as. The salt on the nuts was prepared
y
ry that came from Michigan.
Then comes the soup. Without a
cookbook at hand, this writer will not
pose as an authority on the ingred!-
ents of soup, but 1t may be Chesa-
peake bay clam chowder. which GER
in it and other ingredients from far
aid wide.
our fish is aslmon from Alaska.
and our prime ribs of beef came to
our table through the Kansas City
'packing-town. Our potatoes came
China, our string beans from Florida,
and our tomatoes from Maryland.
Salad Is Some Mixture.
Next comes our salad. and it con-
tains-if a can may guess at the con-
tents Of salads and dressings-Mexi
can peppers, Hawaiian pineapple. 81
Gillian cherries, Pennsylvania lettuce,
Iowa eggs, Spanish olive oil, Ohio
vinegar, California mustard and
Guiana red pepper.
cream we eat Virginia cream, Cuban
sugar, Ecuadorean vanilla and Mexi-
can chocolate. The cake that goes
with it Is made Of butter from Illi-
nois, -four from Minneapolis, made
from wheat grown in North Dakota;
BAKING powder from IcHHSylNdHid
and other ingredients.
when it comes to coffee, IL we
are fastidious we VIII have issued a
draft on both Turkish Arabia and
Dutch Java, or If we are only folk OF
everyday taste we will content our
selves with the Brazilian product.
And so, when we come to reckon
up those who have helped produce
the raw materials of which our foods
are made, we find the clouted Afri-
can savage and the American stock
grower: the South American Indian
and the California truck farmer; the
Javanese coffee picker and the Vir-
ginia dairyman; the turbaned Arabian
and the New York orchardist; the
Chinese coolie and the Dakota wheat
farmer: the Mexican peon and the
Chesapeake bay fisherman; the Porto
Rican planter and the Hawaiian sugar
grower, the Spanish olive packer and
the Alaskan Eskimo fisherman.
Don't Forget Transportation.
yet all these neglect the matter Of
transportation. Our food comes to US
on the heads of Indians, on the backs
of donkeys, drawn in carts by huge
water buffaloes. abroad the ship of
the desert on wheelbarrows pro-
PEELED by Chinese coolies. Steam
shlpS, Idllroau trains, auto Trucks
and delivery cars have all played
their part in the great work of cater
ing to discriminating appetites.
Truly the man who dimes well
ought to be deep student of geog-
raphy, for all races, all nationalities
all types of peoples. all points of the
compass. all latitudes-continent. is
land, river and sea-all must come to
him as he looks over the bill of fare
and tries to find those things that de-
light his palate"