Evening star., 1933-01-05
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEEELL.

| half an hour. The fast eater, even
| though he may envy the other, finds
| time te poke fun at him for his dila-
tory methods of consumption
Can anything particular be argued
| from these differences In disposition?
Perhaps not. The man who "wolfs'
his food Is not necessarily a brute, nor
| the fellow who eats slowly a paragon
of moderation. The former may eat
! far less than the latter In the long
run.
Nor Is 1t possible to argue that the
swift consumer Is not acquainted with
the niceties of the table He may even
be sort of philosopher. who resents
the amount Of time which he must
! give to food.
Perhaps he may even go to the ex-
| tent Of believing that human being
should not have to eat at all. This Is
feeling far more commonly held than
is generally realized. One of the
dreams of the very race, indeed, is that
man some day will have neither to eat
nor to sleep, even If he has to 60 to
heaven for it.
That either aim win ever be real
ized is far from probable, and many
will feel that there is no need for their
attainment, after all Just as every
individual must take himself as he is
after a certain age, so the race must
accept itself. To refuse to do so is not
SO much idealism as poking ones head
into the sand (Which. we have been
told, ostriches never do).
On the other hand, it will not do for
the person who takes little time at the
table to felicitate himself on being i'm
mune to the delights Of the table. Nc
one knows better than himself. He
may have inherited 1--WE insist upon IL y
tendency to streak through a meal
without benefit of conversation and
| laughter Even when he realizes the
Importance of these ingredients to a
| civilized dinner. he still may find il
impossible for him to attend to them
properly.
He eats swiftly, sometimes finds him.
self all out Of breath, without in the
least wishing to eat speedily or get
himself winded In the process.
What can be done about such a sad
| case? Nothing but violent effort oi
the will, and will power, despite the
proclamations of many self-appointed
experts, is not as easily handled as
| they would lead us to suppose.
The man who hurries through his
WING
should eat more times a day than
American custom calls for and ordi-
nary household routine permits. In
Europe, we understand, they have these
things arranged better. There are
really two breakfasts, with a mid
afternoon meal. call it tea, or other
wise, dinner, and g. late supper before
going to bed,
There are literally thousands upon
thousands Of persons in the United
| States who would be benefited by some
such system of eating more frequently
but eating less per meal. Thus they
would not be tempted to eat SO fast
no matter what might be the underly-
| ing cause of their impetuosity.
| Monkeys, fish and other animals eat
continuously II they have the oppor-
tunity. Usually for their salvation this
eating is partly an attempt to wrest
nourishment from a difficult environ
ment; thus they are saved from over
eating. Any one who has attempted To
raise tropical fishes in the home aqua
rum knows the seeming inadequacy OF
the absurdly tiny trifies permitted them
by the day. Only in state of nature
where foods are never concentrated
are they permitted to eat all the time.
| Continuous eating, however, if not
abused, Is not as wrong perhaps as
some would have us believe. While
most human beings have more to dc
than simply eat, some will be benefited
| by the human substitution for con-
tinuous eating-inore frequent meals
If this is combined with common sense
! and smaller portions, the only added
| relish necessary is a little laughter and
talk If one can manage it.