Page:Foods and their adulteration; origin, manufacture, and composition of food products; description of common adulterations, food standards, and national food laws and regulations (IA foodstheiradulte02wile).pdf/127

 experiments, but that man cannot be nourished by meat alone has likewise been fully established, so that if the human race were necessarily to be deprived either of animal or vegetable foods, it would be the animal food which must be sacrificed.

It is not the purpose of this manual to discuss the relative merits of vegetarianism as compared with the common diet of the human race. It may not be amiss, however, to say that probably in the United States especially, a larger quantity of meat is eaten than is either necessary or wholesome. The people of our country are better able to supply themselves with expensive foods than those of other countries, and of the common foods meats are far more expensive than cereals. The eating of larger quantities of cereals and smaller quantities of meat would probably be conducive both to economy and health. It appears to be certain that the meat eating of the future may not be regarded so much as a necessity as it has in the past, but that meats will be used more as condimental substances than as staple foods. In all meat, for instance, that costs 25 cents a pound, such as steaks, there is over one-third or a half of it which is inedible, so that the edible portion really costs double that amount. On the contrary, when a pound of flour or maize is purchased, the price of which is perhaps only one-eighth that of meat, the whole of it is edible. Thus, from the mere point of economy as well as of nutrition the superiority of cereals and other vegetable products is at once evident. On the one hand, a cereal is almost a complete food containing all the elements necessary to nutrition, and it costs only a few cents a pound. On the other hand, a steak or roast is only a partial food and it costs much more than cereals.

It is hoped that one purpose of this manual may be secured, namely, by showing the consumer the actual composition of the different kinds of food and their method of preparation he may be led in the selection of his food to follow the dictates of science and economy to a certain extent rather than merely the impulse of taste. The eating of such large quantities of meat is merely a habit which often is developed in children through the carelessness and ignorance of parents, much to the detriment of the child as well as to his future health and activity. It is believed that if the true principles of the use of meat were properly inculcated a large saving in the energy of the wage earner as well as those in more affluent circumstances would be secured.

Sound principles of economy establish a better condition of health and lead to greater activity and fruitful labor.

Terrestrial animal oils are obtained directly from parts of the animals which yield, at ordinary temperature, a substance which remains liquid. The fats which are in the feet of the animals are usually more liquid than in any other part of the body, and hence the natural animal oils are derived