Page:The Scientific Monthly vol. 3.djvu/567

 TEE DESIRE FOR FOOD IN MAN 561

yitamines^ or substances of kindred importance^ destroyed by heat and drying?) is another matter. Similarly^ dried beans and peas as ordi- narily cooked will have from two to three times the food value of young green ones. In a general way the same thing is true of most vegetable foods and of many meats. In the case of meats^ texture is considered to be of equal importance with flavor, or sometimes of greats im- portance — as when tenderloin is preferred to the higher-flavored round steak. Yet the tougher cuts of meat are quite as nutritious as the higher-priced ones ; and, it may be remarked in passing, can be cooked tender with the development of good flavor and without losing their nutritive value. Price is a rough index of demand ; oysters at 50 cents a quart, which is about $2.25 for one thousand calories, or 56 cents for one ounce of protein, are very likely to be preferred to boneless salt codflsh at 10 cents a pound, which is 20 cents per thousand calories or 2i cents for one ounce of protein. Or grapefruit (at 10 cents for the pound size), costing 60 cents per thousand calories, are often selected rather than apples (at 30 cents a peck), which yield a thousand calories for 12 cents. There may be no reason whatever for reversing the choice in either instance, but the justification sometimes urged by the extrava- gant housewife, that she must have *'the best'^ in order properly to nourish her family, is likely to be without foundation ; unless a question of sanitation or digestibility may be involved, as is occasionally the case. Besides the fact that not all food materials are valuable to the body in proportion to the appeal which they make to the appetite, we must consider the great and often irrational variations to which this faculty is subject. No other bodily sensibility, perhaps, is so easily influenced by habits and customs and conventions, by personal idiosyncrasy and prejudice, by connotating circumstances, by suggestion of every sort, by the emotional complexion of the momentary mood; none, as a rule, so highly susceptible of education. Racial, sectional, religious, social, family, individual experiences — they all have a vote in determining my ideas of what I should have to eat. So, too, does the historical era, the geographical area, in which I live. The skilfulness of my cook may have the largest say of all; if she does not prepare vegetables so that they are appetizing, I shall probably eat more meat, bread or fruit, though none of these is an interchangeable substitute for any other. Convenience, the cost of living, and food legislation are some- times large factors; city life does not conduce to hearty luncheons nor even breakfasts; rich country cream on my oatmeal adds 90 calories to my breakfast over the 18-per-cent-fat-by-order-of -the health-depart- ment cream I usually get at my city boarding-house. Varying physio- logical conditions may act irrationally, as on the hot summer day when I take ice-cream (very likely a more concentrated food than meat) solely for its cooling effect; or when in the midst of the afternoon's

�� �