NUTRITION 93 



As a corollary, we also eat because we are in the habit of eating. In this 

 country we are in the habit of eating three meals a day. The Britisher is 

 not actually a different species of animal that requires four meals daily, 

 but he has found tea and crumpets in the afternoon a pleasant custom and 

 has made it habitual. 



The same three premises will be found to apply also to the original 

 question. What we eat depends in part upon necessity, in part on habit and 

 in orreat measure on taste. Convenience is also a factor. The newborn babe 

 does not suckle at his mother's breast primarily because he or his mother 

 knows that mother's milk contains most nearly the ideal proportions of 

 protein, fat, carbohydrate and minerals. He does so in part because it is 

 the most convenient thing to do. Mother's milk is not an absolutely neces- 

 sary food. Many children are raised, from birth, on cow's milk, and some 

 who are allergic thereto thrive on substitute food mixtures which contain 

 no milk of any sort. ^ 



Down through the ages, from the earliest savages, dietary habits have 

 been conditioned in great measure by the availability and convenience of 

 the various foods, their palatability and by past experience with them on 

 the trail-and-error basis. Experience has taught us concerning their taste, 

 nutritional value and harmlessness. 



As we sit in one of the more sumptuous restaurants in a large city and 

 glance over the many pages of the a la carte menu we might wonder to 

 what kind fate we owe our opportunity to order any number of the most 

 delectable concoctions garnered from the farthest corners of the earth. 

 Aladdin could not have done as well, since many of the finest of these 

 foods were unknown to him in his remote time. We no longer stroke 

 the lamp, but with a few strokes of the pencil we are far better off than 

 he was. Today nearly all of the really good foods on earth are available 

 nearly every\\here, convenient as the corner grocery, palatable as man and 

 nature can render them and guaranteed reasonably harmless by food laws 

 and inspection. A good family dinner of today would render a Roman 

 emperor of the banquet era green with envy. 



How has this been accomplished? Several years ago an interesting novel 

 started with the collapse of a bridge, the Bridge of San Luis Rey. On the 

 bridge at the moment of the catastrophe there were a number of persons, 

 some of them total strangers. The remainder of the book traced the former 

 life of each of the victims up to the moment of the collapse, thus bringing 

 to light those forces which gradually brought these victims together for 

 their final destruction. As we sit, ready to destroy the delicacies before us, it 

 would be interesting to trace them, likewise, back to their original sources. 

 Space will not permit discussion of too large a number of our victims, but 

 those selected will serve as examples for the experiences of others. 



Our story must start with earliest times, when more or less isolated 

 groups of the human race were scattered here and there over the earth, 



