GOVERNMENTAL REGULATION OF FOODS 353 



the purpose of cinpliasizing the fact that animal foods as a source of 

 energy are necessarily more expensive than plant foods. As a source of 

 protein the comparison would not be so much to the disadvantage of 

 meats. 



Of course it is realized that as matters now stand a great deal of 

 our food budget is spent for pure flavor. Flavor in the broad sense is 

 "anything which adds the element of pleasure to a meal." Chemical 

 flavor which afl'ects the olfactory organ or the taste buds serves a use- 

 ful purpose at times in stimulating the flow of digestive secretions in 

 anticipation of a meal and at times it serves a harmful purpose in caus- 

 ing us to overeat. The appearance of the food either in the parcel or 

 on the table may serve as flavor. The kind of service, the presence of 

 good company or even music come under the same head. If one can 

 digest a meal only when accompanied by these latter kinds of flavors 

 they are perhaps justifiable, but from the standpoint of the national 

 welfare they do not deserve much consideration. Appreciation of food 

 and the full physiological effect of flavor are obtainable by the simple 

 device of getting thoroughly hungry before we eat. 



The writer once had occasion to compare the actual food value of 

 a dinner served at " Joe's " on Third Avenue for thirty cents and a flve- 

 course dinner served three blocks further west at a cost of three dollars. 

 The advantage in actual food value lay with the former. The difference 

 in cost was due entirely to " flavor." 



The state universities of the wheat and corn growing sections of this 

 country with the help and encouragement of the Department of Agri- 

 culture have already inaugurated an enthusiastic campaign for the 

 production of better wheat, greater yield of corn per acre, and improved 

 varieties of other food products. The classes in domestic science in 

 public schools are learning food values as few of the present genera- 

 tion had any opportunity to learn them. Similar instruction has been 

 given to working girls in the settlement houses. The time is certainly 

 not far distant when the food manufacturer must keep pace with this 

 rapidly increasing knowledge of food values and must make it possible 

 for the housekeepers to know exactly what energy is stored in the food 

 they buy. Some states, ISTew York, for example, require cattle foods 

 to be so labeled now. Human food may contain anything so long as 

 it is "pure." 



The government might well establish a classiflcation of foods such 

 as: (1) Foods which are wholly or chiefly energy-producing; (2) foods 

 which are wholly or chiefly tissue-building and (3) foods which are of 

 use chiefly as flavors. In the first class would belong sugar (which is 

 usually thought of as a flavoring material), cornstarch, olive oil, butter, 

 etc.; in the second would belong eggs, meat, cheese, etc.; and in the 

 third would belong pickles, catsups, sauces, tomatoes. Foods which in 



