FOOD AND DIETARIES 113 



satisfy one's hunger as well as a dollar dinner. It is also true 

 that in the selection of food for a family it is possible to bring 

 about a great deal of saving by comparing the food values 

 and the market values of the various articles, and guiding 

 oneself accordingly. 



146. The pleasures of eating. Cattle and guinea pigs and rats can 

 be kept alive indefinitely on a monotonous minimum diet. When the 

 same thing is tried with human beings, they gradually lose those char- 

 acters that distinguish them from the cattle or the guinea pigs. One 

 of the things that drive men to drink and to drugs is the attempt to 

 make them live like cattle. The cheapest diet is commonly recom- 

 mended to people who have little of the pleasures of life and little 

 time or training for enjoying the more refined forms of recreation. 

 To these people the comparatively simple pleasures of eating should 

 not be denied. If those who are capable of high thinking on the 

 basis of plain living wish to adopt the simpler diet, there can be no 

 objection ; these people do not depend upon the palate to help make 

 life more interesting. 



In connection with the question of economy we must consider not 

 merely the money cost or the effort in the preparation of food but 

 the happiness and well-being that result from the preparation and use 

 of the food. It is in this sense that it pays to take some time in set- 

 ting the table, to make it attractive to the eye, to make it a pleasant 

 place at which to sit and eat. It is doubtless cheaper, in a money 

 sense, to eat standing, each member of the family helping himself to 

 what he wants from a general collection of pots and dishes in the 

 kitchen. But it pays to be human, even in the matter of eating. 



