80 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



flour, the most refined food product at their command, but they did 

 not try many experiments with vegetables ; possibly because the 

 men were too busy in subduing the new land to provide very satis- 

 fying gardens. Then as now the cook books gave comparatively 

 little space to directions for the preparation of vegetable foods. 



The criticism usually made upon the present food of the 

 American people by those familiar with dietary standards and 

 the customs of other countries is that we eat far too much meat. 

 By a comparison of the foods of different nations and classes of 

 society we should see that meat eating is not essential to strength, 

 and that the very poor depend upon vegetable food because it is 

 cheap. On the other hand many of the wealthy find in the 

 expensive varieties of fruit and vegetables, like the mushroom, 

 the globe artichoke, and the products of the hothouse, an oppor- 

 tunit}^ to spend money lavishly and to gratify their aesthetic 

 tastes. 



For the majority of our people today vegetarianism is hardly 

 practicable, but its adherents increase rather than decrease. 

 While in many instances vegetable substances furnish more 

 nutriment in proportion to the cost, they are less quickly digested 

 and less completely assimilated than animal tissues. Now we 

 are obliged to employ the animals as middlemen to transform the 

 tough grasses into substances which can be digested by us. As 

 our scientific knowledge increases, doubtless we shall find ways to 

 prepare as food many substances now Avorthless. 



Though the people of this age continue to be meat eaters, the 

 quantity now consumed because of the abundance of meat in this 

 country is far too large. The average diet would be improved by 

 a greater use of vegetables. Animal food should not constitute 

 more than one-fourth of the whole amount eaten. 



There are objections to an exclusively vegetable diet, and no 

 radical change should be made ; but equal objections may be 

 brought against the use of meat. Probably a larger bulk of 

 vegetable food would be required to produce similar results, and 

 the vital processes would move more slowly. On the other hand, 

 some of our most troublesome diseases, like intemperance, cancer, 

 and gout, are thought to have a direct connection with excessive 

 meat eating. 



B. W. Richardson has said : '' Keep as near as ever you can ta 

 the first sources of supply, fruits and vegetables." 



