CHAPTER XV 

 BANANAS AS FOOD 



Valuable as Food. Dr. Robert Hutchison in his classic 

 work, " Food and the Principles of Dietetics," * says : 

 " That only is to be adjudged a ' good ' food which contains 

 an ample proportion of nutritive constituents, which is 

 easily digested and absorbed, and which can be obtained 

 at a reasonable cost . ' ' Mr. Eustace Miles adds to this defini- 

 tion that " a good food must be as free as possible from 

 stimulants and irritants ; and, moreover, a good food 

 should for purposes of modern life, when everything tends 

 towards over-acidity and clogging, have certain cleansing 

 properties, or at least should have cleansing foods added 

 to it among the cleansing foods may be classed many of 

 the fresh fruits, salads and green vegetables." 



It would be difficult to find words more appropriate to 

 use in describing the claims of the banana to a large share 

 in OUT diet, whether eaten as fresh fruit or cooked in various 

 ways, or as banana flour, or dried like figs. 



In the course of a speech delivered on his return from 

 a visit to Jamaica, Sir James Cricht on -Browne, M.D., 

 F.R.S., said : "I wish all our school- children could have 

 bananas from time to time. . . . The banana is not a 

 flavoured fruit, that is to say, a little sugar and water with 

 a drop of some essence thrown in, but a food fruit contain- 

 ing, in an agreeable form, all the essential elements of 

 nutrition. ... As an adjunct to our other foods it is of 

 great value, being at once acceptable to all for it is not 

 an acquired taste giving variety to the domestic diet 



* Third edition, 1911, p. 10. 

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