THE PROTEIN METABOLISM OF MANKIND 



73 



food habits of the people of India viz., that they are vegetarians 

 from force of adverse financial circumstances rather than from 

 principle, and, except in the case of a relatively small number of 

 strict adherents to Buddhism, they eat animal food whenever it 

 can be afforded. 



Another misconception that Oshima refers to is the popular 

 belief that rice is the principal, if not practically the only, food 

 of the large majority of the Japanese and other Oriental people. 

 As has already been pointed out in connection with Indian 

 foodstuffs, rice is only cheap in those parts of the East where 

 the conditions necessary for its cultivation are favourable, 

 particularly where the rainfall is abundant. In Japan, as in 

 India, though rice is a very important article of diet, and is eaten 

 in relatively large quantities where it can be afforded, it is by no 

 means the only food material, nor is it in all cases the principal 

 cereal. In large tracts of India, away from the coast-line, rice 

 hardly enters into the dietaries of the people, being too expensive 

 for regular consumption, and is only used on special occasions 

 as a luxury. The proportion of total nutrients of the Japanese 

 diets supplied by rice Oshima gives as follows : 



From statistics collated by the Department of Agriculture and 

 Commerce, Tokyo, showing the proportions of the different 

 vegetable foods consumed by the Japanese in 1880, the following 

 averages were derived as applicable to the country as a whole : 



Rice 



Barley and wheat 



Millets, buckwheat, legumes, etc. 



Tubers and other vegetables 



Fruits 



Sea algae 



53-00 per cent. 



27-00 



13-90 



6-00 



0-05 



0-05 



So that cereals other than rice form by no means an unimportant 

 part of the whole dietary. 



It will now be of interest to give summaries of the dietaries 

 investigated in Japan, and contrast them with results of dietary 



