WHAT TO EAT 



siderable number of garden vegetables that are still 

 in vogue. 



It must be recalled, however, that the eastern hemis- 

 phere did not supply the turkey, and that the very 

 important white potato and Indian corn not to men- 

 tion tobacco, which is at least next door to a food-stuff 

 are also exclusive products of the Americans. The 

 introduction of the potato, in particular, in the sixteenth 

 and seventeenth centuries led to one of the most im- 

 portant changes in the diet of the average man that 

 have taken place within the historical period. It 

 supplied a cheap, starchy food, such as had not hitherto 

 been available, and doubtless aided in decreasing the 

 proportion of meat in the average European dietary. 

 Nevertheless, meat was the predominant food-stuff 

 long after the potato was introduced. 



As to sweets, which form so constant a part of the 

 average diet to-day, the ancient world was virtually 

 restricted to a single kind namely honey. The 

 familiar Hebrew phrase "a land flowing in milk and 

 honey " suggests the esteem in which this native sweet 

 was held. Among the Greeks, honey was one of the 

 most important commodities of commerce; Attic 

 honey, supplied by bees that fed upon the wild thyme 

 on the hills of Hymettus near Athens, being particularly 

 celebrated. Throughout the Middle Ages honey 

 continued to be the standard sweet. Sugar, made from 

 the juice of the cane, is a strictly modern luxury, or 

 necessity, and beet sugar, which now greatly pre- 

 dominates over cane sugar in the markets of the world, 

 is a development of the late nineteenth century. 



[*8i] 



