CHAPTER XV 



FOOD VALUE OF THE DATE 

 by Charles L. Bennett, M. D. 



In the arid regions of the old world dates have 

 always been an essential in the dietary, and in some 

 parts have been used even to a greater extent than 

 bread and potatoes here. In fact, without dates much 

 of the world's history would have been differently 

 written unless a substitute, as effective as the date, 

 could have been found for the tribes of desert regions. 

 The date made their activities possible. 



Owing to its compact form and almost total avail- 

 ability as food the date is a natural tabloid form of 

 nourishment, and some kinds even outstrip the much 

 vaunted pre-digested foods. These latter dates 

 contain sugar in a form immediately available by 

 the body through simple absorption without being 

 subjected to the digestion that ordinary sugar under- 

 goes. 



So it is that the Persian, the Arab, and the North 

 African have always found the date a great boon and 

 ideal food, with only sufficient padding to favor 

 intestinal function, carrying predigested material, 

 ferments that aided its own digestion, and an attractive 

 flavor. The drier dates kept well on long journeys 

 and never cloyed the appetite. An active hard 

 working desert dweller ate pounds of them a day; 

 they formed almost his sole food for long periods, and 

 often for many months his only addition to the date 

 diet was an occasional small amount of meat, milk, 

 or rice. 



