Sophisticated Diets and Man’s Health 
THE EFFECT OF TWENTIETH-CENTURY SOPHISTICATION 
OF FOOD AND DIETS ON CONSTITUTION 
In the light of the foregoing definitions, I propose to discuss, 
in relation to the trends evident in the twentieth century, the 
advantages conferred by all forms of sophistication of food and 
diets, the evident disadvantages to health, and the possible dis- 
advantages to health in the light both of scientific probability 
and of food faddism. 
ADVANTAGES OF SOPHISTICATION 
The advantages of sophistication can best be considered in 
two parts: firstly the non-physical, which include intellectual, 
emotional and spiritual advantages; and secondly the physical. 
Culinary Art and Culture 
The non-physical advantages are evident right back to the 
earliest stages of sophistication. 
Eating should be asocial grace as well as a physical necessity. 
In terms of my definition of constitution the social value of 
eating is very relevant to man’s constitution and therefore to 
his biological future. I emphasize the word “‘social’’? because 
good food and good wine are not for the friendless man—they 
are essentially aids to closer contact of mind and spirit between 
man and man (including women). All of the first three forms 
of sophistication have served this purpose down the ages. Like 
all good things they can be abused. One abuse, namely the 
selfish monopoly of good food by the privileged few, can now 
be more easily corrected through the greater availability of 
good food which has resulted from the food technology of the 
twentieth century. 
The culinary art which grew out of the ancient forms of food 
sophistication has also, when discreetly used, inspired man 
through the ages, to art, music, philosophy and spirituality in 
the broadest sense. Again, this claim is not nullified by the 
evident fact that when indiscreetly used or selfishly monopolized 
the culinary art has encouraged the grossest excesses of man’s 
bodily appetites. Nor is the claim nullified by the evidence 
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