J. F. BROCK 
down the centuries that fasting and abstinence, in due season, 
have encouraged man’s highest spiritual and religious develop- 
ment and insight. 
Food Technology, Urban Development, Productivity and Leisure 
In modern technological development it has been necessary 
not only to exonerate a large proportion of mankind from the 
responsibility for food production but also to detach them from 
the opportunity to obtain on-the-spot fresh food. Were it not 
for food technology urbanized man would have to subsist on 
stale and unattractive foods. Canning, freezing and other 
methods of bulk preservation, supplemented by home refri- 
geration, have brought far better quality foods to the urban 
table than were obtainable in the nineteeth century cities. 
Moreover, under the slogan ‘“‘take the housewife’s chores 
into the factory”? it has given liberty to women which they 
are able to plough back into increased productivity or cre- 
ative arts. The plea that women have not all learned to use 
their leisure creatively does not detract from the reality of 
the development. 
The physical advantages can be discussed in relation to 
improvements in health which have resulted in part from 
twentieth-century food technology. 
Technology and Food Variety 
Modern technology, through improvements in food preser- 
vation and transport, has brought a more complete range of 
nutrients and more attractive variety of foods to the mouths of 
greater numbers of people. 
Geography, climate and season have already ceased to 
limit the variety of foodstuffs available to people in developed 
communities. Tropical, desert and frozen climates no longer 
impose limitations on the availability of, for example, dairy 
products, fruits and fresh vegetables. Only the low productivity 
of labour and associated economic maldistribution maintain 
any limitations in variety of foodstuffs among under-developed 
communities. Skimmed milk powder could abolish protein 
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