16 BULLETIN 1443, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
In the colored group of housewives the relative number answering 
that they served meat because they liked it was materially larger than 
in the American white group. The replies indicative of food value 
were less in relation to total replies than was the case in the Ameri- 
can white group, a larger portion of the colored housewives failing to 
recognize the food value of meat. 
In the foreign groups there was exhibited a tendency away from 
answers implying palatability toward answers indicative of food value 
or habit and custom. The French and German groups particularly 
stressed the habit or custom of serving meat. 
Question 10. — When you do not serve meat for dinner, what is your first choice 
of a food to take its place? (Tables 15 and 16.) 
Fish was the food most frequently stated in answer to this ques- 
tion by housewives of the American white group. Of 2,469 house- 
wives, 30.1 per cent gave this article of food as their first choice of a 
food when they did not serve meat at dinner. Vegetables were named 
by 21.1 per cent of the same group, while eggs were third in rank 
with a percentage of 20.2. The food next in importance was spaghetti, 
7.6 per cent of the housewives stating that this was their first choice 
of a food to take the place of meat at dinner. Dairy products, 
poultry, soup, baked beans, cereals, bread, and salads were named 
by small percentages of the group. 
A study of preferences by standard-of-living groups indicated rather 
important differences in the relative positions of various articles of 
food. Preference for fish became more pronounced in the American 
white group as the standard of living became better. Vegetables were 
more popular in the poor class as food when meat was not served. 
Eggs were more favored to take the place of meat in the homes of the 
middle and well-to-do classes than in either the poor or wealthy homes . 
Poultry was of greater importance as the standard of living became 
better. 
In the colored group, the percentage of the total number of house- 
wives who stated that fish was their first choice of a meat substitute 
at dinner, was materially greater in both the poor and middle classes 
than in the same classes of the American white group and even greater 
than the percentage of first choice in the well-to-do and wealthy 
classes of the latter group. The same to a slightly less extent was 
true of vegetables. The percentages indicative of the use of eggs 
show that this article of food was much less favored in the colored 
than in the American white group. 
Among the more interesting differences noted between the American 
white group and the various foreign groups were those relating to the 
Italian and Jewish groups. Of the total number of Italian house- 
wives replying to the question, 42 per cent stated that spaghetti was 
their first choice of a food to take the place of meat at dinner. An 
additional 10.6 per cent stated that soup was their first choice. In 
the Jewish group 14.2 per cent of the housewives stated that they 
used some of the dairy products in the place of meat. An additional 
16 per cent of the Jewish group gave poultry as their first choice 
Preferences for different foods varied widely among the 16 cities 
when comparison was made on the basis of the combined replies of 
the middle and well-to-do classes of housewives of the American 
white group for each city. (Table 16.) 
