Part 3 (2/2)

LAST DECEMBER A COMMISSION WAS FORMED TO BUY FOR ALL THE ALLIES. The prices to be paid are settled by experts, after careful study, so that packers, storage warehouses, and producers shall all have adequate, but not excessive return for their labor. The buying is planned ahead so that we can s.h.i.+p at times when we have plenty.

The meat which we are s.h.i.+pping now is coming in part from an increased slaughter of cattle and hogs, a condition which may have serious consequences in reducing our reserve. The need for conservation is constant, though at times the situation becomes easier in one kind of meat or another. In the summer of 1917 we were short on hogs. In the spring of 1918, thanks to the ”keep-a-pig” movement and vigorous conservation, as well as high prices, we temporarily had hogs in plenty. Beef is short for the summer season. Policies must change frequently with fluctuating supplies and varying demands from Europe.

However, the export demand for our forces and the Allies is limited only by s.h.i.+pping capacity, and it may be that we shall have a still larger demand at the war's end which will tax any reserve which we can possibly acc.u.mulate.

MEAT CONSERVATION

Meat does not play nearly so important a part in the world's dietary as we are accustomed to think. There is no comparison, in the quant.i.ty consumed, between meat and bread, or even meat and sugar or potatoes.

Half of the people of the earth eat little or none of it. Only in two kinds of communities is meat used largely--new and thinly populated countries with much grazing-land, or wealthy industrial countries.

Australia and New Zealand are of the first type, consuming more meat per person than any other country in the world--5 pounds a week in Australia and 4 pounds in New Zealand. The United States, parts of which may be considered in both cla.s.ses, eats about 3 pounds per person weekly. This is much less than some years ago, when there was more grazing-land.

Great Britain, because it could afford to import it, used about 2 pounds a week before the war. Germany's consumption was slightly lower. France, Denmark, Switzerland, with fewer animals or less wealth, are small meat-eaters, the average amount being about 1 pounds a week--about half as much as our consumption.

MEAT AND OTHER PROTEIN FOODS

Meat is eaten partly because of its pleasant flavor and partly because it is a source of protein which is necessary to build or renew the various parts of the body. Every cell in the body contains it and needs a steady supply.

Meat is a valuable protein food, but so are plenty of others--fish, cheese, eggs, milk, dried beans, dried peas, nuts, cereals.

Cottage-cheese is the most nearly pure protein of anything that we eat. We can get protein just as satisfactorily from cheese and the other animal protein foods as from meat, and almost as satisfactorily from the vegetable protein foods. THE OLD IDEA THAT MEAT IS ESPECIALLY ”STRENGTHENING” HAS NO FOUNDATION. Neither is one kind of meat less thoroughly digested than another.

There is little danger in this country that our diet will fall too low in protein. Many of us eat considerably more than we need. Even those who must spend a dangerously limited amount on their diet, are not apt to be low in protein, for they often err on the side of spending an unwise proportion of their money on meat. Most scientists now consider three ounces of carefully chosen protein per day a safe allowance for an average man. An average woman needs less.

It is not at all difficult for an interested person to count up roughly whether he is eating more or less than this quant.i.ty. A small serving of lean meat or fish, about two inches square and three-quarters of an inch thick, contains about one-half ounce of protein. Two eggs, a pint of milk, a quarter of a cup of cottage-cheese, an inch-and-a-quarter cube of American cheese, each have about this same amount. So does a cup and a half of baked beans or two and a half cups of cooked cereal or six half-inch slices of bread (3 x 3 inches). A person eating six of these portions daily will of course have his three ounces of protein. A man moderate in his eating and patriotic in his saving of meat will probably find his consumption not far from this quant.i.ty.

THE MEAT SUBSt.i.tUTES

_Fish_. The possible supply of fish is practically unlimited, and much of it is little appreciated by us. We eat on the average only 18 pounds apiece per year, though our meat consumption is 170 pounds. The British and Canadians use much more fish than we do--56 and 29 pounds respectively. The United States Bureau of Fisheries and many State colleges are constantly introducing new varieties, from shark down.

We should learn to value the many kinds which are available, fresh, dried, and canned, not merely the few we happen to be used to.

_Eggs_ form a very valuable food not only for protein, but for mineral salts and vitamines as well. It is unfortunate that the price is often high, but it should be realized that expenditure for eggs makes expenditure for meat unnecessary.

_Poultry_ is not now listed as a meat subst.i.tute by the Food Administration because the supply has become very limited.

_Cheese_ is one of the best subst.i.tutes for meat. It represents most of the food value of a much greater bulk of milk, and its protein, fat, and mineral salts make it an important food. We in America are very slow to appreciate it. We are apt to use it in small quant.i.ty for its flavor rather than as a real food. We could well eat more of it, to the advantage both of the palatability and nutritive quality of our diet.

_Milk_, one of the most easily digested and simplest sources of protein in our diet and the most valuable of our foods, is discussed in Chapter VII.

_Nuts_ are usually thought of as a luxury, but the amount of protein and fat they contain makes them really an important food. Peanuts are usually cla.s.sed with the nuts and are considered the most valuable nut-crop of the United States. They are growing so fast in importance that the acreage was increased 60 per cent in 1917. They are used for oil and for fodder as well as for human food. Peanut-b.u.t.ter or a bag of peanuts is a good investment, but it should be counted as part of the necessary food, not eaten as an extra. The occasional indigestion following injudicious eating of cheese and nuts is probably often due to forgetting that they are very substantial foods and eating them at the end of an already sufficient meal.

_Peas and Beans_ are taken up with the other vegetables in Chapter VIII.

Why do not the Allies use these subst.i.tutes? Mainly because they haven't them. Dairy products are as scarce as meat. All the fish and beans and peas that they can get are being used. But it is not enough.

THEIR SMALL MEAT RATION MUST BE MAINTAINED, AND THEIR ARMIES AS WELL AS OURS MUST HAVE MEAT. KEEP IT GOING OVER!

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