NATIONAL DIET

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 104, 27 January 1931, Page 3

NATIONAL DIET

New Zealanders’ Appetites

A YEAR’S FOOD

Wliat do we eat? And how much do we eat of it? These are questions which have been occupying the attention of the Government Statistician, judging by the Pocket Compendium of Statistics which he recently issued. Taking the average of the last three years’ figures, he finds that the chief item on the national diet is flour, closely followed by potatoes, with beef in third place. The average New Zealander consumes 189 pounds of flour a year. His appetite for flour is nearly equalled by his liking for potatoes, and he manages to consume 184 pounds of this vegetable. The Englishman’s wellknown preference for beef is shared by his New Zealand descendants, who, on the average, get through 156 pounds a year—three pounds a week. Nothing approaches these three items in popularity, and of the next item on the list only about half as much is consumed. It is sugar, of which New Zealanders use nearly 86 pounds e_ach; then comes mutton, 761 b.; salt, 501 b.. Butter is eaten at the rate of 34 pounds a head a year, a figure which seems to be rather on the low side, being less than Jib. a week. Apples are consumed at the rate of 33 pounds a year by each individual. Far from eating an apple a day, it would seem that the New Zealander permits himself the luxury of an apple about every three days. He consumed 7.91 pounds of cheese a- year, which, it is said, is about two pounds less than that eaten by a resident of Britain. The order of preference for the various foodstuffs with the )>er capita consumption in pounds is as follows Meat: Beef, 156; mutton, 76; bacon and ham, 15; pork, 13; lamb, 11. Vegetables: Potatoes, 184: onion?, 14. Fruit: Apples, 33; bananas, 17. oranges, 10; pears. 7; lemons, 2. Tea is consumed at the rate of 8 pounds a year, and in the luxury division, the average consumption of tobacco by men and women, is 34 pounds: Everybody, according to the statistician’s figures, which do not trouble about “wets” and “drys.” drinks 8.87 gallons of beer, just less than half a gallori of spirits, and a little more than a pint of wine during the year.