FASHIONS IN FOOD

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 48, 25 August 1923, Page 14

FASHIONS IN FOOD

CONTINUALLY ON THE CHANGE.

The growing preference for lean bacon may perhaps be attributed to a revulsion from the unpleasant ■ maize-fed pig flesh which we were forced to consume during: the war, states T.C.B. in the "DailyMail." However that may he, the fact remains that our tastes in the matter of food and drink are constantly chang-,' ing, and that the provision dealer who wishes to avoid losses has to keep his eyes open to these changes. -■", ; In the matter of meat it is noticeable that more beef -is being eaten and less mutton. Some years ago mutton, which' at the time was served once a week to the troops at Home, was wiped right off; the Army menus. Lamb is. still liked,; but mutton has become unpopular. The' j>consumption of chicken is increasing byl leaps and bounds. So, too, is that of fish. In London the consumption of fish: is now about ?51b annually for each per-: son, but this is above the average for-the! country at large. The 'importation oi; fruit is increasing very iast. Lond6n^ alone.takes over 6,000,000 bushels of im-i. ported.-fruit-in.the course of the year, to: say nothing of half a million hundred' weight of preserved fruits' and a vast 5 quantity of nuts. " - .-

Porridge is going out of favour. Forty or fifty yeqrs ago porridge was a regu-- ( lar breakfast dish in all middle-class! households. To-day, even in Scotland,: the consumption of porridge is rapidly' falling off, and in-many English hotels,: where ten years ago it was served reigu-' IV'ly, it now lias to be specially order-j cd. -And people have almost ceased' to; eat the excellent and wholesome oatcake.: One day last week I tried almost every! grocer and confectioner in a small mid-; land town without being ,able to -purchase any form of plain oatcake. Brown! bread is ■ disappearing. The average! country baker makes it only to order '■■ And as for white bread, the old-fashion-ed cottage loaf is disappearing in favoiiri of the tin loaf. The reason given ia:that'the latter is more economical and' better adapted for cutting into toast' slices. . ;

Less bread- i s 'being- eaten, and movecake. The old-fashioned tartlete nud; three-cornered jam puffs have given way' to elaborate Continental chocolate 'and; cream creations. .To-day-the favourite' confection :is the eclair, -prefef'ably filled with chocolate. The amount or sugar eaten in various forms is enormous. During the present.century it has-risen-from iiuQb-per family to 4201b ye&rly. It is JitjU increasing.