WHAT WE EAT AND DRINK

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 16 January 1928, Page 8

WHAT WE EAT AND DRINK

MUCH MEAT, LITTLE FRUIT

Official figures just published in tho “Year Book” give some idea of what Now' Zcalariders consume per head, statistically considered, for some people do not eat meal, others forswear choose, teetotallers eschew strong drinks, aud, considering its price, many people cat too sparingly of fruit. However, on the’ population basis, the average consumption of meat per head is 291 pounds per annum, and in adition 14J of bacon and ham. Beef tops the meat list with a consumption of 184 pounds per person; mutton is 75 pounds, and pork 19 pounds; lamb—in producing which New Zealand leads the world—is 13 pounds. The weights include hone. In butter New Zealand would seem to lead with 27 pounds per head, while cheese is a paltry 5 pounds per head. Why? May not the answer be found ip (1) the immature and insipid cheese usually sold in the shops, or (2) in the fact that New Zealand, not being a beer drinking country, as England is, cheese has an inconspicuous place in the dietary scale? At Homo, cheese with bread and beer often makes a worker’s meal, and a nourishing one, too; hut cheese'aud tea l Some of the finest cheese of its typo in tho whole world is sent from New Zealand to London, hut it is of the very best according to its grade when it leaves the Dominion, and when it arrives it is usually in excellent condition and an attraction to tho palate. Cheese compared in Great Britain is exactly double the quantity per head of that eaten in Now Zealand, tlio homo of a very high-grade article. \

Local consumption of (lour is 209 pounds per head, and potatoes follow at 190 pounds per head, Onions arc a long way Third at 12j pounds per head—and here again tlio consumption of tin's wholesome vegetable is far .below what il ought to he in tlio interest of public health. At Id to l/>d per pound tlio onion ought to come into its own in New Zealand. Otago may or may not ho responsible for tho greater part of tho consumption of oatmeal at 9|d pounds per head, but considering the nutritive value of this foodstuff tlio consumption appears to be low. Rico stands at 5 pounds pei' - head, and tapioca at 2 lbs; cornflour and other farinaceous foods are very small at If pounds per head. Celery, lettuce, spinach, silver beet, roots, and other vegetables are not dealt with. Fresh fruit, like vegetables, is much too dear for large consumption by families with limited incomes. Alluring displays of liol-house grapes at 2s 6d per pound, Canadian apples at Bd, hoi-house tomatoes at ,1s lo Is 6d, strawberries at up to 2s 6d per box, and oranges at 3s lo 3s 6d per dozen aro impressive in the windows, but repellent to the managing housewife with four or five children and £5 a week (or less) to run i the household. What site wants is fruit enough for the children to help themselves and come again. But tlie official figures show that in this essentially fruit-growing country not enough fruit is being eaten. Tho calculation is 37 pounds of apples per person over a whole year—very far from an apple a day. No relief, ‘however, is to he looked for in other fruits, for bananas only amount to 17J, pounds per head per annum, and oranges 10 pounds per head per annum, and pears, which crop abundantly, Vro down to a meagre 61 pounds. 11! does not need a vegetarian to see the folly of a national diet in so highly productive a country as New Zealand of 29L pounds of meat and 37 pounds of apples per head per annum. Including total abstainers and nonsmokers, tlio consumption of beer in Now Zealand amounts to 9;j gallons per head per annum : of spirits half a. gallon, or three bottles, per head per annum ; of wine a paltry one-sixth of a gallon, a mere bottle per head per annum all round. .Tobacco is represented by a. eon sumption of three pounds per head, hut it is not ascertainable for how much of this women smokers have become responsible.