THE PASSING OF PORRIDGE

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 144084, 1 May 1913, Page 6

THE PASSING OF PORRIDGE

Tho disappearance of that homely but exceedingly nutritious article of food, porridge, as the national diet of the Scottish people, has been commented on recently in the report of an investigation into the diet of Glasgow workers. This inquiry was conducted by tho Physiological Department. of the Glasgow University by means of funds supplied by tho’Corporation and the Carnegie Trust. Tho question which the investigators set about to answer was; Do the working classes of the city get such a diet as will enable them to develop, into strong, healthy, energetic men and women, or are the conditions of the labouring classes such that a suitable diet is not obtainable? The broad results, according to the Glasgow Herald, aro decidedly depressing. They_ reveal 'deplorable ignorance in tho choice and purchase of the most valuable foods, bad marketing, bad cooking, and a diet for a large portion of tho labouring classes much below that necessary for ordinary health and energy. This inadequate nourishment is attributed by Professor Noel Paten, the conductor of the investigations, largely to a wrong selection of,.foodstuffs. / The principal foods used by tho Glasgow labouring classes are bread, potatoes, milk, sugar, beef and vegetables, whereas cheap and valuable vegetable foods, such as oatmeal, peas, etc., are used either little “or not at all. The report states that in households where porridge was eaten morning and evening, “the children were strong, healthy, and well-grown,” while in cases where a diet of tea, potatoes, bread and jelly formed tho hulk of a child’s feeding, amentia was often observed. The case is put still more explicitly in another report dealing with the medical service in ■ the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. “The great feature in the decadence of the school child’s menu,” says tho compiler of . the report' “is the abuse of tea. The good old porridge pot has fallen from its'high estate, and the teapot has been exalted in its place.” The moral of the whole inquiry is, in Professor Patou’s opinion, the urgent necessity of a retilrn to the national diet of. porridge and- milk in place of the dioir of tea, bread, and jam, which have so generally replaced it in the big cities.