Food Reform.

White Ribbon, Volume 7, Issue 81, 1 February 1902, Page 10

Food Reform.

Perhaps our White Ribboners an; not all aw'are that Food Reform is a department of the “ World’s ” W. C. T. U-, with Miss May Yates as its Superintendent Miss Yates is a very pronounced vegetarian, and while she deals with her subject in a general way, she is very strong on the point of vegetarianism a powerful antidote to the drink craze. Many eminent scientists agree that this is true, and so it w’ould he well if our members w r ould consider the question as a practical one, and one which is closely allied to the Temperance question. In writing on the subject from the nutritive and economic standpoints, the Woman's Sphere says : A daily paper, remarking lately on the high price of butchers’ meat, used this expression: “ To the poor this means semi-starvation.” Is this so? Surely the semi-starvation suggestion is impossible in this land of prolific growth of cereals, vegetables, fruits, and nuts. Throughout the English-speaking people, apart from other races, it has been proved by years of experience by

thousands of people in every rank of life, that flesh food is unnecessary for the perfect development and sustenance of vigorous, healthy life-physical and intellectual. That this is so would be readily conceded if it were more universally remembered that flesh food is after all merely an elaboration from vegetable matter, and that all the food elements contained in flesh are to he found in even larger proportions in the vegetable kingdom, and certainly in purer condition, being free from the contamination of disease to which most animals are subject. Sir Henry Thompson, M.D., F.R.C.S., supports this view : he says : “ It is a vulgar error to regard meat in any form as necessary to life. All that is necessary to the human body can be supplied by the vegetable kingdom. The vegetarian can extract from his food all that is necessary for the growth and support of the body, as well as for the production of heat and force.”

It will be seen, therefore, that flesh food is merely a wasteful extravagance, a catering to popular appetite and a menace to health.

In the practice of Vegetarianism the first great need is pure w'holemeal bread, then plenty of fruit. Wheat, oats, barley, maize, peas, beans, lentils, rice, sago, greens, fruits (fresh and dried), and nuts are some of the foods the vegetarian has at command, and from these, in various combinations, many tasty wholesome dishes can be easily prepared. The peas, beans, and lentils correspond to the flesh food, but should be used in moderation, as one pound of these foods is equal in nourishment to three or four pounds of meat. Those who adopt this method not only save money on food but are spared the expense of doctors and drugs, and the money thus saved may be employed to greater advantage.