Preface

ALFRED STEFFERUD

Editor of the Yearbook

EVEN THOUGH women did much of the planning and writing of this Yearbook and women and women-to-be dominated our thinking, it is a book as well for men and men-to-be.

Food is a big part of a man's world, too. He produces, processes, and markets food. He buys, cooks, and eats food. He earns daily bread, worries about his waistline, and sometimes feeds the baby. He is his family's Food Expert.

We hope therefore that men will read this book. Maybe not all of it—to present as many aspects as possible of this complex subject, we prepared some chapters with many groups in mind, among them students, farmers, teachers, administrators, and technicians.

We suggest that men try on for size at least these chapters: Carbohydrates, page 88; Calories and Body Weight, page 101; Water, page 168; Nutritional Needs After 25, page 311; Fish and the Fishing Industry, page 353; What Your Food Money Buys, page 557; Don't Be Fooled by Fads, page 660; Feeding 6,280 Million, page 671.

We think students—tomorrow's husbands, wives, and parents—will find in these pages grist for themes and thought. If studies, TV, and dates permit no more, we recommend especially for them: The Story of Nutrition, page 7; Adolescents and Young Adults, page 303; Youth Learns About Food, page 647; Trends in Heights and Weights, page 181.

They may need to look up some terms in a dictionary, although we did what we could by providing a glossary, which is pretty good reading in itself.

Farmers have been the main readers of the Yearbooks of Agriculture these 111 years. Here they will find information about nutritional values of the products they grow, but not about ways to grow more. To any farmer who may think this book is not "practical" for him, we offer the reminder that keeping his body and mind in prime working order is as important as oiling his tractor and feeding his livestock.

Farmers may like especially: Quality in Animal Products, page 327; Marketing, Quality, and Cost, page 4o8; Freezing Food at Home, page 461; Storing Perishable Foods at Home, page 477; Conserving Nutritive Values, page 483; The Years Ahead, page 701.

To teachers we recommend especially these chapters: The Story of Nutrition, page 7; Questions and Answers, page 23; The Nutriture of People, page 186; Recommended Allowances, page 227; A Table of Food Values, page 231; A Guide to Eating, page 267; Planning Meals for the Family, page 510; Habits—and More, page 631.

To parents also those chapters should be helpful.

For the many persons who regard nutrition as more than today's meals, we put food in a national and international framework, as in: The Development of New Foods, page 434; Are We Well Fed?, page 620; Feeding 6,280 Million, page 671; Sharing Our Bounty, page 681; School Lunches, page 691; The Years Ahead, page 701.

Our subject, to repeat, is complex. Our knowledge of it is comparatively new and is developing constantly. Some of it is controversial. We did not expect of the writers, therefore, that they would interpret data in the same way, draw predetermined conclusions, write in some prescribed fashion, or try to reflect the thinking of any particular person or unit in the Department of Agriculture. Scientists cannot work that way.

We have tried to present the facts clearly, but we have not tried to process them into an instant, ready-mix, no-trouble-at-all pap.

Our goal was a solid, authoritative, complete book that will put details of nutrition in proper perspective and counteract some of the nonsense or half-truths about food we read and hear so often.

The members of the 1959 Yearbook Committee are:

Agricultural Research Service: Georgian Adams, T. C. Byerly, Faith Clark, George W. Irving, Jr., Ruth M. Leverton, Hazel K. Stiebeling, Chairman.

Agricultural Marketing Service: Martin Garber, Omer W. Herrmann, Frederick V. Waugh.

Federal Extension Service: Frances Scudder.

Office of Information: Alfred Stefferud.