What We Eat, and Why

by ESTHER F. PHIPARD

WHAT PEOPLE eat at any time depends on three things what they like, what is available, and what they can afford. The relative importance of these is not always the same. During the war and early postwar years, what was available came first, and likes came last for a substantial part of the world's population. People have had to accept what they could get, whether or not they liked it.

As far back as we can remember, however, we have taken for granted that our town and city markets would have a great variety of foods and that everyone could choose freely among them and buy as much as desired as long as he had the money. The war changed that. Customary foods were not available in the quantities necessary to satisfy demand. Rationing and standing in line and the disappearance of many favorite foods came to determine what people ate. After the early postwar period, likes and ability to pay played a more important role.

Patterns of eating were not always as they are at present, nor are they uniform throughout the country. Food habits are the result of many factors including experience, availability of foods, and purchasing power. A brief backward look helps to illustrate the point and to indicate some of the forces that make for change.

Food habits may be deeply rooted in the nationality, religious customs, and cultural background of forebears. Early settlers lived close to the land and learned fairly soon to adapt their food habits to the foods they could grow or procure locally. Later, large numbers of families from various Countries settled in groups in the larger towns and cities. These communities had their own restaurants, bakeries, and grocery stores where they could obtain the customary foods of the old country. Thus food habits of other countries were perpetuated in the United States. In parts of the country, distinct regional food habits also developed. These were related to the kinds of foods that could be produced in the area, facilities for storing, preserving, transporting and marketing foods, and the general level of purchasing power.

Little by little, through the process of mixing and blending, food patterns of different nationality and regional groups have become more alike. People move around more, meeting new people, eating new foods, and finding old foods in new dishes.

Food has done more and better traveling, to large cities and smaller places alike. Refrigerator cars, fast motor freight, and improvements in processing and marketing have contributed to the amazing variety of foods offered for sale the year around. Agricultural sciences have played a part with improved varieties and quality of food. Modern education in foods and nutrition has had a part in changing demand. Even before the war people were becoming more conscious of the effect of food on health; and during the war education about nutrition was extended widely. School lunches and factory lunchrooms were expanded and proved, when well planned, to be effective in improving food habits.