What We Have Been Eating

One of the best ways of studying trends in American food consumption is through figures on food supplies. For many years the Bureau of Agricultural Economics has estimated the quantities of food going to consumers. The estimates take into account production, imports, exports, stocks on hand, and foods consumed on farms where they are produced. Total quantities of food for domestic consumption in a given year are divided by the total population to give per capita averages. For the war years, only civilian supplies and civilian population figures were used. Estimates of per capita consumption are then adjusted for losses that occur up to the point at which consumers buy their food.

A series of such estimates for the years 1909 through 1945 gives an excellent picture of the changes in over-all food consumption that have occurred in the past 37 years in this country.

As a Nation we have been eating less and less of some kinds of foods and more of others. Consumption of grain products, for example, has fallen markedly throughout the period. In fact, in the years 1941 to 1945, the amount used was about one-third less than during the period 190 to 1913, a difference of about 100 pounds a person a year.

The consumption of potatoes, too, has declined. The general trend fluctuates from year to year, but it is unmistakable. From 1941 to 1945 civilians ate only about three-fourths as many potatoes as they did from 1909 to 1913.

Grain products and potatoes are important sources of calories, and it is natural to wonder what foods have replaced them. Actually there has been an increased consumption of several types of foods.

One of the most marked and significant changes has been the increase in the use of milk. The general trend has been upward since 1909 the beginning of the series. But since 1934 the increase has been continuous, with an especially rapid rise during the war years. As a result, average consumption of milk and its products (except butter) was 45 percent greater from 1941 to 1945 than from 1909 to 1913. In 1945 we used about 90 quarts a year more than in 1909. At the 1945 level, consumption averaged nearly three cups a day per person. This includes the milk used in bread and other bakery products, in candy and other foods, as well as the milk equivalent (on the basis of protein and mineral content) of cheese and ice cream.

The consumption of tomatoes and citrus fruit, important sources of ascorbic acid, increased gradually since 1909, but in the past 10 years the rise has been spectacular. In 1945 the average civilian consumed 116 pounds, compared to about 45 pounds in 1909.

A large part of this increase has been in citrus fruit, a result of improved market supplies at relatively lower prices than 20 or 30 years ago. There was a time when for many people oranges were a special treat for the Thanksgiving fruit bowl and the toe of the Christmas stocking. Today they are a daily food for millions of Americans during a large Part of the year and there are ample supplies of canned citrus juices of good quality at reasonable prices.

Tomatoes have always been a stand-by. They are easy to grow, easy to can, and rural families have come to rely on them. City people, too, use tomatoes in considerable quantity, because they lend variety to meals and, in cans at least, they have been relatively cheap. Canned tomato juice, which came on the market about 1930, rapidly became a favorite and has contributed to the increase in consumption of tomatoes.

Leafy, green, and yellow vegetables form another group that has gained importance in our national diet. From 1909 to 1913, annual consumption averaged about 74 pounds a person. Twenty years later it had increased to about 90 pounds. From 1941 to 1945 we had 121 pounds for each person, or nearly 65 percent more than the consumption from 1909 to 1913. Of the foods in this group, cabbage is consumed in largest quantity, but the increases that occurred were in the use of other vegetables, especially carrots, lettuce, and other salad greens. The increase in the use of canned products was greater than that of fresh vegetables. Green and yellow vegetables are good sources of vitamin A and as a group contribute important amounts of ascorbic acid. Nutritionists have been urging people to eat more of these foods perhaps one of the reasons why consumption has increased.

There has been an upward trend in the consumption of dry beans and peas and units, including peanut products. The average quantity used in 1945 was about 20 pounds a person, as compared to 12 pounds in the early years of this series.

Americans like sweets, and use a large amount of sugar in soft drinks, candy, canned fruit,, ice cream, ready-baked goods, and in many other ways at home. From 1942 to 1945, sugar consumption was limited by supply, but the lowest figure for any one of these years, 91 pounds in 1945, is about the same as the average for the first 10 years of this series-1909 through 1918. An increase is expected when supplies are more abundant again.

For other groups of foods no consistent trend in consumption since 1909 is apparent. Consumption of meat tended to go down from 1909 to the late 1930's. It rose sharply, however, during the recent war years, when average incomes were high, evidence that many persons had not been consuming all the meat they wanted. But the consumption of fats and oils (including bacon and salt pork) has risen, at least until wartime shortages limited supplies. The consumption of eggs has fluctuated between 22 and 28 dozen per person a year, except in 1945, when it rose to 31 dozen.