FOOD SLAVES OP ENGLAND

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 148, 12 March 1918, Page 3

FOOD SLAVES OP ENGLAND

"WE NEED MOKE VARIETY." (By Graco Curnnck, in the "Daily Mail-.' , ) Margarine, tea, bacon! There has been such it pother because these three articles are scarce that one would imagino them to be the only essential foods for human consumption. Roally they are not essential foods at all. Our forefathers had little butter iu winter and never heard of margarine, and tho mothers of the old women of to-day scarcely knew the taste of tea. Margarine has como into common use during tho'last twelve years as a butter substitute. Why, even since the war began people have been bribed by Jib. overweight to buy lib. of margarine. It is now an acquired war "utility." Margarine certainly does not replace butter with country people. It has always paid better to go to market with butter and sell for "the pality" than to eat it on one's own bread, especially in tho winter. Country people have always known how to "to do without," but townsfolk so long as they have money have always been able to buy the half-dozen or so foods on which they depend. Frequently during the last few weeks I have-heard "the poor" complain that "the rich" do not stand in queues, and they argue that "tho rich" get plenty of all scarce foods anyway, or that they have the money to buy other things. As a matter of fact "the rich" do not stand in margarine and tea queues because they buy other, things as substitutes, and what is more they enjoy those things, and find them to be equally nourishing. But "the poor" will liot eat substitutes, they distrust them; al&o, they have not been used to a varied diet, and their palates protest against an unexpected flavour.

Men on the Produce Exchange will tell you that all the mildest ch.eeses and most tasteless Imtter and bacon are kept for the London ma'rket, and that the less flavour provisions have the more London and townsfolk like them. Rich, full-flavoured dairy provisions—the best—can only be sold in the country, especially in the north. That is why London i'olk clamour for margarine. It is tasteless; it Spreads nicely on bread. Jam is looked on as an addition, and not as a substitute.

No English mother I have ever heard of would do as the French mother does —put oil on her children's bread and then just sprinkle it with salt. Oil, 1 know, is dear in the rich man's store —6s. lOd. a reputed quart; but in the poorer districts it is still 2s. 6d. and 3s. 6d. Oil is used only in salads in England, and thenit is but n mere drop in comparison with the vinegar. AVlio, again, will willingly substitute cocoashell tea or weak cnnioinilo tea., or even cocoa or coffee for the thick brown brew from the teapot on the hob? Yet. once leave off drinking tea for a few weeks, and you will find the qverswoetened brew— all sugared tea is over-sweetened—a nauseating drink. Comparatively few people eat curry, tho best substitute dinner dish in the world. Few know how-to make it, and fewer want to know. The "poor" will never eat it, neither do thoy care for soups or macaroni dishes, or maize or oatmeal except in porridge. Casserole cooking is looked on as "messy"; slow cooking and steaming they do not understand. "Plain roast or boiled or fried is good enough for me," they shy, and will not try further, though it may even be easier. Wo are now paying for one of our greatest mistakes. We have up to now neglected to educate our palates.