AMERICAN DOCTOR TAKES ENGLISH COOKS TO TASK

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 82, 30 December 1937, Page 5

AMERICAN DOCTOR TAKES ENGLISH COOKS TO TASK

Etiglish food and Enghsh , cooklng have rneently been the subject of much animated discussion and more or lo. heated controversy. We "in New Zealai ' may lay claim to a very fair ad rnix ture of Seotch ancestry to leaven ci.li Engiish culinary defects, foi everyone kv-ows Scotland's reputation for good cooking! But all the same most of us dc follow English metliods of cook mg, vines 'and all, sufficiently slavishlj to feei pejhaps a twinge of uncasin«»i!when we read such an indictment as that of a ^eteran member of the New York State Medical Service, Dr. F. C. Titus, who has bqen making an inteasive study of nutrition in England ino Europe. "English food is the best in the world, but it's cooked like the devil," is his unflattering verdiet. "You grow the ilnest beef, mutton, and bacon. Your fruit and vegetables are without compare.. Where else on earth do you see euch magniflcent cabbages, cauliflowers, carrots, parsnips, potatoes and beans? "Yet considering the abundance wilh with which you are blessed and the means at the disposal of your nation, you are the .worst nourished people I know. 1 do not say this in a spirit of

criticism, but as an old doctor who has practised for more than 50 years and who feels he owes a debt to Engi' land. My family come from East Anglia. "The trouble is you feed your eyes rather than your stomachsi You livfi to eat rather than vice-versa. Generally speaking, your foods are cooked wrongly. For instance most of your vegetables are boiled, and in the boiling most of the minerals which Nature has provided for your health are lost. Your palate calls you to make good the defiieiency with salt, and this ofteu leads to over-acidity in the body with a huiidred different evil consequences. "It 'has been proved by medical science that praetically every disease is traceable to phyaical deficiency— measles, goitre, typhoid, whooping cough, and all. "If a 'foreigner' may oflier a suggestion it is that there should be a national campaign in the schools, among mothers, and in the Press to teach the best way of cooking from the health standpoint. "II is propaganda which has made the oeople of the United States the most food-conscious in the world and reduced the national ill-health bill. Your hcspitals, health servicee, arnl . e searcli men are supreme — almost too good, as they are inclined to eoddle the people rather. than to make them selfreliant — but they will only remain palliatives as long as the nutrition prob lem and primary deficiencies are (Win sidered of s-econdary importance. "