In the measure in which civilization advances, exclusive meat diet, as is met with among hunting and pastoral tribes, is partly replaced by vegetable diet. The variety of cultivated plants is a proof of higher civilization. On a given area, moreover, much more nourishment can be obtained by the cultivation of plants than by the breeding of cattle. This development gradually causes the vegetable diet to predominate. The supply of meat from distant countries, especially South America and Australia, will be exhausted in a few decades. On the other hand, animals are raised not only for their flesh, but also for wool, hair, bristles, hides, milk, eggs, etc. Many industries and a number of human needs depend upon it. Much offal in industry and housekeeping could not be more usefully employed than by cattle raising. In the future the ocean, too, will have to yield to man its wealth of animal food in a larger measure. Then it will not occur that loads of fish will be used as manure, owing to the high cost of transportation, or canning, that prevent their sale, as is frequently the case at present. It is quite probable that the abolition of the extremes between city and country, when work in closed shops will be combined with work in the open fields, will again lead to a preponderance of the vegetable diet. Of course the absence of stimulants in a vegetable diet can be equalized by a proper and rational preparation of the food with the aid of spice. But that future society should live on vegetables exclusively is neither probable nor necessary.
[265] That this is the fact has been proven by experiments in nutrition, recently reported by two Italian scientists. The metabolic assimilation of a population that has long since lived on a vegetable diet exclusively, was examined. Such an agricultural population, living in wretched economic conditions, is met with in southern Italy in the Abruzzi. Their nourishment consists of corn, vegetables and olive oil. They do not partake of milk, cheese or eggs. Meat is brought to their tables only three or four times a year. By way of experiment meat was added to their diet. During 15 days every person was given 100 grammes of meat and during the following 15 days 200 grammes. It was found that the process of assimilation became much more favorable. The formerly great loss of nutritious matter was considerably diminished. Not only was the newly added animal albumen perfectly assimilated, but also the vegetable food that was consumed together with the meat had been assimilated far better. This was all the more remarkable because this particular kind of vegetable diet, which consisted almost exclusively of corn, was hard to digest, as it contains much cellular tissue. Dr. A. Lipschuetz, M. D.—“A Reform in our Nutrition?”
[266] A. Lipschuetz.
[267] “The popular nutrition is almost exclusively a vegetable diet with a slight addition of animal substances. Peasants eat generally very little meat. No one will deny that one can live in this manner. As a matter of fact, an exclusive vegetable diet, which can also be given greater diversity by proper selection, is quite compatible with good health. But far different needs are becoming manifest in every continent. The popular simple manner of nutrition is being forsaken for more tasty foods and combinations, and for this meat is essential, because it can be employed in many different ways. Everywhere we perceive this tendency. Like the old, simple customs and national customs disappear, so also are the old forms of nutrition being set aside. This transformation can be observed in all countries. Even in Japan where a peculiar national diet prevailed until recently, European fare has displaced the old regime. In the Japanese navy the new diet was introduced because it proved to be more beneficial to the men in service. The endeavor to establish this concentrated, rich and tasty fare is a general one.” M. Rubner—The Question of Public Nutrition.
[3.—The Communistic Kitchen.]
In the matter of nutrition quality is far more important than quantity. Much food is not beneficial if the food is not good. But quality may be greatly improved by the manner in which food is prepared. The preparation of food should be conducted as scientifically as any other human activity, in order to be as advantageous as possible. This requires knowledge and proper equipment. That our women who are chiefly engaged in the preparation of food do not possess this knowledge and cannot possess it, requires no further proof. The equipment of the large kitchen has already attained a degree of perfection that the best equipped domestic kitchen cannot come up to. The kitchen equipped with electricity for lighting and heating is the ideal one. No more smoke, heat, or disagreeable odors! The kitchen resembles a workshop furnished with all kinds of technical and mechanical appliances that quickly perform the hardest and most disagreeable tasks. Here we see potato and fruit-paring machines, apparatus for removing kernels, meat-choppers, mills for grinding coffee and spice, ice-choppers, corkscrews, bread-cutters, and a hundred other machines and appliances, all run by electricity, that enable a comparatively small number of persons, without excessive labor, to prepare a meal for hundreds of guests. The same is true of the equipments for house-cleaning and for washing the dishes.
To millions of women the private kitchen is an institution that is extravagant in its methods, entailing endless drudgery and waste of time, robbing them of their health and good spirits, and an object of daily worry, especially when the means are scanty, as is the case with most families. The abolition of the private kitchen will come as a liberation to countless women. The private kitchen is as antiquated an institution as the workshop of the small mechanic. Both represent a useless and needless waste of time labor and material.
The nutritive value of food is heightened by its easier assimilation; this is a decisive factor.[268] Only the new society will be able to provide a rational nutrition for all. Cato sets forth with especial praise that in ancient Rome, up to the sixteenth century of the city (200 B. C.), there were men versed in the art of healing, but that they found little occasion to practice their art. The Romans led such simple and temperate lives that sickness was rare among them, and most people died from old age. Only when extravagance and idleness, in short, a dissolute life, set in, on the one hand, and poverty and excessive work on the other, matters were completely changed. In the future, extravagance, idleness and dissoluteness will be impossible, but misery, want and privation will be impossible likewise. There is an abundance for all. Heinrich Heine has sung ere now:
Sufficient grain is grown on earth
With bread all beings to provide,
Roses and myrtles, beauty, mirth,
And sugar-peas are there beside.
Yes, sugar-peas for every one!
When want no longer harrows,
Then heaven gladly shall we leave
To angels and to sparrows.[269]