Of all the foods that can be served in place of meat, fish is the one most commonly used. It is more economical for the nation at large to use fish as a food than to use meat, because the food used by the fish is not available for man, whereas the grain fed to animals might be directly used for human food. The United States is far behind European countries in the consumption of fish. Here the average amount used is only eighteen pounds per person per year, whereas the British use fifty-eight pounds and the peoples on the Continent use a hundred pounds. There is plenty available in the United States if only housekeepers would make use of the information concerning new varieties spread by the Bureau of Fisheries and by the different State colleges.

Fish contains practically the same amount of protein material that is found in meat with about the same amount of phosphorus, twice as much calcium, and a third as much iron. It is as easily digested as meat, and has the advantage over meat of being free from the extractives which make red meats stimulating to the nerves.

The actual value of fish as a source of energy depends upon the quantity of fat which it contains. This is a means of classifying fish. We have two Groups of fish large groups, the first of which is the shellfish comprising molluscs, - such as oysters and clams,

- and crustaceans - lobsters, crabs, and shrimps. The members of this entire group are not considered when we speak of fish as a meat substitute because they fall into the class of food luxuries, since their value as food is not proportionate to their cost. The waste is great. For instance, in buying lobster at forty cents a pound, as it is usual to get only half a pound of meat from a pound of lobster, we are actually paying at the rate of eighty cents a pound for what we eat. The second group of fish is the vertebrate; that is, those fish having a bony structure. Here again we have two subdivisions: the first is composed of all of the white fish - cod, haddock, halibut, trout, flounder, smelt, and so forth. These have no fat in their flesh, as it is entirely contained in the liver. The other subdivision is made up of those fish that have fat in the flesh, such as mackerel, salmon, shad, swordfish, and eels. As a source of energy, in consequence, the fish of this second group are equal to an equal weight of meat, whereas those of the first group are slightly inferior.

It is never wise to order fish over the telephone, for fish must be fresh in order to be good, and it is hardly possible to know what fish is the freshest on the market that morning unless we see for ourselves. If we ask for a special kind of fish, the fish dealer would undoubtedly have it, but would take it from his cold-storage room when a fresh shipment of another kind might have just come in. It is possible to tell whether a fish is fresh by its appearance. The flesh should be firm and not easily dented by the finger, the eyes should be full and bright, the fins should be stiff and not flabby. Halibut is opalescent when fresh, and dull and opaque when old.

Buying fish