A. Regulation Of Diet With Reference To Economy Of Expenditure

The cost of a meal for an individual or a family is made up of two main factors: the money cost of the raw food materials, and the time and other expense required for preparing and serving the food. In both these directions considerations of* economy seem to have very little weight with the average American family as compared with either sensuous desire or habits that are determined by custom and social demands. Well-to-do Americans extravagantly satisfy epicurean tastes, and their menus, when rationally judged, are seen to be more luxurious and wasteful than almost any other department of family expenditure. Even families of the middle class that, because of moderate means, feel the necessity of practicing rigid economy in dress, house furnishing, education, reading matter, and social life are often extravagant in the purchase of table supplies, though ignorantly so, perhaps. The fact is, we are so accustomed to certain eating habits that we do not realize how unnecessarily expensive they are.