increase in this allowance.




CHAPTER VII

"SUGAR AND SPICE AND EVERYTHING NICE"


"Do come and taste how nice the burnt pig eats!" So cried the miscreant
son of Hati when his attempt to rescue his father's live-stock from utter
destruction resulted (at least according to Lamb) in adding one more
delicacy to the table of civilized man. That the "burnt pig" commended
itself instantly to the taste of other men is attested by the recklessness
with which they ignited their own houses to secure the new sensation
again.

Not all flavors make an immediate appeal. Many persons can mark the time
when they learned to like olives, or tomatoes, or tea. The taste for some
foods was acquired so early that there is no consciousness of any time
when they were not enjoyed, and the impression prevails that the liking
for such foods is instinctive. Sometimes that is the case, but quite as
often not. Children have to be taught by patient repetition to like most
of the common foods which make the staples of the diet, and likings thus
acquired are as strong as those which seem more natural.

However taste be accounted for, we have to recognize the fact that food is
chosen for flavor more than for ultimate benefit. It is one thing to say
that oatmeal is more nutritious than bread and coffee; it is quite another