The most important food that is missing from the Italian diet in this country is milk. Herds of goats and cows, with their calves, are not driven around our streets from door to door to furnish the' day's supply of milk for a few cents, as is done in some cities of Italy. No great effort was necessary there to have milk ; goats were inexpensive, both in first cost and in their maintenance; cows were always kept on a farm if goats were not, and the more well-to-do often have both. These animals were considered as much a part of the place as the grapevines and fruit trees. In this country it is an effort to get milk, and it has to be planned for. As it is usually considered a drink rather than a food, the food is bought first, then if any money is left, and usually there is not much, it is used for milk. More meat can be had than in the old country, and the ITALIANS 23 Italian enjoys it. Moreover, he feels better satisfied when he has it in larger proportion with his macaroni and olive oil. Whereas it was used only once or twice a week in Italy, now it becomes a part of the daily dietary. The family like vegetables, but to get from them the amount of satisfaction and bulk to which they are accus- tomed would incur too great an expense. Either they leave out both milk and meat and live largely on starches — bread, macaroni, and potatoes — and vegetables, or meat is used at the sacrifice of vegetables and milk. When the health of the family suffers through this great change in diet, one often hears, "My man no like his work; he sick," or "My child, he no good since he came here," always attributing the difficulty to the wrong cause. Eggs are another staple in the diet in Italy which is almost prohibited here because of the high prices, unless the family keep hens. Many of their soups require a large number of eggs, eggless soup being almost unknown to them. These conditions and changes help to indicate the hard problem which the woman in the Italian family has to meet in this country. Doubtless she was unaccustomed to marketing in Italy, and generally has no one who has solved the problem to help her in this coimtry; so she quite naturally follows in the footsteps of others who have known no more than she the way out into a dietary suited to the new needs of her family and to American supplies. The result is that a readjustment takes place without really making any plan for an adequate diet. The raw food materials of the Italian diet, many of which were easily procured from their own farms, when combined in their home country ways furnished a cheap, well-balanced diet. In this country, because of greater 24 FOODS OF THE FOREIGN-BORN cost and more difficulty in securing, the Italians otten have a pooriy-balanced diet and run short in some of the most important food elements. The Italian children are given the adult's diet as soon as they are out of swaddling clothes. The larger the abdomen, the stronger and healthier the mother considers the child. A diet of milk, strained cereal, and fruit juices is unknown to an Italian mother. Too large an amount of macaroni or rice and lard are usually included in the diet^ and often the children suffer from constipation be- cause of this excess of starch, with few vegetables and little fruit. The children learn to take tea and black coffee, and bread without butter, for breakfast. Usually this means a meal of 200 to 250 calories, composed of carbohydrates, instead of one of 500 calories, such as they should have obtained from a combination of protein, carbohydrates, mineral matter, and fats. At noon the meal often con- sists again of bread with a piece of bologna, and more tea or coffee.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

The most important food that is missing from the Italian diet in this country is milk. Herds of goats and cows, with their calves, are not driven around our streets from door to door to furnish the' day's supply of milk for a few cents, as is done in some cities of Italy. No great effort was necessary there to have milk ; goats were inexpensive, both in first cost and in their maintenance; cows were always kept on a farm if goats were not, and the more well-to-do often have both. These animals were considered as much a part of the place as the grapevines and fruit trees. In this country it is an effort to get milk, and it has to be planned for. As it is usually considered a drink rather than a food, the food is bought first, then if any money is left, and usually there is not much, it is used for milk. More meat can be had than in the old country, and the Italian enjoys it. Moreover, he feels better satisfied when he has it in larger proportion with his macaroni and olive oil. Whereas it was used only once or twice a week in Italy, now it becomes a part of the daily dietary. The family like vegetables, but to get from them the amount of satisfaction and bulk to which they are accustomed would incur too great an expense. Either they leave out both milk and meat and live largely on starches — bread, macaroni, and potatoes — and vegetables, or meat is used at the sacrifice of vegetables and milk. When the health of the family suffers through this great change in diet, one often hears, "My man no like his work; he sick," or "My child, he no good since he came here," always attributing the difficulty to the wrong cause. Eggs are another staple in the diet in Italy which is almost prohibited here because of the high prices, unless the family keep hens. Many of their soups require a large number of eggs, eggless soup being almost unknown to them. These conditions and changes help to indicate the hard problem which the woman in the Italian family has to meet in this country. Doubtless she was unaccustomed to marketing in Italy, and generally has no one who has solved the problem to help her in this country; so she quite naturally follows in the footsteps of others who have known no more than she the way out into a dietary suited to the new needs of her family and to American supplies. The result is that a readjustment takes place without really making any plan for an adequate diet. The raw food materials of the Italian diet, many of which were easily procured from their own farms, when combined in their home country ways furnished a cheap, well-balanced diet. In this country, because of greater cost and more difficulty in securing, the Italians often have a poorly-balanced diet and run short in some of the most important food elements. The Italian children are given the adult's diet as soon as they are out of swaddling clothes. The larger the abdomen, the stronger and healthier the mother considers the child. A diet of milk, strained cereal, and fruit juices is unknown to an Italian mother. Too large an amount of macaroni or rice and lard are usually included in the diet, and often the children suffer from constipation because of this excess of starch, with few vegetables and little fruit. The children learn to take tea and black coffee, and bread without butter, for breakfast. Usually this means a meal of 200 to 250 calories, composed of carbohydrates, instead of one of 500 calories, such as they should have obtained from a combination of protein, carbohydrates, mineral matter, and fats. At noon the meal often consists again of bread with a piece of bologna, and more tea or coffee.

Foods of the foreign-born in relation to health