Foods of the foreign-born in relation to health

All human beings are naturally gifted with more or less ability, when occasion requires, to prepare food for themselves. This aptitude does not necessarily help them to adjust their diet to new conditions. They are willing to learn, but who will teach them? Who knows their food ? How many and which ones shall they continue to use to meet their daily needs and their new financial condition and responsibilities? Where shall they buy them? Even the dishes to cook in are of a different type. Which kind produces the familiar results? There is much that we may learn from these people and, equally much for them to learn from us with profit. If we then study their customs and acquaint ourselves more and more with their foods, we shall not only broaden our own diet by the introduction of new and interesting dishes, but also we shall be better able to help these foreign-bom to adjust themselves to new con- ditions with as few changes as possible. During the influenza epidemic of 1918 it was plainly demonstrated that neither district nurses, settlement workers, nor visiting dietitians knew much about the foods of the foreign-bom patients. Gallons of American soups and broths were served to these people, only to be untouched and thrown out« This came at a time when diet might have meant much in furnishing resistance to the disease. In our hospitals and dispensaries we usually DIETARY BACKGROUNDS 3 find only American foods prescribed for diets. Often it has been said, "They should learn to eat American foods if they are to live here." Whether we all agree with this or not, at least we agree that when a person is ill and needs a special diet, it is no time to teach him to eat new foods. It is like hitting a person when he is down. Our milk soups are nutritious, but so are theirs; why not learn what they are and prescribe them? The same is true of other foods. It is much easier for the dietitian to learn the foods of the foreign-bom than for these people to adjust their finances to a new dietary. Often their income is insuffi- cient to buy their own foods, which they know they like. Can we wonder that they hesitate to invest in food about which they are uncertain? There are certain diseases prevalent among the foreign-born people which are due largely to their change of diet. If this is corrected, it may overcome the disease. A Bohemian family of father, mother, and six chil- dren, who were patients at a dispensary, were living (or staying here) on an income of twelve to sixteen dollars a week. It was necessary to get milk and cereals into the diet of the children, but who, without a knowledge of Bohemian foods, dare disturb that very limited amount of the income which was available for food? An Italian printer earns seventeen dollars a week. In his family are seven children, the oldest a boy of eleven. Barbara, five years old, was very bow-legged, and had to have her legs broken to straighten them. Three younger children were sent to a dispensary food clinic for diet to prevent their being bow-legged. It was necessary to have not less than two and a half quarts of milk added to their food each day. The income was too small to allow 4 FOODS OF THE FOREIGN-BORN for this, SO the man got extra work at night to pay for the milk. This shows that they are willing to go at least halfway in changing diet habits. In the chapters which follow a brief account is given, for several important nationalities or race groups, of the conditions and dietary habits of the people in their own country, and then of their food problems here, with special reference to health. Reference is made to some diseases in which diet is a factor and which are most frequently noted among the group by physicians, nurses, and social workers.