Note 267 — Chapter XXVII · Free Development of Individuality.

“The popular nutrition is almost exclusively a vegetable diet with a slight addition of animal substances. Peasants eat generally very little meat. No one will deny that one can live in this manner. As a matter of fact, an exclusive vegetable diet, which can also be given greater diversity by proper selection, is quite compatible with good health. But far different needs are becoming manifest in every continent. The popular simple manner of nutrition is being forsaken for more tasty foods and combinations, and for this meat is essential, because it can be employed in many different ways. Everywhere we perceive this tendency. Like the old, simple customs and national customs disappear, so also are the old forms of nutrition being set aside. This transformation can be observed in all countries. Even in Japan where a peculiar national diet prevailed until recently, European fare has displaced the old regime. In the Japanese navy the new diet was introduced because it proved to be more beneficial to the men in service. The endeavor to establish this concentrated, rich and tasty fare is a general one.” M. Rubner—The Question of Public Nutrition.