Their housing conditions are changed—their style of clothing must be changed; many of their social customs, as well as some of their religious ideals, must be given up; the only habit and custom which can be preserved in its entirety is their diet. This is made possible because they find in America, as in no other country, all their native raw food materials.
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-born to adjust themselves to new conditions 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-born 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
