Dates as Food

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Nov 10, 1904

Country Life in America records that David G. Fairchild, the agricultural explorer, who has visited the date-producing regions of the Old World, has written an account of his investigations for the Department of Agriculture, with special reference to date culture in America.

“The doctors seem agreed that sweet things in excess are injurious to the digestion, and the dentists claim that sugar ferments between the teeth, forming lactic acid, which attacks the dentine; but, for all this, it is doubtful if there can be found a sounder, stronger race, with better digestion and finer, whiter teeth than the date-eating Arabs. The remarkable physique of the Arabs, and their resistance to the almost unbearable heat of their country might be attributed in part, at least, to the nature of their simple food. At any rate, a thorough investigation of the food value of the date and its adaptability to the formation of food for our hot summer season should be made, and possibly this wonderful vegetable product, which is now used in America only as a second-class confection, might be utilized as a basis of a nutritious new food.” — Philadelphia Ledger.