George Orwell, in his masterful description of the life of poor British workers in The Road to Wigan Pier, observes: The basis of their diet, therefore, is white bread and Margarine, corned beef, sugared tea, and potato—an appalling diet. Would it not be better if they spent more money on wholesome things like oranges and wholemeal bread, or if they even, like the reader of the New Statesman, saved on fuel and ate their carrots raw? Yes it would, but the point is, no human being would ever do such a thing. The ordinary human being would sooner starve than live on brown bread and raw carrots.
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