Postwar variations from prewar levels in income, expenditures, and prices have necessitated the reconsideration and re-evaluation of our ideas of consumer demandfor food. The Bureau of Agricultural Economics has been devoting attention to the improvement of food consumption data and analyses, particularly those which are useful in forecasting demand in terms of quantities and prices. This article, prepared under the Agricultural Research and Marketing Act of 1946, analyzes relationships between food expenditures and income, including an appraisal of the static and dynamic forces involved.