EVERYDAY FOODS IN WAR TIME

by

MARY SWARTZ ROSE

Assistant-Professor, Department of Nutrition, Teachers College, ColumbiaUniversity

New York

1918

 The time has come, the Aggies said, To talk of many things, Of what to eat, of calories, Of cabbages and kings, Of vitamines and sausages, And whether costs have wings. 

 _Journal of Home Economics_, November, 1917. 

PREFACE

 "FOOD IS FUEL FOR FIGHTERS. Do not waste it. Save WHEAT, MEAT, SUGARS AND FATS. Send more to our Soldiers, Sailors and Allies. "

The patriotic housewife finds her little domestic boat sailing inuncharted waters. The above message of the Food Administration disturbsher ordinary household routine, upsets her menus and puts her recipes outof commission. It also renders inoperative some of her usual methods ofeconomy at a time when rising food prices make economy more imperativethan ever. To be patriotic and still live on one's income is a complexproblem. This little book was started in response to a request for "a warmessage about food. " It seemed to the author that a simple explanation ofthe part which some of our common foods play in our diet might be bothhelpful and reassuring. To change one's menu is often trying; to beuncertain whether the substituted foods will preserve one's health andstrength makes adjustment doubly difficult. It is hoped that the briefchapters which follow will make it easier to "save wheat, meat, sugars andfats" and to make out an acceptable bill of fare without excessive cost. 

Thanks are due to the Webb Publishing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota, forpermission to reprint three of the chapters, which appeared originally in_The Farmer's Wife_. 

TEACHERS COLLEGE, Columbia University, New York City. 

December 1, 1917. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 CHAPTER

 I. THE MILK PITCHER IN THE HOME

 II. CEREALS WE OUGHT TO EAT

 III. THE MEAT WE OUGHT TO SAVE

 IV. THE POTATO AND ITS SUBSTITUTES

 V. ARE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES LUXURIES?

 VI. FAT AND VITAMINES

 VII. "SUGAR AND SPICE AND EVERYTHING NICE"

 VIII. ON BEING ECONOMICAL AND PATRIOTIC AT THE SAME TIME

 APPENDIX--SOME WAR TIME RECIPES

EVERYDAY FOODS IN WAR TIME

CHAPTER I

THE MILK PITCHER IN THE HOME

 (Reprinted from _The Farmer's Wife_, by permission of the Webb Publishing Company. )

There is a quaint old fairy tale of a friendly pitcher that came and tookup its abode in the home of an aged couple, supplying them from its magicdepths with food and drink and many other comforts. Of this tale one isreminded in considering the place of the milk pitcher in the home. Howmany housewives recognize the bit of crockery sitting quietly on the shelfas one of their very best friends? How many know that it will cover manyof their mistakes in the choice of food for their families? That itcontains mysterious substances upon which growth depends? That it standsready to save them both work and worry in regard to food? That it isreally the only indispensable article on the bill of fare?

Diet is like a house, a definite thing, though built of different kinds ofmaterial. For a house we need wall material, floor material, window, ceiling, chimney stuffs and so forth. We may, if we like, make floors, walls, and ceilings all of the same kind of stuff, wood for example, butwe should need glass for windows and bricks or tile for chimneys. Or, again, we may choose brick for walls, floors, and chimneys but it wouldnot do any better than wood for windows, would be rather unsatisfactoryfor ceilings, and impossible for doors. In other words, we could not builda modern house from one kind of material only and we really need at leastfour to carry out even a simple plan. 

In a similar fashion, diet is constructed from fuel material, body-building material and body-regulating material. No diet is perfect inwhich these are not all represented. Now, foods are like sections ofhouses. Some correspond to single parts, as a floor or a window or perhapsa chimney; others to a house complete except for windows and roof; stillothers to a house lacking only a door or two. It takes some thought to putthem together so that we shall have all kinds of parts without a greatmany extra ones of certain kinds and not enough of others. 

Milk is unique in that it comes nearest of all foods to being a completediet in itself. It is like the house with only a door missing. We could bequite comfortable in such a house for a long time though we could make amore complete diet by adding some graham bread or an apple or somespinach. 

We all associate milk with cows and cows with farms, but how closely ismilk associated with the farm table? Is it prized as the most valuablefood which the farm produces? Every drop should be used as food; and thisapplies to skim milk, sour milk, and buttermilk as well as sweet milk. Dowe all use milk to the best advantage in the diet? Here are a few pointswhich it is well to bear in mind:

_Milk will take the place of meat. _ The world is facing a meat famine. Thefamine was on the way before the war began but it has approached withtremendous speed this last year. Every cow killed and eaten means not onlyso much less meat available but so much less of an adequate substitute. Lean meat contributes to the diet chiefly protein and iron. We eat itprimarily for the protein. Hence in comparing meat and milk we think firstof their protein content. One and one-fourth cups of milk will supply asmuch protein as two ounces of lean beef. The protein of milk is largelythe part which makes cottage cheese. So cottage cheese is a good meatsubstitute and a practical way of using part of the skim milk when thecream is taken off for butter. One and one-half ounces of cottage cheese(one-fourth cup) are the protein equivalent of two ounces of lean beef. Skim milk and buttermilk are just as good substitutes for meat as wholemilk. Since meat is one of the most expensive items in the food bill, itsreplacement by milk is a very great financial economy. This is true evenif the meat is raised on the farm, as food for cattle is used much moreeconomically in the production of milk than of beef. 

_Milk is the greatest source of calcium (lime). _ Lime is one of thecomponents of food that serves two purposes; it is both building materialfor bones and regulating material for the body as a whole, helping inseveral important ways to maintain good health. It is essential thateveryone have a supply of lime and particularly important that all growinginfants, children, and young people have plenty for construction of bonesand teeth. There is almost none in meat and bread, none in common fats andsugars, and comparatively few common foods can be taken alone and digestedin large enough quantities to insure an adequate supply; whereas a pint ofmilk (whole, skim, or buttermilk) will guarantee to a grown person asufficient amount, and a quart a day will provide for the greater needs ofgrowing children. Whatever other foods we have, we cannot afford toleave milk out of the diet because of its lime. Under the most favorabledietary conditions, when the diet is liberal and varied, an adult shouldhave _at least_ half a pint of milk a day and no child should beexpected to thrive with less than a pint. 

_Milk contains a most varied assortment of materials needed in smallamounts_ for the body welfare, partly for constructive and partly forregulating purposes. These are rather irregularly distributed in otherkinds of food materials. When eggs, vegetables, and cereals are freelyused, we are not likely to suffer any lack; but when war conditions limitthe number of foods which we can get, it is well to remember that the morelimited the variety of foods in the diet the more important milk becomes. 

_Milk will take the place of bread, butter, sugar, and other foods usedchiefly for fuel. _ The body is an engine which must be stoked regularly inorder to work. The more work done the more fuel needed. That is what wemean when we talk about the food giving "working strength. " A farmer andhis wife and usually all the family need much fuel because they do muchphysical work. Even people whose work is physically light requireconsiderable fuel. A quart of milk will give as much working force as halfa pound of bread, one-fourth of a pound of butter, or six ounces of sugar. And this is in addition to the other advantages already mentioned. 

_Milk contains specifics for growth. _ Experiments with animals have taughtus that there are two specific substances, known as vitamines, which mustbe present in the diet if a young animal is to grow. If either one isabsent, growth is impossible. Both are to be found in milk, one in thecream and the other in the skim milk or whey. For this reason childrenshould have whole milk rather than skim milk. Of course, butter and skimmilk should produce the same result as whole milk. Eggs also have theserequisites and can be used to supplement milk for either one, but as arule it is more practical to depend upon milk, and usually moreeconomical. 

For little children, milk is best served as a beverage. But as childrengrow up, the fluidity of milk makes them feel as if it were not foodenough and it is generally better to use it freely in the kitchen first, and then, if there is any surplus, put it on the table as a beverage orserve it thus to those who need an extra supply--the half-grown boys, forinstance, who need more food in a day than even a hard-working farmer. 

A good plan is to set aside definitely, as a day's supply, a quart apiecefor each person under sixteen and a pint apiece for each one over thisage. Then see at night how well one has succeeded in disposing of it. Ifthere is much left, one should consider ways of using it to advantage. Thetwo simplest probably are, first, as cream sauce for vegetables of allsorts; for macaroni or hominy with or without cheese; or for hard cookedeggs or left-over meats; and next in puddings baked a long time in theoven so that much of the water in the milk is evaporated. Such puddingsare easy to prepare on almost any scale and are invaluable for personswith big appetites because they are concentrated without beingunwholesome. 

The milk pitcher and the vegetable garden are the best friends of thewoman wishing to set a wholesome and economical table. Vegetablessupplement milk almost ideally, since they contain the vegetable fiberwhich helps to guard against constipation, and the iron which is thelacking door in the "house that milk built. "

Vegetables which are not perfect enough to serve uncooked, like the brokenleaves of lettuce and the green and tough parts of celery, are excellentcooked and served with a cream sauce. Cream sauce makes it possible alsoto cook enough of a vegetable for two days at once, sending it to thetable simply dressed in its own juices or a little butter the first timeand making a scalloped dish with cream sauce and crumbs the next day. Vegetables which do not lend themselves to this treatment can be made intocream soups, which are excellent as the hot dish for supper, because theycan be prepared in the morning and merely reheated at serving time. 

Finally, the addition of milk in liberal quantities to tea and coffee(used of course only by adults); its use without dilution with water incocoa; and instead of water in bread when that is made at home, ought toenable a housewife to dispose satisfactorily of her day's quota of milk. If it should accumulate, it can be dispatched with considerable rapidityin the form of ice cream or milk sherbet. When there is much skim milk, the latter is a most excellent way of making it popular, various fruits intheir seasons being used for flavor, as strawberries, raspberries, andpeaches, with lemons to fall back on when no native fruit is at hand. 

The world needs milk today as badly as wheat. All that we can possiblyspare is needed in Europe for starving little ones. In any shortage theslogan must be "children first. " But in any limited diet milk is such asafeguard that we should bend our energies to saving it from waste andproducing more, rather than learning to do without it. Skim milk fromcreameries is too valuable to be thrown away. Everyone should be on thealert to condemn any use of milk except as food and to encouragecondensation and drying of skim milk to be used as a substitute for freshmilk. 

When the milk pitcher is allowed to work its magic for the human race, weshall have citizens of better physique than the records of our recruitingstations show today. Even when the family table is deprived of itsfamiliar wheat bread and meat, we may be strong if we invoke the aid ofthis friendly magician. 

CHAPTER II

CEREALS WE OUGHT TO EAT

 (Reprinted from _The Farmer's Wife_, by permission of the Webb Publishing Company. )

"Save wheat!" This great slogan of our national food campaign has beenechoed and reëchoed for six months, but do we yet realize that it meansUS? We have had, hitherto, a great deal of wheat in our diet. Fullyone-third of our calories have come from wheat flour. To ask us to dowithout wheat is to shake the very foundation of our daily living. Howshall we be able to do without it? What shall we substitute for it? Theseare questions which every housewife must ask and answer before she cantake her place in the Amazon Army of Food Conservers. 

Is it not strange that out of half a dozen different grains cultivated forhuman consumption, the demand should concentrate upon wheat? One mightalmost say that the progress of civilization is marked by raised bread. And wheat has, beyond all other grains, the unique properties that makepossible a light, porous yet somewhat tenacious loaf. We like the taste ofit, mild but sweet; the feel of it, soft yet firm; the comfort of it, almost perfect digestion of every particle. We have been brought up on itand it is a hardship to change our food habits. It takes courage andresolution. It takes visions of our soldiers crossing the seas to defendus from the greedy eye of militarism and thereby deprived of so manythings which we still enjoy. Shall we hold back from them the "staff oflife" which they need so much more than we?

Can we live without wheat? Certainly, and live well. We must recognize thescientific fact that no one food (with the exception of milk) isindispensable. There are four letters in the food alphabet: _A_, fuel forthe body machine; _B_, protein for the upkeep of the machinery; _C_, mineral salts, partly for upkeep and partly for lubrication--to make allparts work smoothly together; _D_, vitamines, subtle and elusivesubstances upon whose presence depends the successful use by the body ofall the others. These four letters, rightly combined, spell health. Theyare variously distributed in food materials. Sometimes all are found inone food (milk for example), sometimes only one (as in sugar), sometimestwo or three. The amounts also vary in the different foods. To build up acomplete diet we have to know how many of these items are present in agiven food and also how much of each is there. 

Now, cereals are much alike in what they contribute to the diet. Incomparing them we are apt to emphasize their differences, much as we do incomparing two men. One man may be a little taller, a little heavier, havea different tilt to his nose, but any two men are more alike than a manand a dog. So corn has a little less protein than wheat and considerablyless lime, yet corn and wheat are, nutritionally, more alike than eitheris like sugar. 

None of the cereals will make a complete diet by itself. If we take whitebread as the foundation, we must add to it something containing lime, suchas milk or cheese; something containing iron, such as spinach, egg yolk, meat, or other iron-rich food; something containing vitamines, such asgreens or other vitamine-rich food; something to reënforce the proteins, as milk, eggs, meat, or nuts. It is not possible to make a perfect dietwith only one other kind of food besides white bread. It can be done withthree: bread, milk, and spinach, for example. 

If we substitute whole wheat for white bread, we can make a complete dietwith two foods--this and milk. We get from the bran and the germ what inthe other case we got from the spinach. _All the cereals can beeffectively supplemented by milk and green vegetables. _ If greenvegetables (or substitutes for them like dried peas and beans or fruit)are hard to get we should give preference to cereals from which the brancoats have not been removed, such as oatmeal and whole wheat. Then thediet will not be deficient in iron, which is not supplied in large enoughamounts from white bread and milk. Oatmeal is the richest in iron of allthe cereals. 

With such knowledge, we may alter our diet very greatly without danger ofundernutrition. But we must learn to cook other cereals at least as wellas we do wheat. Without proper cooking they are unpalatable andunwholesome, and they are not so easy to cook as wheat. They take a longertime and we cannot get the same culinary effects, since with the exceptionof rye they will not make a light loaf. Fortunately we are not asked todeny ourselves wheat entirely, only to substitute other cereals for partof it. Let each housewife resolve when next she buys flour to buy at thesame time one-fourth as much of some other grain, finely ground, rye, corn, barley, according to preference, and mix the two thoroughly at once. Then she will be sure not to forget to carry out her good intentions. Bread made of such a mixture will be light and tender, and anything thatcannot be made with it had better be dispensed with in these times. 

Besides the saving of wheat for our country's sake, we shall do well toeconomize in it for our own. Compared with other cereals, wheat isexpensive. We can get more food, in every sense of the word, from half apound of oatmeal than we can from a twelve-ounce loaf of white bread, andthe oatmeal will not cost one-half as much as the bread. A loaf of Bostonbrown bread made with one cupful each of cornmeal, oatmeal (finelyground), rye flour, molasses, and skim milk will have two and one-halftimes the food value of a twelve-ounce loaf of white bread and will costlittle more. One-half pound of cornmeal, supplemented by a half pint ofmilk, will furnish more of everything needed by the body than such atwelve-ounce loaf, usually at less cost. 

It pays at all times to use cereals in other forms than bread, for bothhealth and economy. Does your family eat cereal for breakfast? A dish ofoatmeal made from one-fourth cupful of the dry cereal will take the placeof two slices of white bread, each about half an inch thick and threeinches square, and give us iron besides. Served with milk, it will make awell-balanced meal. When we add a little fruit to give zest and some crispcorn bread to contrast with the soft mush, we have a meal in which we maytake a just pride, _provided the oatmeal is properly cooked_. 

A good dish of oatmeal is as creditable a product as a good loaf of bread. It cannot be made without taking pains to get the right proportions ofmeal, water, and salt, and to cook thoroughly, which means at least fourhours in a double boiler, over night in a fireless cooker, or half an hourat twenty pounds in a pressure cooker. Half-cooked oatmeal is mostunwholesome, as well as unpalatable. It is part of our patriotic duty notto give so useful a food a bad reputation. 

The man who does hard physical labor, especially in the open air, maycomplain that the oatmeal breakfast does not "stay by" him. This isbecause it digests rapidly. What he needs is a little fat stirred into themush before it is sent to the table, or butter as well as milk and sugarserved with it. If one must economize, the cereal breakfast should alwaysbe the rule. It is impossible in any other way to provide for a familyadequately on a small sum, especially where there are growing children. 

Next to oatmeal, hominy is one of the cheapest breakfast foods. It hasless flavor and is improved by the addition of a few dates cut intoquarters or some small stewed seedless raisins, which also add the ironwhich hominy lacks. For the adults of the family the staying qualities ofhominy and cornmeal can be increased by cutting the molded mush in slicesand frying till a crisp crust is formed. This can be obtained more easilyif the cereals are cooked in a mixture of milk and water instead of wateralone. The milk supplements the cereal as acceptably as in a dish of mushand milk. Cornmeal needs even more cooking than oatmeal to develop anagreeable flavor. It can be improved by the addition of an equal amount offarina or cream of wheat. 

Cereals for dinner are acceptable substitutes for such vegetables aspotatoes, both for economy and for variety. The whole grains, rice, barley, and hominy, lend themselves best to such use. Try a dish ofcreamed salmon with a border of barley; one of hominy surrounded by friedapples; or a bowl of rice heaped with bananas baked to a turn and removedfrom their skins just before serving, and be glad that the war has stirredyou out of food ruts!

Cereals combined with milk make most wholesome puddings, each almost awell-balanced meal in itself. They are easier to make than pies, shortcakes, and other desserts which require wheat flour, and they aresplendid growing food for boys and girls. 

For the hard-working man who misses the slowly-digesting pie, serve thepuddings with a hard sauce or add a little butter when making them. Forthe growing children, raisins, dates, and other fruits are welcomeadditions on account of their iron. From half a cupful to a cupful ofalmost any cereal pudding made with milk is the equivalent of an ordinaryserving of pie. 

Aside from the avoidance of actual waste of food materials, there seems tobe no one service so imperative for housewives to render in these criticaltimes as the mastery of the art of using cereals. These must be made tosave not only wheat but meat, and for most of us also money. 

A wholesome and yet economical diet may be built upon a plan wherein wefind for an average working man fourteen ounces of cereal food and onepint of milk, from two to four ounces of meat or a good meat substitute, two ounces of fat, three ounces of sugar or other sweeteners, at least onekind of fruit, and one kind of vegetable besides potatoes (more if one hasa garden). 

The cereal may furnish half the fuel value of the diet, partlybread-stuffs and partly in some of the other ways as suggested, withoutany danger of undernutrition. Remember the fable of the farmer who toldhis sons he had left them a fortune and bade them dig on his farm for itafter his death, and how they found wealth not as buried treasure butthrough thorough tillage of the soil. So one might leave a message towoman to look in the cereal pot, for there is a key to health and wealth, and a weapon to win the greatest war the world has ever seen. 

CHAPTER III

THE MEAT WE OUGHT TO SAVE

"Do not buy a pound of meat until you have bought three quarts of milk" isa "war sign" pointing two ways. On the one hand it tells us that we needto save meat; on the other, that we should encourage the production ofthat most indispensable food--milk. 

But what a revolution in some households if this advice is heeded!Statisticians tell us that Americans have been consuming meat at the rateof 171 pounds per capita per year, which means nearly half a pound apieceevery day for each man, woman, child, and infant in arms. Now, as mereinfants and some older folk have not had any, it follows that many of ushave had a great deal more. Did we need it? Shall we be worse off withoutit? Meat is undeniably popular. In spite of the rising price and thepatriotic spirit of conservation, meat consumption goes on in manyquarters at much the usual rate. There is probably no other one food sogenerally liked. It has a decided and agreeable flavor, a satisfactory"chew, " and leaves an after-sense of being well fed that many take as thesign of whether they are well nourished or not. It digests well, even wheneaten rapidly, and perhaps partly for this reason is favored by thehurried man of affairs. It is easy to prepare and hence is appreciated bythe cook, who knows that even with unskillful treatment it will beacceptable and require few accessories to make an agreeable meal. Its richflavor helps to relieve the flatness of foods like rice, hominy, beans, orbread. From this point of view there is no such thing as a "meatsubstitute. "

But, nutritionally speaking, meat is only one of many; undeniably a goodsource of protein, but no better than milk or eggs. A lamb chop is a verynice item on a bill of fare, but the protein it contains can be securedjust as well from one large egg, or two level tablespoonfuls of peanutbutter, or one and one-fourth ounces of cheese; or a part of the time froma quarter of a cup of dried navy beans or a little less of dried splitpeas. 

Meat is highly regarded as a source of iron; but, again, it has nomonopoly of this important building-stone in the house of diet. The eggs, or peas, or half the beans mentioned above would any one of them furnishmore iron than the lamb chop, while a quarter of a cup of cooked spinachor a small dish of string beans would furnish quite as much. Besides greenvegetables, fruit, and the yolk of egg, cereals are a not inconsiderablesource of iron. A man would have adequate nourishment for a day, includinga sufficient supply of iron, if he were doing only moderate physicallabor, from one pint of milk, one and one-half pounds of whole wheatbread, and three medium-sized apples. Beef juice is often used as a sourceof iron for children and undoubtedly it is one which is palatable anddigestible, but it takes a quarter of a pound of beef to get a fewtablespoonfuls of juice, and a tablespoonful of juice would hardly containas much iron as one egg yolk; and it seems probable that the iron of theegg yolk would be better utilized for the making of good red blood. 

Meat is good fuel for the human machine if used in moderate amounts alongwith other food. But meat is no better fuel than other food. An ordinarylamb chop will furnish no more calories than a dish of oatmeal, a piece ofbread an inch thick and three inches square, a large apple or banana, anegg, five ounces (five-eighths of a cup) of milk, or a tablespoonful ofpeanut butter. The fatter meat is the higher its fuel value (providing thefat is used for food). A tablespoonful of bacon fat or beef drippings hasthe same fuel value as a tablespoonful of butter or lard, or as the lambchop mentioned above. The man who insists that he has to have meat forworking strength judges by how he feels after a meal and not by thescientific facts. While in the long run appetite serves as a measure offood requirement, we can find plenty of instances where it does not make aperfect measure. Some people have too large appetites for their body needsand get too fat from sheer surplus of fuel stored in the body for futureneeds as fat. If such people have three good meals a day all the time, there never is any future need and the fat stays. Other people have toosmall appetites for their needs and they never seem to get a surplus offuel on hand. They live, as it were, from hand to mouth. Anyone accustomedto eating meat will have an unsatisfied feeling at first after a mealwithout meat. The same is true of other highly flavored foods. It is wellfor the cook to bear this in mind and serve a few rather highly seasoneddishes when there is no meat on the bill of fare. A very sweet dessertwill often satisfy this peculiar sensation, and it can be allayed, atleast in part, by the drinking of water some little time after the meal. Such a sensation will pass away when one becomes accustomed to the changein diet. It is probably due to certain highly flavored substancesdissolved in the meat juices which are known to be excellent stimulants tothe flow of gastric juice and which are stimulating in other ways. Thesehave no food value in themselves, but, nevertheless, we prize meat forthem, as is shown by the distaste we have for meat which has its juicesremoved. "Soup meat" has always been a problem for the housewife--hard tomake palatable--and yet the greater part of the nourishment of meat isleft in the meat itself after soup is made from it. 

Let us frankly recognize then that we eat meat because we like it--for itsflavor and texture rather than any peculiar nourishing properties--andthat it is only our patriotic self-denial or force of economiccircumstances that induces us to forgo our accustomed amounts of a foodwhich is pleasant and (in moderation) wholesome. We must save meat thatthe babies of the world may have milk to drink. Nowhere in Europe is thereenough milk for babies today. A conservative request for one European cityalone was a shipment of one million pounds of condensed milk per month! Ifcattle are killed for food there will be little milk to send and thebabies will perish. We must save meat for our soldiers and sailors, because they need it more than we do. It is not only easily transported, but one of the few things to give zest to their necessarily limited fare. Fresh fruits and green vegetables, which may serve us as appetizers, arenot to be found on the war fields. Dainty concoctions from cheese and nutsmay provide for us flavor as well as nutriment, but meat is thealternative to the dull monotony of bread and beans for the soldier--thetonic of appetite, the stimulant to good digestion. We can scarcely sendhim anything to take its place. 

We must save meat, too, as a general food economy. Meat is produced at theexpense of grain, which we might eat ourselves. And the production of meatis a very wasteful process. Grains have a fuel value for man approximating1, 600 calories per pound. A pound of meat in the form of beef will requirethe consumption by the animal of some fourteen pounds of grain. The poundof beef will furnish perhaps 1, 200 calories, while the grain consumed willrepresent over 20, 000 calories. The production of milk from grain is onlyabout one-third as expensive, so the purchase of three quarts of milk toone pound of meat is an economy in more ways than one. 

Saving for the rest of the world will not be without some physicaladvantage to ourselves, if we have been accustomed to indulge in meatfreely. Among the well-to-do meat eating is apt to be overdone to theextent of affecting the kidneys and the arteries, and some enforcedrestriction would be a real advantage to health, as has been demonstratedin other than war times. Because a food is good is no reason for unlimitedquantities; an ounce of sugar a day is wholesome--a pound is likely toresult in both indigestion and a badly balanced diet. A quarter of a poundof meat a day is not undesirable for an adult, but a pound a day mayresult in general overeating or in the special ills which are relateddirectly to a large quantity of meat. One of these is an upsetting of aproper balance of food elements in the diet. Diets high in meat are apt tobe low in milk and consequently low in calcium. If the income is limitedthis is almost sure to be the case, since there will not be enough moneyto provide meat freely and at the same time satisfy other nutritiverequirements. Such diets are also likely to be low in fuel value and notprovide enough working force even while men are declaring that they musthave meat to give them strength. They would have more strength and abetter diet from every point of view if part of the meat money were spentfor milk. So the injunction to buy three quarts of milk to one pound ofmeat is a good rule for securing a well balanced and ample diet at thelowest cost. 

Another good rule is to spend no more for meat, fish, and eggs than formilk, and as much for fruits and vegetables as for meat, fish, and eggs. Families very commonly spend as much as one-third of the food money formeat; and, while they may secure a full third of their protein, iron, andphosphorus in this way, they may not get more than a sixth of their fueland almost no calcium. Three quarts of milk at fourteen cents a quart willyield about 2, 000 calories. For an expenditure of forty-two cents for beefas free from waste as milk, we would pay perhaps thirty-two cents perpound. A pound and a quarter of lean beef would yield about 1, 000calories. So as fuel alone the milk would be twice as cheap as the meat. Three quarts of milk would yield almost if not quite as much protein asthe meat and a liberal supply of calcium to offset the iron furnished bythe meat. Everything considered, then, milk is a better investment thanmeat. The same is true of some of the other foods which supply protein inthe diet such as dry peas and beans; cheese and peanut butter are at leasttwice as valuable nutritionally as beef. The domestic problem is to makepalatable dishes from these foods. This requires time and patience. Thecook must not get discouraged if the first trial does not bring markedsuccess. The rest of the family should count it their "bit" to eatvaliantly until they can eat joyfully. 

CHAPTER IV

THE POTATO AND ITS SUBSTITUTES

Never did it seem truer that "blessings brighten as they take theirflight" than when the potato went off the market or soaring prices put itout of reach in the winter of 1917. "How shall I plan my meals withoutit?" was the housewife's cry. "How shall I enjoy my meals without it?"said all the millions of potato eaters who immediately forgot that therewas still a large number of foods from which they might extract somemodicum of enjoyment. 

And so the Nutrition Expert was asked to talk about "potato substitutes"and expected to exercise some necromancy whereby that which was not apotato might become a potato. Now, the Nutrition Expert was veryimperturbable--not at all disturbed by the calamity which had befallen ourtables. That unfeeling person saw potatoes, not in terms of their hotmealiness and spicy mildness, but in terms of that elusive thing called"DIET. " The vanishing tuber was bidden to answer the dietary roll-call:

 "Proteins?" "Here!" Answer somewhat faint but suggesting remarkable worth. 

 "Fats?" No answer. 

 "Carbohydrates?" Loud note from "Starch. "

 "Mineral salts?" "Here!" From a regular chorus, among which "Potassium" and "Iron" easily distinguishable. 

 "Vitamines and "Here! Here!" Especially vociferous, the Other Accessories?" "Anti-Scorbutic Property. "

"This is a good showing for any single food material. The potato, as trulyas bread, may be called a 'staff of life. ' Men have lived in health uponit for many months without any other food save oleomargarine. Its protein, though small in amount, is most efficient in body-building, its salts arevaried in kind and liberal in amount, and it furnishes a large amount ofvery easily digested fuel besides. It is at its best when cooked in thesimplest possible way--baked or boiled in its skin. Nevertheless we arenot absolutely dependent upon the potato. "

"Alas, " said the housewife, "this doesn't tell me what to cook fordinner!" "Patience, Madam, we shall see about that. " The fact that starchis present is what makes the potato seem so substantial. But bread, rice, hominy, in fact, all cereal foods can supply starch just as well. Pick outthe one you fancy and serve it for your dinner. One good-sized roll or atwo-inch cube of corn bread, or three-fourths of a cup of boiled rice willsustain you just as well as a medium-sized potato. A banana, baked orfried, makes an excellent substitute for a potato. An apple is also a verypalatable potato equivalent, if you want something more spicy than hominyor corn bread. Why mourn over the lost potato?

But how about those mineral salts? Well, the potato has no monopoly onthose, either, though it is ordinarily a very valuable contributor. Milkhas already been mentioned as one of the great safeguarding sources ofso-called ash constituents. Others are vegetables and fruits of differentkinds. These have been a neglected and sometimes a despised part of thediet: "Why spend money for that which is not meat?" is often takenliterally. Even food specialists have been known to say, "Fruits andvegetables are mostly water and indigestible fiber; they have little foodvalue. " This is a good deal like saying, "If your coat be long enough youdo not need a pair of shoes. " A potato has as much iron as an egg yolk ora medium-sized chop. This is one more reason why we should be sorry totake the useful tuber from our tables, but we may feel a certainindependence, even when meat and eggs are prohibitive in price, since bycanning or drying, if in no other way, we can have green vegetables as asource of iron the whole year through. Some people are afraid that cannedvegetables will prove unwholesome; but if removed from the can as soon asopened and heated to boiling before they are eaten, we are recentlyassured that the danger of food poisoning will be materially lessened. Even when such vegetables are wanted for salads, boiling and subsequentcooling are advised. The mineral salts of vegetables dissolve into thewater in which they stand, and in any shortage of such food, or for thegreatest economy, it would seem wise to save the water in the can, whichis often thrown away to secure a more delicate flavor. Water from thecooking of fresh vegetables which are not protected by skins (among themspinach, peas, carrots, and asparagus), can often be reduced to a smallamount by steaming instead of boiling the vegetable, or any drained offcan be used in gravy, soup, sauce, or some similar fashion. The strongflavor of some vegetables, however, makes such economy rather impractical. 

Some people discriminate against canned and dried vegetables because theydo not taste like fresh ones. This seems rather unreasonable, as we want avariety of flavors in our diet and might welcome the change which comesfrom this way of treating food as well as that which comes from differentmethods of cooking. Nobody expects a stew to taste like a roast, and yetboth may be good and we would not want either one all the time. Instead ofregretting that canned peas do not taste like those fresh from the garden(incomparable ones!) let us be glad that they taste as good as they do. Would we like them any better if they tasted like cornmeal mush?

While a potato has about as much phosphorus as an egg yolk, substitutesfor it in this respect are not hard to find. Five tablespoonfuls of milkor half an ounce of cheese will easily supply as much, while half a cup ofcooked string beans will provide all the iron as well as half thephosphorus in a potato, and a teaspoon of butter or other fat added to thebeans will make them equal in fuel value. On the other hand, two smallslices of whole wheat bread would furnish all the phosphorus, half theiron, and an equal amount of fuel. 

The potato is conspicuously high in potassium, but it is not likely thatin any diet containing one kind of fruit and one kind of vegetable eachday there will be any permanent shortage of this substance. Spinach, celery, parsnips, lettuce, cabbage, rutabagas, beets, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, and turnips are all good sources of potassium and some of themare available all the year round without canning and drying. 

But what significance has the "Anti-Scorbutic Property"? Does that notmake potatoes indispensable? Scurvy, Madam, occurs whenever people livefor a long time on a monotonous diet without fresh food. The potato offersgood protection against this disease at a low cost, but other foods havelong been known to possess the same power, among them oranges, lemons, limes, and other fruits, and cabbage and other green vegetables; in fact, a mixed diet in which fruits and vegetables occur is assurance of freedomfrom scurvy. Just how far the potato will go in providing the specificvitamines essential for growth is still unsettled. It undoubtedly containsone of them in goodly amount, but for the present it is wise to includesome green (leaf) vegetable in the diet even when potatoes are plentiful, especially if butter, milk, and eggs cannot be freely used. 

Nutritionally then, we can find substitutes for the potato; practically, too, we can find quite satisfactory alternatives for it in ourconventional bills of fare. On the face of things the potato is a blandmealy food which blends well with the high flavor and the firm texture ofmeat and the softness of many other cooked vegetables. Gastronomically, rice or hominy comes about as near to having the same qualities, with hotbread, macaroni, sweet potatoes, and baked bananas (underripe so as not tobe too juicy and sweet) close rivals. These are not so easy to cook andserve as the potato and are not likely to supplant it when it isplentiful. It might be worth while, however, to substitute these forpotatoes rather often. The latter will be appreciated all the more if notserved every day in the week, or at least not more than once a day. Wemight extend the fashion of baked beans and brown bread to roast pork withrice, ham with baked bananas, roast beef with hominy, and broiled steakwith macaroni. Why not? You, Madam Housewife, are always sighing forvariety, but does it never occur to you that the greatest secret ofvariety lies in new combinations?

CHAPTER V

ARE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES LUXURIES?

In the house of diet fruits and vegetables may be likened to windows anddoors, fire-places and chimneys; we could dispense with them, we couldboard up our windows and make a fire on a big stone in the middle of theroom, letting the smoke escape through a hole in the roof, but such acourse would not mean comfort year in and year out. So we may existwithout fruits and vegetables, but it is worth while to stop and considerwhat we gain by their use. 

We shall have to admit at the outset that if we have to spend money orlabor for them, fruits and vegetables are not the cheapest source of fuelfor the human machine. Some of them are cheaper fuel than butter, eggs, ormeat, but not as cheap as cereals, sugar, molasses, syrups, and some ofour cheapest fats. This is true of potatoes, parsnips, carrots, dried peasand beans, and such fruits as bananas, prunes, raisins, dates, figs, andpossibly a few other dried fruits, but we cannot justify our investment inmost fruits and vegetables solely on the plea that they are "filling" inthe sense of being of high fuel value; on this ground lettuce, celery, cabbage, tomatoes, lemons, rhubarb, cranberries, and many others wouldfind no place in our domestic economy. 

Remembering that man does not live by fuel alone, we may find amplereasons for spending some of our food money upon things which at firstthought seem to give an inadequate return. There is an old adage, "Anapple a day keeps the doctor away, " which if true means that the apple isa real economy, a kind of health insurance, for an apple costs seldom overfive cents--often only one--and a doctor's visit may easily cost a hundredtimes as much. There is a certain amount of truth in the saying, thoughthe apple does not have a monopoly of the supposed virtue. It is moreaccurate, if less poetic, to say that an _assortment_ of fruits andvegetables helps to keep us in good health. Before the days of modern"cold pack" canning, mothers used to assemble their little home groups inthe spring and, in spite of sundry hidings under tables on the part ofreluctant Johnnies and Susies, dutifully portion out herb tea or sulphurin molasses. Spring cleaning could never stop short of "cleansing theblood!" And after a monotonous winter of salt pork and fried potatoes nodoubt heroic measures were necessary to make up for an ill-chosen diet. Nowadays we recognize no such seasonal need. We carry our surplus offruits and vegetables over from summer to winter and profit not only inthe greater daily pleasure of our tables but in clearer skins, brightereyes, and less "spring fever. "

How do fruits and vegetables help to keep us well? In the first place, bytheir wholesome effect upon the bowels. As a rule we associate regulardaily movements with health, but do not always recognize the part whichdiet plays in securing them. If we eat little besides meat and potatoes, bread, butter, and cake or pie, we are very likely to have constipation. This is particularly true for those who work indoors or sit much of thetime. Now, fruits and vegetables have several properties which help tomake them laxative. Many have considerable woody fiber. In celery andasparagus we find it in actual "strings"; in cabbage, spinach, lettuce, and other stem or leaf vegetables it may not be so noticeable, but it iscertainly present and we should realize that it is useful. The skins offruit are of this nature and may often be eaten, as in case of prunes, figs, apples, dried peaches and apricots. The outer coats of grains, whichserve the same purpose, are frequently removed by milling, but similarcoats of peas and beans are not so removed except in the case of driedsplit peas. In the juices of fruits and vegetables we find a variety oflaxative substances. This explains why apple juice (sweet cider), orangejuice or diluted lemon juice may be a very desirable morning drink. Theeffect is partly due to the acid but not wholly. Juices which are not acidto the taste, as those of prunes, figs, onions, have laxative properties. So from a great variety of fruits and vegetables, especially those whichare fibrous or acid or both, we may obtain the substitute for "pills" inwholesome foods which are generally cheaper than drugs. 

No diet can be properly built without a suitable supply of mineral salts. The free use of milk is our greatest safeguard against lack of any saveiron, but when milk is scarce and has to be saved as now for the babies ofthe world, it is fortunate that we can make fruits and vegetables take itsplace in part. Some of our very common vegetables are good sources of thecalcium (lime) and phosphorus so freely supplied in milk. Among these maybe taken as an example the carrot, which has not had due recognition inmany quarters and in some is even spoken of contemptuously as "cattlefood. " Its cheapness comes from the fact that it is easy to grow and easyto keep through the winter and should not blind us to its merits. Agood-sized carrot (weight one-fourth pound) will have only about half thefuel value of a medium-sized potato, but nearly ten times as much calciumas the potato and about one-third more phosphorus. While actual figuresshow that other vegetables, especially parsnips, turnips, celery, cauliflower, and lettuce, are richer in calcium than the carrot, itscheapness and fuel value make it worthy of emphasis. Everyone who has agarden should devote some space to this pretty and palatable vegetable. Itis perhaps at its best when steamed till soft without salting and then cutup into a nicely seasoned white sauce; its sweetness will not then bedestroyed nor its salts lost in the cooking water. It is not only usefulas a hot vegetable, but in salads, in the form of a toothsome marmalade, and as the foundation of a steamed pudding. For little children it is mostwholesome and they should make its acquaintance by the time they are ayear and a half old, in the form of a cream soup. A dish of carrots andpeas (one-half cup peas, one-fourth cup carrot cubes, one-half cup whitesauce) will have almost the same food values (for fuel, calcium, phosphorus, and iron) as an equivalent serving of oatmeal, milk, and sugar(three-fourths cup cooked oatmeal, one-half cup milk, one roundingteaspoon sugar) and will add variety to the diet without costing a greatdeal more unless one pays a fancy price for peas. 

Even when meat and eggs are not prohibitive in price, fruit and greenvegetables are an important source of iron in the diet. And when warconditions make the free consumption of meat unpatriotic, it is reassuringto think that we really can get along without meat very well if we knowhow. Two ounces of lean beef will furnish no more iron than a quarter of acup of cooked spinach or half a cup of cooked string beans or dried beans, or one-sixth of a cup of raisins, or half a dozen good-sized prunes. Cabbage, peas, lettuce, dandelion greens, beet tops, turnip tops and other"greens" are well worth including in our bill of fare for their ironalone. By the time children are a year old we begin to introduce specialiron-bearing foods into their diet to supplement milk. Aside from eggyolk, we give preference for this purpose to green vegetable juice orpulp, especially from peas and spinach or a mixture of both. Thesubstantial character of dry beans is too well known to require comment, but how many realize that they are a most valuable source of iron andother mineral salts? The fact that they are not a "complete diet" inthemselves should not disturb anyone who realizes that all diets are builtfrom a variety of foods. We are hardly likely to use beans to theexclusion of everything else except in dire necessity, and then whatbetter could we do than use freely a food which will go so far towardsustaining life at so small a cost?

There is a further significance for fruits and vegetables in theircontribution to the diet of the growth-promoting, health-protectingvitamines. That the presence of fruits and vegetables in the diet is asafeguard against scurvy is well known, though the full scientificexplanation is not yet ours. That the leaf vegetables (spinach, lettuce, cabbage, and the like) contain both the vitamines which are essential togrowth in the young and to the maintenance of health in the adult seemsassured, and gives us further justification for emphasis on greenvegetables in the diet of little children, when properlyadministered--i. E. , always cooked, put through a fine sieve, and fed insmall quantities. 

Aside from being valuable for regulation of the bowels, for mineral salts, and vitamines, to say nothing of more or less fuel value, fruits andvegetables give zest to the diet. The pleasant acidity of many fruits, their delicate aroma, their beautiful form and coloring, the ease ofpreparing them for the table, are qualities for which we may legitimatelyprize them, though we may not spend money for them until actual nutritiverequirements are met. Dr. Simon Patten, in his _New Basis forCivilisation_, ably expresses the value of appetizers: "Tomatoes, thehothouse delicacy of the Civil War time, are doing now what many a bloodyrevolution failed to accomplish; they have relieved the monotony of thesalt pork and boiled potatoes upon the poor man's table. The clear acidflavor of the canned vegetable lightens ugly heaviness and adds tonicgratifications for the lack of which men have let each other's blood. "

As already remarked, those who have plenty of highly flavored meat are aptto be satisfied by it or to demand stronger flavors (coffee, catsup, pickles, and tobacco) than those found in fruits and vegetables. They arealso apt to spend so much money on meat that they have none left to buywhat seem to them unimportant items in the diet, and to have a much lesswholesome diet than they might have for the same money. Studies ofexpenditures in many families show that a good rule to insure a wellbalanced diet is to spend no more money for meat than one does for fruitand vegetables. Also, it is well to remember that vegetables are usuallycheaper than fruits and that dried ones may largely take the place ofcanned or fresh ones. For wholesome and economical living, have fruit ofsome kind at least once a day and make the main dish of one meal avegetable dish whenever possible. Thick cream soups, souffles, creamed orscalloped vegetables, are all substantial and appetizing. The way to learnto like such foods is to keep trying. One may learn contentment with theproverbial dinner of herbs more easily by realizing that one is buildingvaluable bricks into the house of diet; and in the present emergency onemay, by selection of fruits and vegetables of high energy value, save lessperishable foods for our soldiers and allies. The knowledge that a bananais equivalent in calories to a large slice of bread or a small pat ofbutter becomes tremendously significant; that an apple, an orange, fourprunes, four dates, or a cup of peas, may not only take the place of breadbut actually add something which the bread does not contain, means that wemay be the gainers from our own sacrifices, without embarrassment thereat. We shall have reaped a speedy reward for doing our duty. 

CHAPTER VI

FATS AND VITAMINES

In the days of the ancient Romans vegetable oils were prized for food andbutter was used for cosmetics. In America today we are asking what is tobecome of us if we cannot have butter to eat! Such are the fashions infood. "June butter" is one of our gastronomic traditions. The sample inthe restaurant may have none of the firm creamy texture and delicatearomatic flavor of the product of the old spring house; but as long as itis labeled butter we try to bring our sensations into line with ourimaginations. For the real butter flavor there is no more a substitutethan there is for the aroma of coffee. But these are matters of estheticpleasure rather than of nutrition. They depend largely upon habit. Whaleblubber and seal oil are as much appreciated in some quarters as butter isby us. An American going inland from the Atlantic coast is often surprisedto find that olive oil, instead, of being served on every table, isexceedingly disliked. 

For the sustenance of the body we must recognize that fat is fat, whateverits flavor. A calorie from butter yields neither more nor less energy thana calorie from lard or bacon, olive oil or cottonseed oil. The common foodfats are all very well digested if judiciously used--not in too largequantities, nor over-heated in cooking, and not "cooked into" things toomuch as in pastries, rich sauces, and fried foods. Whether we spread ourbread with butter or beef drippings amounts to the same thing in the longrun; the main point is which we are willing to eat. 

A change is rapidly coming over our food habits. The price of butter hasbeen soaring beyond our reach, and the market for "butterine, " "nutmargarine, " "oleomargarine, " or whatever the substitute table fat may becalled, has expanded tremendously. It is excellent household economy tobuy milk and a butter substitute rather than cream or butter. In thesesubstitutes refined vegetable oils such as cottonseed, cocoanut, andpeanut, and oils derived from beef or lard are so combined or treated asto produce the desired hardness, and churned with milk or milk and butterto improve texture and flavor. Lard substitutes are similarly made fromone or more of these fats, but are harder in texture and no attempt ismade to give them a butter flavor by churning with milk. All the fats usedare wholesome and efficient sources of energy for the human machine. 

In the absence of butter some other form of fat is desirable in the diet, because fat is so concentrated a food. There is a limit to the capacity ofthe human stomach to hold food. People who live on a diet largely of rice, which has almost no fat in its make-up, develop characteristicallydistended abdomens, because they have to eat such a great quantity of foodto get fuel enough for their day's work. When people are for any reasonput on a milk diet for a considerable time it is customary to putsomething into the milk to make it more concentrated, for otherwise theywould drink and drink and then hardly get fuel enough. To give a concreteillustration--a man's energy requirement for a day may be met by from fourto five quarts of milk (unless he is doing very heavy manual labor), butit would be much more practical to substitute a loaf of bread, which iscomparatively dry, for one quart of milk, and three ounces of fat (sixtablespoonfuls) for another quart of milk, making the total volume butlittle over half what it would be if four quarts of milk were taken. Forpeople who are engaged in hard physical toil, fat is exceedingly importantfor this purpose of gaining in concentration. "Fat is fuel for fighters, "and it is perfectly reasonable to ask those who are not doing much heavylabor to eat other kinds of food and save fat for those who simply have tohave it to do their work well. In the ordinary mixed diet one can easilydispense with an ounce of fat (two tablespoonfuls). Each tablespoonful isequalled in energy by an apple, or a banana, a large egg, two half-inchslices of bread about three inches square, four dates, four prunes--and itis no great strain on one's capacity for food to substitute such items forthe fat. 

On account of its concentration, fat is good for transportation; and asidefrom its energy value it gives the diet "staying" qualities. Other thingsbeing equal, one feels hungry sooner after a meal without fat than afterone in which it is liberally supplied. People doing manual labor, andespecially out of doors, feel the pangs of hunger more than sedentaryfolks and hence need more fat to keep them comfortable. No man can do hisbest work when all the time thinking how hungry he is. It behooves us allthen, as good citizens, to recognize the greater need of our soldiers andsailors and our hard-working laborers for as liberal allowances of fat aswe can make. At the same time, we cannot for our own best health dispensewith fat altogether. We may consider anything up to two ounces apiece aday legitimate for our own maintenance of efficiency. 

In departing from food customs there is a natural timidity lest the newfood shall in some way be less healthful than the old. Recent scientificresearches have revealed a hitherto unsuspected property in butter, adiscovery which has aroused some concern as to whether we can safelysubstitute other fats for it. Young animals fed on a diet of highlypurified food materials in which lard is the only kind of fat may seemfairly well but do not grow normally, while those fed the same diet inevery respect except that the lard is replaced by butter grow as younganimals should and are more resistant to disease. Study of other food fatsshows that they may be divided into two groups, one with this growthpromoting property and one without it. In general, the vegetable oils donot have it, while butter and beef oil do; on the other hand, lard doesnot have it, while the oil from corn does. Careful analysis of thesituation has shown that a fat-soluble vitamine is present which can inthe laboratory be separated from the fat. This same vitamine is present ina variety of food materials--in whole milk, in egg yolks, in leaves ofplants--but we have not studied it long enough to know just how muchspinach we can substitute for a tablespoonful of butter so far as thevitamine is concerned. We must await further investigations. But we mayrest assured that with a fairly liberal amount of milk and some greenvegetables, possibly some beef fat, we need not fear any disastrousconsequences from the substitution of some other fat for butter. Where thediet is limited and the entire quantity of fat is not very large, it seemsprudent to select oleomargarine made largely from beef oil and, wherecircumstances permit its use without the sacrifice of any other dietaryessential, to use butter in the diet of growing children unless they get afull quart of milk apiece a day. 

Changing our food customs is difficult because it means also changing ourcooking customs. But many dishes can be made with less fat than we areaccustomed to put in or with different kinds from those we have hithertopreferred. Often the fat from frying is left in the pan to be washed outand thrown away. If every cook could say to herself, "Every two drops offat make a calorie and every calorie counts in the world today, " it mightseem more worth while to hold the pan a minute and drain out the fat forfurther use. A thousand calories mean a day's life to a baby. It is alwaysmore wholesome to cook foods so that they are not coated with fat, and onemay get brown products in a frying pan without more than a thin film offat to keep the food from sticking. It is well to remember in thisconnection that the unsalted lard substitutes are more satisfactory thanthe saltier fat foods, in which there may be a trace of milk. 

The thought that fat is fuel wherever we find it in food will stiffen ourresolution to take a little pains with the fats which we have been wont todiscard. Anyone can get from the Department of Agriculture suggestions forthe practical use of chicken, mutton, beef, and other kinds of meat fats. The main points are to free them from flavor, by melting them with milk orwater, possibly using some special absorbent like potato or charcoal too, and then mixing hard and soft together, just as the oleomargarine-makersdo, to get such a degree of hardness as suits one's purpose. All thisrequires time and thought. Let no one dream that the patriotic duties ofthe kitchen are trivial. Anything that is worth while costs something;money, thought, labor--perhaps all three. To salvage kitchen fat may notbe economical in time and labor (though it generally is more so than onemight think), but there is more time and labor than food available today. So it seems the "bit" of the housekeeper to set a standard for her familyas to the amount of fat she will purchase per week, which is at leastone-fourth lower than their ordinary consumption, and to depend uponspecial conservation of what may have gone to waste hitherto for anyincrease in this allowance. 

CHAPTER VII

"SUGAR AND SPICE AND EVERYTHING NICE"

"Do come and taste how nice the burnt pig eats!" So cried the miscreantson of Hati when his attempt to rescue his father's live-stock from utterdestruction resulted (at least according to Lamb) in adding one moredelicacy to the table of civilized man. That the "burnt pig" commendeditself instantly to the taste of other men is attested by the recklessnesswith which they ignited their own houses to secure the new sensationagain. 

Not all flavors make an immediate appeal. Many persons can mark the timewhen they learned to like olives, or tomatoes, or tea. The taste for somefoods was acquired so early that there is no consciousness of any timewhen they were not enjoyed, and the impression prevails that the likingfor such foods is instinctive. Sometimes that is the case, but quite asoften not. Children have to be taught by patient repetition to like mostof the common foods which make the staples of the diet, and likings thusacquired are as strong as those which seem more natural. 

However taste be accounted for, we have to recognize the fact that food ischosen for flavor more than for ultimate benefit. It is one thing to saythat oatmeal is more nutritious than bread and coffee; it is quite anotherto induce a man to give up the latter for the former! And yet thedistinguishing characteristic of man is that he can subjugate hisimmediate impulses for his future benefit, or find a course that willharmonize the two--take coffee with his oatmeal for instance, or find someway to flavor it, perhaps with sugar. 

Probably no one flavor is so universally enjoyed as sweetness. "Sweeterthan the honey in the honey comb" is an ancient symbol of appreciation. When the sugar bowl is empty how many things lose zest! Tea, coffee, cocoa, breakfast cereals, fruit, might still be acceptable, but cake, pie, and ice cream are unthinkable without sweetness; the soda fountain, thebakery, and the candy shop bear further testimony to our love of sweets. Four million tons of sugar a year for the American people--eighty-fivepounds apiece, nearly a quarter of a pound apiece daily--this is noinconsiderable amount of flavoring!

But is not sugar good food? Most assuredly. Three lumps of sugar wouldfurnish the extra energy needed to walk a mile; a quarter of a poundrepresents about one-sixth of a man's daily fuel requirement. But onebaked potato would furnish the same energy as the three lumps of sugar; aquarter of a pound of cornstarch would supply the same fuel as the quarterpound of sugar. Nutritionally starch and sugar are interchangeable, theadvantage as far as digestion is concerned being with the starch ratherthan the sugar. And yet we put sugar on starch! So much for instinct beinga guide to scientific food combinations!

The problem of doing without sugar is primarily a problem of flavor--aproblem of finding something else which is sweet. Hence we turn ourcornstarch into glucose (make corn syrup, for example) outside the bodyinstead of inside it, so that we can taste the sweetness as it goes down. The main trouble with this kind of sugar is that it is not sweet enough tosatisfy us and we are apt to use too much, thus endangering our digestionsby sheer concentration of what would be, in smaller quantities, mostwholesome. Once more we see that nutrition is largely a question of _howmuch_; how much glucose or other sugar our stomachs can stand we find outby experience; few stomachs can stand when empty the quantity representedby a lollipop, and yet we frequently see children allowed to suck thesebetween meals. The same amount of sugar diluted with water, as in a glassof lemonade, would do less harm; it might be combined with flour in acooky with more impunity; better yet, it might be made a part of a wholemeal, taking it in several dishes (sauce, dessert, etc. ), or, if we musthave it as candy, at the end of the meal. Used in this way, the advantagesof sugar as a food may be had with relatively little disadvantage. 

Honey, "the distilled sweetness of the flower, " commands a pricecommensurate with the exquisiteness of its production, but is not quite aseasy of digestion as some other forms of sugar. Because of its intensesweetness it may be combined with advantage with less sweet syrups, suchas corn syrup. The cook estimates that by measure it will take one and ahalf times as much corn syrup as cane sugar to get the customary effectsin sweet dishes. By using one part of honey to three of corn syrup asweeter product is obtained, which is free from several of thedisadvantages of honey in cookery. 

Maple syrup and sugar are not only prized for their sweetness, due to thepresence of ordinary cane sugar, but for the delicate "maple" flavor sodifficult to duplicate. Nutritionally a tablespoon of maple sugar isequivalent in fuel value to about four-fifths of a tablespoon of canesugar, while equal volumes of cane molasses, corn syrup, and maple syrupare interchangeable as fuel, though not of equal sweetening power. 

Molasses is a less one-sided food than cane sugar or corn syrup. Thelatter furnish nothing but fuel, and if used too freely not only disturbdigestion but tend to crowd out foods which yield mineral salts. Molassesis quite rich in calcium, one tablespoonful yielding as much as fiveounces of milk, and is for this reason a better sweet for growing childrenthan ordinary sugar or corn syrup when the amount of milk which they canhave is limited, or when fruits and vegetables are hard to get. Molassesginger snaps make, therefore, an excellent sweet for children, much betterthan candy, but of course to be eaten only at meal time. 

The aim of good home cooking should be to please the family with what theyought to eat. The chef in a big hotel may have to prove the superiority ofhis art over that of a rival chef, and vie with him in novelty andelaboration, but the home cooking may be ever so simple provided theresult is a happy, well-nourished family. A chocolate layer cake thattakes two hours out of a day is no more nourishing than the same materialsserved as poached eggs, bread and butter, and a cup of chocolate. It isworth while to train a family to enjoy the flavor of simply preparedfoods, and to realize that the food is the thing which counts and not theway it is dressed up. On the other hand, if one has to use a few foodmaterials over and over, as one must in many places when the money thatcan be spent for food is very little, it is by slight changes in theirform and flavor that one keeps them from palling on the appetite. If onehas to use beans every day, it is a good thing to know a dozen differentways of preparing beans. One may have the plain bean flavor, properlytoned up by a suitable amount of salt; the added flavor of onions, oftomatoes, of fat pork, of molasses, or a combination of two or three. Onemay have plain oatmeal for breakfast (the flavor developed by thoroughcooking, at least three or four hours in a double boiler or over night ina fireless cooker); oatmeal flavored with apples in a pudding for dinner;or oatmeal flavored with onions and tomatoes in a soup for supper; thesame food but quite different impressions on the palate. 

Herbs and spices have from time immemorial given flavor to man's diet. "Leeks and garlic, " "anise and cumin, " "salt and pepper, " "curry and beancheese, " are built into the very life of a people. The more variety ofnatural foods we have the less dependent we are upon such things. Ourmodern cooks, confronted in the present crisis with restrictions in thenumber of foods which they may use, may find in bay leaves, nutmeg, allspice, and all their kind, ways of making acceptable the cereals whichmake a diet economical, the peas and beans which replace at least a partof the meat, and dried fruits and vegetables which save transportation offresh or canned goods. 

Tea and coffee are both flavors and stimulants. They are used literally bythousands to give flavor to bread or rice. Dependence on a single flavoris apt to result in a desire to have it stronger and stronger, and henceless and less wholesome. This is a good reason for some variety of flavor;better tea one meal and coffee another than the same one all the time. Toofreely used, and made too strong, tea and coffee may have a bad effectupon the nervous as well as the digestive system. They should never begiven to children. It is better for adults to get their flavor fromsomething without such effects. Because the combination of bread andcoffee tastes good, one may be deceived into thinking himself wellnourished on a diet consisting of little else. And yet this is a veryinadequate diet for anybody, and disastrous to the normal development ofchildren. One must be on guard, then, lest one's desire for flavor besatisfied without the body's real needs being met. 

The wise cook saves her best flavors for the foods which would be leastacceptable without them and does not add them to foods which are goodenough by themselves. The latter course marks the insidious beginning ofluxury. "Once give your family luxuries and you are lost as far assatisfying them economically is concerned, " remarked a clever housewife. "Even a rat will not taste bread when bacon is nigh, " observed a sagephysiologist. The demand for flavor grows and grows with pampering, tillnothing but humming-birds' tongues and miniature geese floating in a seaof aspic jelly will satisfy the palate of him who eats solely forflavor--who never knows the sauce of hunger, or the deliciousness of aplain crust of bread. We must be on guard, saying, like the littledaughter of a classical professor, "If Scylla doesn't get me Charybdiswill. " Flavor we must have, but not too much, not too many kinds at once, and not applied indiscriminately to foods which need them and foods whichdo not. The wise cook uses her arts to secure the proper nourishment ofthe family and not for her fame as "a good cook. "

CHAPTER VIII

ON BEING ECONOMICAL AND PATRIOTIC AT THE SAME TIME

Who does not sigh for the fairy table that comes at the pressing of abutton? It is invariably laden with the most tempting viands, satisfiesbeyond words, and disappears when the meal is over, leaving behind noproblem of leftovers or planning for the next meal! No money, no work, nothought, only sheer enjoyment. Alas, how different is the world of fact!Even if we have plenty of money we cannot escape from the thought of foodtoday. There is imperative need for saving of food materials; at bestthere will not be enough to go around, and all the world, ourselvesincluded, will suffer in proportion as we neglect the duty of foodconservation. To be economical in the use of food materials according tothe program of the Food Administration may, probably will, demand thespending of more money, time, and thought upon food. If we have the moneyand time to spend, well and good; but if we have not, how shall we do ourshare in sending more "wheat, meat, sugar and fats to our soldiers, sailors and allies"?

Thousands of people had to practice strict economy before the war began. They have no more money than they had then and the cost of food hasincreased. Certainly the first duty of everyone is to secure sufficientnourishment to avoid the undermining of health and strength which is sureto follow inadequate food. But we must all remember that it is possible tomake a great many changes in diet without altering food value, and thatthere are few diets which cannot be so rearranged as to give a betternutritive return on the money spent than is usually secured by ourhaphazard methods of planning meals. Saving of waste is commendable andwill go a long way, but this is a kind of passive service; loyal citizensought to be active participants in the food conservation movement, whichis a movement to distribute food in the way which shall promote theefficiency of our allies and ourselves in this world upheaval. To do thiswithout increasing the cost of one's diet requires a careful study of thesituation. No one can give precise rules as to how it shall be done, butperhaps a few suggestions as to the underlying principles will help indetermining a dietary plan which shall be economical and still in linewith the general policy. 

The same nutritive essentials must be supplied whether the cost of thediet be much or little. A moderately active man needs some 3, 000 caloriesper day whether his activity be playing golf or working on a farm; whetherhis board bill be $3. 00 a day or $3. 00 a week. In both cases there must besuitable kinds and amounts of protein-bearing food, of other "buildingmaterials, " and those substances which directly or indirectly affect thesmooth running of the body machinery; nevertheless, these two diets, closely alike in nutritive value, may be very dissimilar in theirsuperficial appearance. For instance, all the nutritive requirements maybe met in a ration composed of three food materials, as milk, whole wheatbread, and apples; on the other hand, by one composed of canvas-back duck, truffles, lettuce, celery, cranberries, white bread and butter, cream, coffee, and perhaps a dozen other items. We love all the varioussensations that come from the mingling in a meal of food hot and cold, moist and dry, crisp and soft, sweet and sour, exhibiting the artistictouch as well as the homelier virtues; it is the sacrifice of pleasure ofthe esthetic sort that food economy and to some extent food conservationentail. 

The first step in food economy (aside from saving of waste) is toemphasize the use of cereal foods. As much as one-fourth the food moneymay be invested in grain products without nutritive disadvantage. But thisis not the last word on the subject, since cereal foods, while cheap, differ among themselves in cost and somewhat in nutritive value. It ispossible to confine one's choice to some which contribute little besidesfuel to the diet, such as rice and white flour, or to include those whichare rich in other essentials, such as oatmeal. It is difficult to expressbriefly this difference in foods in any concrete fashion, but recently amethod of grading or "scoring" foods has been introduced which may help tomake clearer the relationship between nutritive value and general economy. 

We cannot live exclusively upon foods which furnish nothing but fuel, though fuel is the largest item in the diet and one which in an effort toeconomize is apt to fall short; hence a food which furnishes nothing butfuel will not have as high a "score" as a food which will at the same timesupply certain amounts of other essentials, such as protein, calcium(lime), iron, and the like. By giving definite values to each of thedietary essentials taken into consideration and comparing the yield ofthese from different foods, we may have such a score as follows:[1]

 Grain Score value products per pound

 White flour 1, 257 Graham flour 2, 150 Rye flour 1, 459 White bread 1, 060 Graham bread 1, 525 Cornmeal 1, 360 Oatmeal 2, 465 Cream of wheat 1, 370 Hominy 1, 147 Corn flakes 1, 090

 [1] For the method of calculation and further data see "The Adequacy and Economy of Some City Dietaries" by H. C. Sherman and L. H. Gillett, published by The New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, 105 East Twenty-second Street, New York City, from which these figures are taken. 

By comparing the score with the price per pound we can easily see whichcontributes most to the diet as a whole for the money expended. Thus, ifhominy and oatmeal cost the same, the oatmeal is more than twice as cheapbecause we not only get a little more fuel from it but we also getprotein, calcium, iron, and phosphorus in considerably larger amounts;that is, we shall need less of other foods with oatmeal than we shall withhominy. This does not mean that hominy is not an excellent and a cheapfood, but it does mean that when the strictest economy must be practicedit pays to buy oatmeal. The task of the housewife is to find out how muchshe can make acceptable to her family; how much she can serve as breakfastfood, how much in muffins and bread, how much in soups and puddings. Thiseconomy is strictly in harmony with the principles of foodconservation--saving of wheat, so hard to do without entirely, so easy todispense with in part. 

Cornmeal gives as good a nutritive return per pound as cream of wheat, sothat as long as the price of cornmeal is not higher than that of the wheatproduct it is both good economy and good patriotism to use it as far asone can. And, even if cornmeal should be dearer than wheat, one can savemoney by increasing the proportion of cereals in the diet so as to be ableto be patriotic without increasing the food bill. 

A second measure which generally makes for food economy is to emphasizethe use of dried fruits and vegetables. The score of some of these foodsalmost speaks for itself:

 Dried fruits Score value and vegetables per pound

 Beans 3, 350 Peas 2, 960 Apples 955 Dates 1, 240 Figs 1, 782 Prunes 1, 135 Raisins 1, 550

 Fresh fruits and vegetables

 Beans 472 Peas 475 Apples 156 Bananas 236 Oranges 228 Peaches 138 Pears 228

From the foregoing it is evident that, unless the cost of a pound of freshapples is less than one-fifth that of dried ones, the dried will becheaper; that if dates and raisins cost the same per pound they areequally economical to buy. It may be noted, too, that the return on apound of dried fruit may be quite as good in its way as the return on apound of a grain product, but they will be equally cheap only when theycost the same per pound in the market. Here, again, there is noincompatibility between economy and conservation of special foods. Even inthe case of beans is this true, for, while certain kinds are wanted forthe army and navy, there are dozens of kinds of beans; one may count it aspart of one's service to find out where these can be obtained, how theyare best cooked and served. Soy beans commend themselves for theirnutritive value, but how many American housewives have made them a part oftheir food program? How many have tried to buy them or asked their dealersto secure them?

A third step in the program of economy is the reduction of the amount ofmeat consumed. In many American families at least one-third the food moneyis spent for meat. That there are adequate substitutes which may be usedto reduce the amount of meat bought has been already shown. Saving of meatis one of the most important planks in the food conservation program; sohere again there is no inevitable conflict between conservation andeconomy. Some meat is desirable for flavor if it can possibly be afforded, but no economically inclined person should set aside more than one-fourthto one-fifth of the food money for it. How much one will get depends uponthe kind and cut selected. There is not so much difference in thenutritive value as there is in the cost, as the following examples of"meat scores" will show:

 Meat Score value and fish per pound

 Beef, lean round 1, 664 Beef, medium fat rump 1, 221 Beef, porterhouse steak 1, 609 Veal, lean leg 1, 539 Lamb, medium fat leg 1, 320 Fowl 1, 453 Codfish, salt 1, 710 Codfish, fresh[2] 519 Salmon, canned 1, 074

 [2] The low score of fresh cod is due chiefly to the absence of fat and the presence of water. 

The great value of milk in the diet has already been discussed. The"score" of milk is about the same as that for sugar (milk, 761; sugar, 725); hence, if sugar is ten cents a pound and milk eighteen-cents a quart(about nine cents per pound), milk is cheaper than sugar. Yet there arepeople cutting down their milk supply when the cost is only thirteen orfourteen cents per quart on the ground that milk is too expensive! Theeconomical housewife should have no compunctions in spending fromone-fifth to one-fourth of her food money for this almost indispensablefood. Whether the free use of milk will be good food conservation as wellas good economy depends upon the supply. If there is not enough to goaround, babies and the poor should have the first claim upon it and therest of the world should try to get along with something less economical. 

A pound of eggs (eight or nine eggs) gives about the same nutritive returnas a pound of medium fat beef, but to be as cheap as beef at thirty centsa pound, eggs must not cost over forty-five cents a dozen. Eggs must becounted among the expensive foods, to be used very sparingly indeed in theeconomical diet. Nevertheless the use of eggs as a means of saving meat isa rational food conservation movement, to be encouraged where meanspermit. 

The saving of sugar, while a necessary conservation measure, is contraryto general food economy, since sugar is a comparatively cheap fuel foodand has the great additional value of popularity. Sugar substitutes arenot all as cheap as sugar by any means, but molasses, on account of itslarge amount of mineral salts, especially of calcium, has a score value of2, 315 as against 725 for granulated sugar, and may be regarded with favorby those both economically and patriotically inclined. 

In the case of fats, practical economy consists in paying for fuel valueand not for flavor. The score values for butter, lard, olive oil, andcottonseed oil are about the same. The cheapest fat is the one whose facevalue per pound (or market cost) is the lowest. Fats are not as cheap asmilk and cereals if they cost over ten cents per pound. The best way toeconomize is by saving the fat bought with meat, using other fats withoutmuch flavor, and cutting the total fat in the diet to a very small amount, not over two ounces per person per day. This is also good foodconservation, since fats are almost invaluable in rationing an army, andthose with decidedly agreeable flavor are needed to make a limited dietpalatable. 

No program either of economy or food conservation can cater to individuallikes and dislikes in the same way that an unrestricted choice of foodcan. If one does not like cereals it is hard to consume them just to savemoney, especially to the extent of ten to fifteen ounces of grain productsin a day. Yet one might as well recognize that in this direction thelowering of the cost of the diet inevitably lies. If one does not likecorn, it is hard to substitute corn bread for wheat bread. But one mightas well open one's mind to the fact that the only way to put off the daywhen there will be no white bread to eat is to begin eating cornmeal now. Most of us want to eat our cake and keep it too--to enjoy our food and notpay for our pleasure; to do our duty towards our country and not feel anypersonal inconvenience. But the magic table of the fairy tale is not for anation at war; food is not going to come at the pressing of a buttonduring this conflict. If we are to escape bankruptcy and win the war wemust eat to be nourished and not to be entertained. 

APPENDIX

SOME WAR TIME RECIPES

The following recipes illustrate some of the practical applications of theprinciples discussed in the foregoing pages. They have been selected fromvarious publications, a list of which is given below. The numbersfollowing the titles of the recipes correspond with the numbers of thepublications in this list. 

1. Canned Salmon: Cheaper than Meats and Why, U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Fisheries, Economic Circular No. 11

2. Cheese and its Economical Use in the Home, U. S. Department ofAgriculture, Farmers' Bulletin No. 487

3. Economical Diet and Cookery in Time of Emergency, Teachers College, Columbia University, Technical Education Bulletin No. 30 4. Food, Bulletinof the Life Extension Institute, 25 West 45th Street, New York City

5. Honey and its Uses in the Home, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin No. 653

6. How to Select Food: Foods Rich in Protein, U. S. Department ofAgriculture, Farmers' Bulletin No. 824

7. Meat Substitutes, Connecticut Agricultural College, Emergency FoodSeries, No. 10

8. Ninety Tested, Palatable and Economic Recipes, Teachers College, Columbia University, Technical Educational Bulletin No. 34

9. Recipes of New York City Food Aid Committee, 280 Madison Avenue, NewYork City

10. Recipes in The Farmer's Wife, St. Paul, Minnesota, September, 1917

11. Some Sugar Saving Sweets for Every Day, Teachers College, ColumbiaUniversity, Teachers College Record, November, 1917

12. War Economy in Food, Bulletin of the United States Food Administration

13. Waste of Meat in the Home, Cornell Reading Course for the Farm Home, Lesson 109

BREAD AND MUFFINS

Corn Meal and Wheat Bread (9)

 Corn meal, 1 cup Wheat flour, 2 cups Fat, 1 tablespoon Corn syrup, 1 tablespoon Salt, 1-1/2 teaspoons Cold water, 1-1/4 cups Lukewarm water, 1/4 cup Yeast, 1 cake

Pour cold water gradually over corn meal and salt. Cook over water for 20minutes. Add fat and syrup. Allow to cool to room temperature. Add yeastwhich has been softened in the lukewarm water. Add flour gradually, stirring or kneading thoroughly after each addition of flour. Kneadlightly for 10 or 15 minutes. Shape into a loaf. Let rise until double inbulk. Bake in a moderate oven (360-380°) for about an hour. (The amount ofcorn meal may be reduced if one desires a loaf with the characteristics ofwheat bread. )

Corn Meal and Rye Bread (9)

 Lukewarm water, 2 cups Yeast, 1 cake Salt, 1/2 tablespoon Molasses, 1/2 cup Rye flour, 1 cup Corn meal, 1 cup Flour, 3 cups

Soften yeast cake in water, add remaining ingredients, and mix thoroughly. Let rise, shape, let rise again and bake. 

Sour Milk Corn Bread (8)

 Corn meal, 1 pint Soda, 3/4 teaspoon Baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon Sour milk, 1 pint Salt, 1/2 teaspoon Egg, 1 Lard (melted), 1 1/2 tablespoons

Slightly beat the egg, add milk, salt, and soda. Stir in the meal. Beatwell. Add melted lard and baking powder. Bake in hot greased pan. Cut insquares and serve. Do not have batter too stiff. 

Eggless Corn Muffins (8)

 Corn meal, 1 cup Pastry flour (sifted), 1/2 cup Sugar, 1/4 cup Melted butter, 2 tablespoons Salt, 1 teaspoon Baking powder, 2 teaspoons Milk, 1 cup

Mix dry ingredients and add milk and melted butter. Put in greased muffinpan and bake 30 minutes in a moderate oven. 

Oat Bread (4)

 Boiling water, 2 cups Salt, 1/2 tablespoon 1/2 yeast cake, dissolved in 1/2 cup lukewarm water Rolled oats (dry), 1 cup Molasses, 1/2 cup Fat, 1 tablespoon Flour, 4-1/2 cups

Add boiling water to the rolled oats, stir well and let stand for onehour. Add molasses, salt, fat, dissolved yeast cake, and flour; let thedough rise to double its bulk, beat well, and turn into greased breadpans, let rise the second time, and bake about one hour in a moderateoven. 

Oatmeal Muffins (8)

 Cooked oatmeal, 1 cup Flour, 1-1/2 cups Sugar, 2 tablespoons Baking powder, 4 teaspoons Salt, 1/2 teaspoon Milk, 1/2 cup Egg, 1 Melted butterine, 2 tablespoons

Mix and sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the egg wellbeaten and one-half the milk. Mix the remainder of the milk with thecereal, and beat in thoroughly. Then add the butter. Bake in butteredmuffin or gem tins about 30 minutes in a moderate oven. 

War Time Boston Brown Bread

 Rye meal, 1 cup Corn meal, 1 cup Finely ground oatmeal, 1 cup Milk, 1-1/2 cups Soda, 3/4 teaspoon Salt, 1 teaspoon Molasses, 1 cup Baking powder, 2 teaspoons

Mix and sift dry ingredients, add molasses and milk, stir until wellmixed, turn into a well-greased mold, and steam three and one-half hours. The cover should be greased before being placed on mold. The mold shouldnever be filled more than two-thirds full. A one-pound baking powder boxmakes the most attractive shaped loaf for steaming; place mold on a trivetin kettle containing boiling water, allowing water to come half-way uparound mold; cover closely and steam, adding as needed more boiling water. One cup chopped peanuts and 1 cup of cut dates may be added. 

Rice Bread (10)

 Milk, 1/2 cup Sugar, 6 tablespoons Fat, 4 tablespoons Salt, 1-1/2 teaspoons Compressed yeast, 1/2 cake, softened in 1/4 cup liquid Boiled rice, 7 cups Flour, 8 cups

This proportion makes two loaves of bread. 

Scald the milk with sugar, salt, and fat. Let cool until lukewarm and pourover the boiled rice. Add yeast which has been softened in one-quartercupful warm water. Stir in flour and knead. Let rise until double itsbulk. Knead again and put into pans. Let rise until light and bake 50minutes to one hour in a moderate oven. 

_The rice should be boiled in a large quantity of boiling water_, inorder to insure a dry rice. At least eight or ten times as much water asrice should be used. 

Eggless Rye Muffins (8)

 Rye flour, 2 cups Baking powder, 4 teaspoons Salt, 1/2 teaspoon Sugar, 4 teaspoons Milk, 1 cup Melted butter or other fat, 1 tablespoon

Mix and sift the dry ingredients; add the milk and melted fat. Mixquickly, do not beat. Bake in greased muffin pans 20 minutes in a hotoven. 

Rye Corn Meal Muffins (9)

 Corn meal, 1/2 cup Rye flour, 1 cup Baking powder, 3 teaspoons Sugar, 2 tablespoons Melted butter, 1 tablespoon Salt, 1 teaspoon Milk, 1/4 cup Egg, 1

Mix and sift dry ingredients, beat egg, add to it milk and molasses, thenstir liquid mixture into dry ingredients. Do not beat. Place inwell-greased muffin tins and bake in moderate oven 25 to 30 minutes. 

Rye Rolls (9)

 Milk, 1 cup Water, 1 cup Fat, 3 tablespoons Sugar, 2 teaspoons Salt, 2 teaspoons Yeast cakes, 2 Water, 6 tablespoons Rye flour, 4 cups White flour, 4 cups

Scald the milk with the salt, sugar, and fat. Soften the yeast in the sixtablespoonfuls of water. 

Cool the milk by adding the rest of the water cold, stir in the yeast andflour, and knead. Let rise until double in bulk. Knead again and shapeinto rolls. Let rise until very light and bake. 

CAKE AND COOKIES

Apple Sauce Cake (4)

 Sugar, 1 cup Butter, 2 tablespoons Apple sauce, 1 cup Flour, 2 cups Raisins, 2/3 cup Soda, 1 teaspoon Cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon Cloves, 1/2 teaspoon Salt, 1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon

Sift together the soda, spices, salt, and flour. Cream the butter, addsugar, apple sauce, dry ingredients, and seeded raisins. Bake in amoderate oven. 

Buckwheat Cookies (8)

 Butterine, 1/2 cup Sugar, 1 cup Eggs, 2 Clove, 1/2 teaspoon Buckwheat, 1 3/4 cups Salt, 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon

Beat the eggs, add the sugar and melted butter, and beat until thoroughlymixed. Sift the buckwheat, spices, and salt together and add very slowly. Mix well; roll on a floured board one-eighth to one-sixteenth inch thick. Cut the cookies and bake on a greased baking sheet in a moderate ovenabout 10 minutes. 

Honey Bran Cookies (5)

 Bran, 3 cups Sugar, 1/2 cup Soda, 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon Ginger, 1/4 teaspoon Honey, 1/2 cup Milk, 1/2 cup Melted butter, 1/2 cup

Soft Honey Cake (5)

 Butter, 1/2 cup Honey, 1 cup Egg, 1 Sour milk, 1/2 cup Soda, 1 teaspoon Cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon Ginger, 1/2 teaspoon Flour, 4 cups

Rub the butter and honey together; add the egg well beaten, then the sourmilk and the flour sifted with the soda and spices. Bake in a shallow pan. 

Molasses Cakes (4)

 Sugar, 1/2 cup Fat, 1/2 cup Molasses, 1 cup Ginger, 1 teaspoon Cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon Egg, 1 Flour, 2 1/2 cups Soda, 2 teaspoons Hot water, 1 cup Salt, 1/2 teaspoon

Sift together the salt, sugar, flour, soda, and spices. Melt butter in hotwater, add molasses, egg well beaten, and dry ingredients. Mix well. Bakein small cup cake tins in a moderate oven for about 25 minutes. 

Molasses Cookies (11)

 Flour, 2-3/4 cups Salt, 1 teaspoon Soda, 1 teaspoon Ginger, 1 tablespoon Molasses, 1 cup Hot water, 1 tablespoon Hardened vegetable fat, 1/4 cup

Sift together the flour, salt, soda, and ginger. Melt fat; add hot waterand molasses; stir this liquid gradually into the dry ingredients. Chill. Roll on floured board to one-eighth inch thickness. Cut. Bake about 10minutes in a moderate oven (360-380° F. ). 

Nut Molasses Bars (9)

 Oleomargarine, 1/4 cup Hardened vegetable fat, 1/4 cup Boiling water, 1/4 cup Brown sugar, 1/2 cup Molasses, 1/2 cup Soda, 1 teaspoon Flour, 3-2/3 cups Ginger, 1/3 teaspoon Cloves, 1/8 teaspoon Salt, 1 teaspoon Cocoanut, 1/2 cup English walnuts, 1/2 cup

Pour boiling water over fat; add sugar and molasses; add flour, soda, spices, and salt sifted together. Chill. Roll one-eighth inch thick. Cutin strips about three and a half by one inch. Sprinkle with cocoanut andEnglish walnuts cut in small pieces. 

Bake about 10 minutes in a moderate oven. 

Oatmeal Cookies (4)

 Egg, 1 Sugar, 1/4 cup Milk, 1/2 cup Water, 1/4 cup Flour, 2 cups Fine oatmeal, 1/2 cup Baking powder, 2 teaspoons Salt, 1 teaspoon Raisins, 1 cup Melted fat, 5 tablespoons

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the oatmeal. Beatthe egg add sugar, water, and milk, dry ingredients mixed together, raisins, and melted fat. Drop from spoon on greased baking sheet and bakein moderate oven. 

Oatmeal Macaroons (12)

 Fat, 1 tablespoon Corn syrup, 3/8 cup Sugar, 2 tablespoons Egg, 1 Almond extract if desired, 2 teaspoons Oatmeal, 1 1/2 cups Salt, 1/4 teaspoon Baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon Flour, 1-1/2 tablespoons

Combine the melted fat and sugar and syrup, add the beaten egg and stir inthe other ingredients. Drop from a teaspoon on greased baking sheets orpans and bake in a moderate oven about 15 minutes. 

Potato Drop Cookies (13)

 Hot mashed potatoes, 1-1/2 cups Sugar, 1-1/4 cups Beef or mutton fat, 1 cup Flour, 1-3/4 cups Baking powder, 2 teaspoons Cinnamon, 1 teaspoon Cloves, 1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon Raisins, chopped, 1/2 cup Nuts, chopped, 1/4 cup

Combine the ingredients in the order given and drop the mixture byspoonfuls on a slightly greased tin. Bake the cookies in a moderate oven. 

Spice Cake (9)

 Hardened vegetable fat, 3-1/2 tablespoons Sugar, 1/4 cup Egg, 1 Corn syrup, 1/4 cup Milk, 1/4 cup Flour, 1 cup (plus 1-1/2 tablespoons) Baking powder, 1-1/4 teaspoons Chopped citron, 2 tablespoons Raisins, cut in half, 1/2 cup Cinnamon, 3/4 teaspoon Clove, 1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg, 1/8 teaspoon

Cream fat; add sugar gradually, syrup, egg well beaten; mix and sift dryingredients; add alternately with milk to first mixture. Add raisins(which have been rolled in a little of the flour), mixing them through thecake thoroughly. 

Bake about 30 minutes in a moderate oven (about 380° F. ). 

JAMS AND SANDWICH FILLINGS

Banana and Nut Paste for Sandwiches (11)

 Banana, 1 Shelled peanuts, 1/4 cup

Mix the banana with the shelled peanuts, which have been crushed. Salt totaste. Use as a filling for sandwiches. 

Carrot Marmalade (3)

 Carrots, 3 pounds Sugar, 3 pounds Lemon, 1 (juice and grated rind) Oranges, 2 (juice and grated rind)

Wash, scrape, and steam carrots until soft; chop fine and mix with fruitand sugar. Cook gently one hour. 

Date and Cranberry Marmalade (3)

 Cranberries, 1 quart Dates, stoned, 1 pound Water, 1 pint Brown sugar, 2 cups

Simmer together for 20 minutes cranberries, dates, and water; put througha sieve; add sugar and cook 15 minutes longer. 

Dried Apricot Conserve (11)

 Dried apricots, 1/2 pound (1-2/3 cups) Cold water, 2 cups Raisins, 1 cup Juice of 1 lemon Whole orange, 1 Nuts, 1/2 cup Corn syrup (light), 1 cup

Soak apricots over night in cold water. When soaked add raisins, lemonjuice, orange sliced very thin, with slices cut in small pieces, and cornsyrup. Bring to boiling point and simmer for about one and one-quarterhours. Add nuts 15 minutes before taking from fire. 

Fruit and Peanut Butter (for Sandwiches) (11)

 Dates, 1/4 cup Figs, 1/4 cup Peanut butter, 1/2 cup Salt, 1/2 teaspoon Lemon juice, 1-1/2 tablespoons Raisins, 1/4 cup Corn syrup (light), 2 tablespoons

Wash figs, raisins, and dates, and put through food chopper. Add salt, peanut butter, lemon juice, and corn syrup, and mix well. 

Plum Conserve (without sugar) (11)

 Pitted plums, 1 pound (2 dozen plums) Raisins, 1/3 pound Cold water, 1/2 cup Walnuts, 1/8 pound (1/4 cup) Oranges, 2 Corn syrup, 1/3 cup

Wash and cut plums in pieces: add chopped raisins, orange pulp and peel, cut very fine; corn syrup and water; boil until it is of the consistencyof marmalade (about one and one-half hours of slow cooking). Add walnutsfive minutes before removing from fire. 

SUBSTANTIAL HOT DISHES

Baked Barley (4)

 Barley, 1/2 cup Boiling water, 3 cups Salt, 1/2 teaspoon Left over gravy, 3/4 cup

Soak barley over night. Drain. Cook in boiling salted water until tender. Drain. Add left over gravy and bake for 20 minutes in a moderate oven. Ifone has a meat bone, or left over bits of meat, these may be boiled withthe barley to give it flavor. 

Beef and Bean Stew (6)

 Beef, lower round, 1 pound Red kidney beans, 1 cup Onion, 1 Canned tomatoes, 1 cup, or 2 or 3 fresh tomatoes Salt pork, 2 ounces

Wash the beans and soak them over night. Cut the pork into small piecesand try out the fat. Cut the beef into small pieces and brown it in thepork fat, then add the vegetables with water enough to cover. Cook justbelow the boiling point for about three hours. 

Cheese Fondue (2)

 Milk (hot), 1-1/3 cups Bread crumbs, 1-1/3 cups Butter, 1 tablespoon Eggs, 4 Cheese, 1/3 pound (1-1/3 cups grated or 1 cup cut in pieces) Salt, 1/2 teaspoon

Mix the water, bread crumbs, salt, and cheese; add the yolks thoroughlybeaten; into this mixture cut and fold the whites of eggs beaten untilstiff. Pour into a buttered dish and cook 30 minutes in a moderate oven. Serve at once. 

Corned Beef Hash with Vegetables (4)

 Corned beef (cold, left over), 1-1/2 cups Dice potatoes (cooked), 2-1/4 cups Turnips (cooked), 1 cup Onion, chopped fine, 1 small Carrots (cooked), 1/2 cup Water, 3/4 cup Fat, 3 tablespoons

Cut the meat into small pieces. Add cooked vegetables cut into smallcubes, onion and water. Put fat into hot frying pan, add hash and cook forabout 20 minutes, allowing the hash to brown. Other left over meat may beadded to corned beef, or used instead of corned beef. 

Corn Meal Scrapple (3)

 Shin of beef, 2 pounds Salt, 1 teaspoon Onion, 1 medium Pepper, 1/8 teaspoon Cold water, 2 quarts Corn meal, 1 cup

Cook onion thinly sliced in beef marrow or suet. Add to water with meatand bone and cook until meat is tender. Let cool, skim off fat, and removebone. To liquid remaining, add enough water to make one quart. Add cornmeal and salt and cook one hour. Turn into a mold, cool, cut in slices, and fry in pork fat until brown. Serve with or without gravy. 

Corn Chowder (4)

 Corn, 1/4 can Salt pork, 1-1/2 inch cube Potato cut in slices, 1 medium Milk, 2 cups Boiling water, 1-1/2 cups Butter, 2 tablespoons Sliced onion, 1/8 Sugar, 1/4 teaspoon Salt and pepper

Cut the pork into small pieces and try it out. Add the onion and cook forabout five minutes. Strain the fat into a stew pan. Cook the potatoes forabout five minutes in boiling salted water. Drain, and add the potatoes tothe fat. Add the boiling water and cook until the potatoes are soft. Thenadd corn and milk and heat to the boiling point. Add the salt, pepper, sugar, and butter. Serve immediately after adding butter. 

Cottage Cheese and Nut Loaf (12)

 Cottage cheese, 1 cup Nut meats (use those locally grown), 1 cup Stale bread crumbs, 1 cup Juice of 1/2 lemon Salt, 1 teaspoon Pepper, 1/4 teaspoon Chopped onion, 2 tablespoons Oleomargarine, meat drippings or vegetable oils, 1 tablespoon

Mix the cheese, ground nuts, crumbs, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Cookthe onion in the fat and a little water until tender. Add to the firstmixture the onion and sufficient water or meat stock to moisten. Mix well, pour into a baking dish, and brown in the oven. 

Dried Fish Chowder (7)

 Salt fish, 1/2 pound Potatoes, cut in small pieces, 4 cups Salt pork, 2 ounces Small onion, chopped, 1 Skim milk, 4 cups Crackers, 4 ounces

Salt codfish, smoked halibut, or other dried fish may be used in thischowder. Pick over and shred the fish, holding it under lukewarm water. Let it soak while the other ingredients of the dish are being prepared. Cut the pork into small pieces and fry it with the onion until both are adelicate brown; add the potatoes, cover with water, and cook until thepotatoes are soft. Add the milk and fish and reheat. Salt, if necessary. It is well to allow the crackers to soak in the milk while the potatoesare being cooked, then remove them, and finally add to the chowder justbefore serving. 

Gevech (Roumanian Recipe) (9)

 Shredded cabbage, 1-1/4 cups Chopped onion, 1/4 cup Rice, 1/4 cup Diced potatoes, 3/4 cup 1/2 green pepper cut into strips Fish, 3/4 pound Canned tomato, 3/4 cup Water, 3 tablespoons Salt, 3/4 teaspoon Paprika, 1/4 teaspoon Pepper, 1/8 teaspoon

Parboil cabbage, onion, rice, potatoes, and green pepper together insalted water for 20 minutes. Drain. Clean fish, cut into small pieces, andmix with parboiled vegetables, canned tomatoes, water, and seasonings. Bake in a moderate oven for about 40 minutes. Baste occasionally whilecooking. Serve with a garnish of sliced lemon. 

Kidney Bean Stew (3)

 Kidney beans, 1 cup Onion, 1 small Rice, 2 tablespoons Canned tomatoes, 2 cups Fat or drippings, 2 tablespoons Flour, 2 tablespoons Salt and pepper to taste

Soak beans over night in cold water to cover. In the morning place beansover fire, adding water to cover if necessary. Add onion, rice andtomatoes and cook slowly until beans are soft. If too thick, add water. Mix flour and fat, and use to thicken stew. 

Baked Oatmeal with Cheese (9)

 Cooked oatmeal, 4 cups Grated cheese, 1 cup Salt and pepper Soft bread crumbs, 1/4 cup Fat, 1 teaspoon

Put into an oiled baking dish a layer of left over oatmeal, then asprinkling of grated cheese, pepper and salt, another layer of oatmeal, then cheese and seasonings; continue until the dish is full. Melt the fatand mix with this the bread crumbs. Sprinkle over the top of the dish. Bake in a moderate oven until the crumbs are golden brown. 

Green Pea Loaf with White Sauce (9)

 Dried green peas, 1 cup Cold water, 4 cups Boiling water, 2 quarts Soft, stale bread crumbs, 1-1/2 cups Milk, 1-1/2 cups Salt, 1 teaspoon Pepper, 1/8 teaspoon Paprika, 1/2 teaspoon Grated onion, 1/2 teaspoon Egg, 1 Fat, 3 tablespoons

Soak peas in cold water over night. Cook in boiling water until soft. Rubthrough a sieve. To one cup of this pea pulp add bread crumbs, milk, seasoning, egg (slightly beaten), and melted fat. Turn mixture into asmall, oiled bread pan. Set pan into a second pan, containing water. Bakemixture 40 minutes or until firm. Remove loaf from pan. Serve with whitesauce. One-half cup of cheese may be added to one and one-half cups of thesauce. 

Mock Sausage (8)

 Lima beans, dried, 1/2 cup Bread crumbs, 1/3 cup Butter, 3 tablespoons Egg, 1 Pepper, few grains Salt, 1/4 teaspoon Sage, 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon

Pick over and wash beans, cover with water, and let soak over night. Drain; cook in boiling salted water until tender, about one and one-halfhours. Force through a strainer, add remaining ingredients. Shape intoform of sausages, roll in crumbs, egg, and crumbs again. Sauté in fatuntil brown. It requires about two-thirds cup crumbs and one-half egg fordipping sausage. May be garnished with fried apples. 

Baked Soy or Togo Beans (6)

Soy beans, known in the retail market as togo beans, resemble navy beansin some ways. They contain, however, a considerable amount of fat. Forthis reason neither pork nor other fat is used in cooking them unless itis wanted for flavor. They are considerably richer in protein also. 

Wash and pick over one quart of soy beans. Cover with boiling water, boilfor 10 minutes, and soak over night in the same water. In the morning pouroff and save the water. Pour cold water over the beans and rub thembetween the hands to remove the skins, which will float off in the water. Removing the skins in this way takes only two or three minutes and greatlyimproves the quality of the dish. If a few skins are left on, they will dono harm, unless the dish is being prepared for a person of poor digestion. Drain the beans, pour over them the water in which they were soaked, andcook until tender at a temperature just below the boiling point. Pour offthe water, put the beans into a bean pot, cover with cold water, add oneand one-half tablespoonfuls of salt, and bake four or five hours in acovered dish. Remove the cover and bake one hour more. 

Peanut Loaf (10)

 Chopped peanuts, 1 cup Bread crumbs, 2 cups Egg, 1 Milk, 1 cup Salt, 1-1/2 teaspoons Paprika, 1/4 teaspoon Melted fat, 1 tablespoon

Mix dry ingredients, add beaten egg and milk. Put into a greased pan, pourthe melted fat on top, bake. Turn on a hot platter and serve with sauce. 

Sauce for Loaf

 Hot water, 1 cup Beef cube, 1 Juice 1 lemon Fat, 2 tablespoons Flour, 2 tablespoons Salt, 1/2 teaspoon Paprika, 1/8 teaspoon Few grains nutmeg

Melt fat, add flour with seasoning, add hot water in which beef cube hasbeen dissolved. Just before serving add lemon juice. 

This nut loaf with its accompanying sauce is a highly nutritious dish andis excellent for lunch or supper. Serve no meat or potatoes with it. 

Peanut Butter Bean Loaf (10)

 Peanut butter, 1/2 cup Cooked beans, 1 cup Soft bread crumbs (toasted), 1 cup Milk, 1 cup Salt, 1 teaspoon Pepper, 1/2 teaspoon

The beans should be soaked over night and cooked in fresh water untiltender. Press through a sieve, add other ingredients, mix well. Shape intoa loaf, place in pan, and bake about two hours, basting with melted fatand hot water. 

Peanut Butter Cream Soup (10)

 Milk, 1 quart Onion (grated), 1 small Flour, 1 tablespoon Melted fat, 1 tablespoon Peanut butter, 1 cup Bay leaf, 1 Celery (chopped) 3 stalks Celery salt, 1 saltspoon Salt, 1/2 teaspoon A little white pepper Dash of paprika

Heat milk in a double boiler, add peanut butter, onion, bay leaf, choppedcelery, and other seasoning. While the milk is heating, melt fat in aseparate sauce pan, stirring in flour as for cream sauce. When smooth addthe hot milk, after straining through a sieve. Serve at once with croutonsor tiny squares of bread browned till crisp. 

Peanut Fondue (8)

 Peanuts, shelled, 1 cup Bread crumbs (soft), 1 cup Milk, 1-2/3 cups Egg, 1 Salt, 1-1/2 teaspoons Cayenne

Grind peanuts in a meat grinder. Mix all ingredients except the white ofthe egg. Beat the egg white stiff and fold in. Turn into a butteredpudding dish and bake in a moderate oven 30 to 35 minutes. 

Peanut Soup (10)

 Blanched shelled peanuts, 2 cups Onion, 1/4 cup Celery, 1/4 cup Carrot, 1/4 cup Water, 2-1/2 cups Fat, 1/4 cup Flour, 2 tablespoons Salt, 1 teaspoon Paprika, 1/2 teaspoon Milk, 2 cups

Chop and crush the nuts until very fine; add the vegetables and water;simmer 20 minutes. Make a white sauce of the other ingredients, mix thetwo mixtures thoroughly and serve. 

Potato Soup with Carrots (4)

 Potatoes, 3 medium Water, 2 cups Flour, 4 tablespoons Soup greens Onion, 2 slices Sprigs of parsley Milk, 1-1/2 cups Carrot, 1 Fat, 1-1/2 tablespoons Salt and pepper Stalk of celery

Wash and pare potatoes. Cook in boiling salted water until they are soft. Rub through colander. Use water in which potatoes were cooked to make upthe two cups of water for the soup. Cook carrot cut in cubes in boilingwater until soft; drain. Scald milk with onion, celery, and parsley. Addmilk and water to potatoes. Melt fat in sauce pan, add flour, and cook forthree minutes. Slowly add soup, stirring constantly. Boil for one minute, season with salt and pepper. Add cubes of carrots and serve. 

Salmon en Casserole (1)

Cook one cup of rice. When cold line baking dish. Take one can of salmonand flake. Beat two eggs, one-third cup of milk, one tablespoon of butter, pinch of salt, dash of paprika. Stir into the salmon lightly, coverlightly with rice. Steam one hour, serve with white sauce. (This may alsobe made with barley instead of rice. )

Scalloped Salmon (1)

 Salmon, 1 can Egg, 1 Milk, 1 pint Flour, 2 rounding tablespoons Butter, 1-1/2 tablespoons

Put the milk on stove in double boiler, keeping out one-half cup. Mixbutter and flour to a smooth paste, and add the egg well beaten, then theone-half cup of cold milk. Mix well and then stir into the milk, whichshould be scalding. Stir until smooth and thick like gravy. Season withsalt and pepper and set aside to cool. Butter a baking dish and fill withalternate layers of flaked salmon and the cream dressing. The top layershould be of the dressing. Sprinkle with cracker crumbs and bake one-halfhour in moderate oven. 

Salmon Loaf (1)

 Salmon, 1 small can Egg, 1 Cracker crumbs, 1 cup Sweet milk, 2 tablespoons Paprika Nutmeg Salt

Remove bones from salmon; break into small pieces, add well beaten egg, seasoning, and cracker crumbs; bake in a well buttered dish for 15minutes; serve hot for lunch. 

Tamale Pie (12)

 Corn meal, 2 cups Salt, 2 1/2 teaspoons Boiling water, 6 cups Onion, 1 Fat, 1 tablespoon Hamburger steak, 1 pound Tomatoes, 2 cups Cayenne pepper, 1/2 teaspoon, or Chopped sweet pepper, 1 small Salt, 1 teaspoon

Make a mush by stirring the corn meal and one and one-half teaspoons saltinto boiling water. Cook in a double boiler or over water for 45 minutes. Brown the onion in the fat, add the Hamburger steak, and stir until thered color disappears. Add the tomatoes, pepper, and salt. Grease abaking-dish, put in a layer of corn meal mush, add the seasoned meat, andcover with mush. Bake 30 minutes. Serves six. 

Turkish Pilaf (3)

 Washed rice, 1 cup Raw lean beef or lamb, 1 pound Salt, 1 teaspoon Boiling water, 2 cups Small onion or garlic, 2 cloves Tomatoes, 2 cups Olive oil or any fat, 2 tablespoons

Fry onion cut in small pieces or the garlic in the fat until slightlybrown; add rice, seasonings, water, tomatoes, meat, and cook in a covereddish until the rice is soft. The meat may be omitted, the rice cooked inthe tomatoes and water, and the whole covered with grated cheese and bakeduntil cheese is melted. 

Vegetable Stew

 Beef, 1/2 pound Mutton, 1/2 pound Carrots, diced, 1/2 cup Potatoes, diced, 2 cups Tomatoes, canned, 3/4 cup Fat, 2 tablespoons Carrot, 1 whole Onion, sliced, 3 tablespoons Cabbage, chopped, 1 cup Flour, 1/4 cup Bay leaf, 1/2 leaf Cloves, 6 Peppercorns, 6 Parsley, chopped, 2 tablespoons Salt, 2 teaspoons Thyme, 1 sprig Water, 7 cups

Cut meat in small pieces, brown with onion in fat, add water, one carrotin which cloves have been imbedded, and other vegetables. Tie bay leaf, thyme, and peppercorns together in a piece of cheesecloth and cook withstew about two hours (till vegetables are done). Remove bag of seasonings, thicken stew with flour. Add more salt if needed. 

PUDDINGS

Apricot Tapioca Pudding (4)

 Apricots, 6 Sugar, 1/2 cup Pearl tapioca, 1 cup Salt, 1/2 teaspoon Boiling water, 3 cups

Cover the tapioca with cold water and soak for one hour. Drain off thecold water, add the boiling water and salt, and cook over water (in adouble boiler if you have one) until the tapioca is transparent, and nohard center portion remains. This will require about 30 minutes. Place theapricots in a buttered baking dish. Add sugar to the tapioca, pour thisover the apricots, add apricot juice, and bake in a moderate oven forabout 20 minutes. Cool and serve. If dried apricots are to be used, theyshould be soaked over night or several hours in cold water sufficient tocover them. Cook in the water in which they have soaked until they aretender. 

Cereal Pudding (8)

 Left over cereal, 3-1/2 cups Apple sauce, 1/2 cup or Apple, 1 Sugar, 1 tablespoon Butter, 1 tablespoon Bread crumbs, 2 tablespoons

Put a layer of cereal in the bottom of a buttered baking dish, then alayer of apples or sauce, then sugar if the sauce has not been sweetened. Then put in another layer of cereal, cover with buttered crumbs. Bake 30minutes if it has apple sauce in it, one hour if raw apples are used. Serve with cream. 

Cereal Date Pudding (11)

 Cereal (half corn meal and half farina), 3/4 cup Boiling water, 3 cups Salt, 3/4 teaspoon Chopped dates, 1 cup Oleomargarine, 1 tablespoon Corn syrup (light), 1/2 cup Egg, 1

Stir the cereal mixture gradually into the boiling water, to which thesalt has been added. Cook directly over the flame for about five minutes, stirring constantly, and then cook over water for one and one-half hours. Add oleomargarine, syrup, egg, well beaten, and chopped dates. Turn into agreased baking dish and bake for about 30 minutes in a moderate oven(360-390° F. ). 

Chocolate Bread Pudding (11)

 Bread, broken in small pieces, 2 1/2 cups Corn syrup (dark), 1/2 cup Brown sugar, 1/4 cup Egg, 1 Salt, 1/4 teaspoon Chocolate, 2 squares Milk, 1 1/2 cups Hot water, 1 1/2 cups Vanilla, 3/4 teaspoon

Soak bread in milk; add syrup, brown sugar, egg, well beaten, and salt. Melt chocolate in water; add gradually to bread mixture. Add vanilla. Bakein custard cups, set in hot water, in a moderate oven. 

Eggless Steamed Pudding (11)

 Flour, 1 2/3 cups Soda, 1/2 teaspoon Salt, 1/4 teaspoon Cloves, 1/4 teaspoon Allspice, 1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon Hardened vegetable fat, 3 tablespoons Molasses, 1/2 cup Milk, 1/2 cup Raisins (seeded and cut in pieces), 1 cup

Sift together the flour, soda, salt, and spices; add the raisins. To milkadd molasses and melted fat; add liquid mixture gradually to dryingredients. Stir thoroughly. Turn into greased molds, filling them alittle over half full; cover and steam for about two and one-half hours. Serve with pudding sauce or milk. (Baking powder cans are satisfactorymolds for steamed puddings. )

Honey Pudding (5)

 Honey, 1/2 cup Bread crumbs, 6 ounces Milk, 1/2 cup Rind of half a lemon Ginger, 1/2 teaspoon Eggs, 2 Butter, 2 tablespoons

Mix the honey and the bread crumbs and add the milk, seasonings, and yolksof the eggs. Beat the mixture thoroughly and then add the butter and thewhites of the eggs well beaten. Steam for about two hours in a puddingmold which is not more than three-quarters full. 

Indian Pudding (3)

 Milk, 1 quart Molasses, 1/2 cup Corn meal, 1/3 cup Ginger, 2 teaspoons Salt, 1 teaspoon Cold milk, 1 cup

Pour milk, scalded, over meal, and cook 20 minutes; add salt, ginger, andmolasses. Cook slowly in a buttered baking dish two hours. When half done, add the cold milk and finish cooking. 

Baked Indian and Apple Pudding (8)

 Corn meal, 1/4 cup Milk, 2 cups Salt, 1/2 teaspoon Ginger, 1/2 teaspoon Molasses, 1/4 cup Apple, 1

Sift corn meal slowly into the scalded milk, stirring constantly. Cook indouble boiler 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add salt, ginger, andmolasses. Put into greased baking dish and bake one hour in a slow oven, stirring occasionally. Slice apple and stir into pudding. Bake until appleis tender. 

Prune Brown Betty (11)

 Cooked prunes, stoned and cut into halves, 2-1/2 cups Bread crumbs (dry), 1/2 cup Corn syrup (dark), 1/4 cup Lemon juice, 3 tablespoons Grated rind of 1/4 lemon Cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon Salt, 1/2 teaspoon Oleomargarine, 1 tablespoon Prune juice, 1/2 cup

Mix together heated prune juice, fat, salt, corn syrup, lemon juice, lemonrind, and cinnamon. Moisten bread crumbs with part of this mixture. Into agreased baking dish put alternate layers of bread crumbs and prunes, pouring part of liquid mixture over each layer of prunes. Bake in amoderate oven about 45 minutes. 

Rice Pudding (11)

 Rice, 1/4 cup Milk, 3/4 cup Corn syrup (light), 2 tablespoons Nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon Raisins, 3/4 cup

Cook the rice in boiling salted water, until soft. Pour off water, addmilk, syrup, nutmeg, and raisins. Bake in a moderate oven (370-380° F. )for 40 minutes. 

Spiced Pudding (11)

 Browned crusts of bread, 1 cup Scalded milk, 2 cups Molasses, 1/2 cup Raisins, 1/2 cup Salt, 1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon Cloves, 1/4 teaspoon

Soak the crusts in the milk until soft. Add molasses, salt, spices, andraisins. Bake in a moderate oven (360-380° F. ), stirring occasionally atfirst. Serve with milk or cream. 

 * * * * *

The following pages contain advertisements of books by the same author oron kindred subjects. 

FEEDING THE FAMILY

BY MARY SWARTZ ROSE

Illustrated, $2. 10

This is a clear and concise account in simple every-day terms of the waysin which modern knowledge of the science of nutrition may be applied inordinary life. The food needs of the different members of the typicalfamily group--men, women, infants, children of various ages--are discussedin separate chapters, and many concrete illustrations in the form of foodplans and dietaries are included. The problems of the housewife in tryingto reconcile the needs of different ages and tastes at the same table arealso taken up, as are the cost of food and the construction of menus. Afinal chapter deals with feeding the sick. 

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THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

 Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York

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A LABORATORY HAND-BOOK FOR DIETETICS

BY MARY SWARTZ ROSE, PH. D. 

Assistant Professor, Department of Nutrition, Teachers College, ColumbiaUniversity

Cloth, 8vo, $1. 10

Investigations into the quantitative requirements of the human body haveprogressed so far as to make dietetics to a certain extent an exactscience, and to emphasize the importance of a quantitative study of foodmaterials. This little book explains the problems involved in thecalculation of food values and food requirements, and the construction ofdietaries, and furnishes reference tables which will minimize the laborinvolved in such work without limiting dietary study to a few foodmaterials. 

Only brief statements of the conditions affecting food requirements havebeen made, the reader being referred to general textbooks on the subjectof nutrition for fuller information, but such data have been included asseem most useful in determining the amount of food for any normalindividual under varying conditions of age and activity. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 PART I

 FOOD VALUES AND FOOD REQUIREMENTS

 THE COMPOSITION OF FOOD MATERIALS. 

 THE FUNCTIONS OF FOOD. Food as a Source of Energy. Food as Building Material. Food in the Regulation of Body Processes. 

 FOOD REQUIREMENT. The Energy Requirement of Normal Adults. The Energy Requirement of Children. The Energy Requirement of the Aged. The Protein Requirement. The Fat and Carbohydrate Requirement. The Ash Requirement. 

 PART II

 PROBLEMS IN DIETARY CALCULATIONS Studies in Weight, Measure, and Cost of Some Common Food Materials. Relation between Percentage Composition and Weight. Calculation of the Fuel Value of a Single Food Material. Calculation of the Weight of a Standard or 100-Calorie Portion. Food Value of a Combination of Food Materials. Distribution of Foodstuffs in a Standard Portion of a Single Food Material. Calculation of a Standard Portion of a Combination of Food Materials. Analysis of a Recipe. Modification of Cow's Milk to a Required Formula. Calculation of the Percentage Composition of a Food Mixture. The Calculation of a Complete Dietary. Scoring of the Dietary. 

 REFERENCE TABLES Refuse in Food Materials. Conversion Tables--Grams to Ounces. Conversion Tables--Ounces to Grams. Conversion Tables--Pounds to Grams. Food Values in Terms of Standard Units of Weight. Ash Constituents in Percentages of the Edible Portion. Ash Constituents in Standard or 100-Calorie Portions. 

 APPENDIX The Equipment of a Dietetics Laboratory. 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

 Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York

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THE FOOD PROBLEM

BY VERNON KELLOGG AND ALONZO E. TAYLOR. $1. 25

 "Food is always more or less of a problem in every phase of its production, handling and consumption. It is a problem with every farmer, every transporter and seller, every householder. It is a problem with every town, state and nation. And now very conspicuously, it is a problem with three great groups, namely the Allies, The Central Empires and The Neutrals; in a word it is a great international problem. "

These sentences from the introduction indicate the scope of _The FoodProblem_ by Vernon Kellogg and Alonzo E. Taylor. 

Both authors are members of the United States Food Administration. Dr. Kellogg is also connected with the Commission for relief in Belgium andprofessor in Stanford University. Mr. Taylor is a member of the ExportsAdministrative Board and professor in the University of Pennsylvania. Thepreface is by Herbert Hoover, United States Food Administrator andChairman for the Commission of Relief in Belgium. 

The food problem of today, of our nation, therefore, has as its mostconspicuous phase an international character. Some of the questions whichthe book considers are:

What is the Problem in detail?

What are the general conditions of its solution?

What are the immediate and particulars which concern us, and are withinour power to affect?

And finally, what are we actually doing to meet our problem?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 Introduction: The International Problem. 

 Part I. The Problem and the Solution. 

 Chapter I. The Food Situation of the Western Allies and the United States. II. Food Administration. III. How England, France and Italy are Controlling and Saving Food. IV. Food Control in Germany and Its Lessons. 

 Part II. The Technology of Food Use. 

 Chapter V. The Physiology of Nutrition. VI. The Sociology of Nutrition. VII. The Sociology of Nutrition (Continued). VIII. Grain and Alcohol. 

 Conclusion: Patriotism and Food. 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

 Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York

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BY HELEN KINNE, Professor, AND ANNA M. COOLEY, Associate Professor ofHousehold Arts Education, Teachers College, Columbia University

Cloth, 12mo, ill. $1. 10

FOODS AND HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT

Treats specifically of foods, their production, sanitation, cost, nutritive value, preparation, and serving, these topics being closelyinterwoven with the practical aspects of household management; and theyare followed by a study of the household budget and accounts, methods ofbuying, housewifery, and laundering. It includes about 160 carefullyselected and tested recipes, together with a large number of cookingexercises of a more experimental nature designed to develop initiative andresourcefulness. 

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This book takes up fully, but with careful balance, every phase ofhome-making: location, structure, plan, sanitation, heating, lighting, decorating, and furnishing. The second part is devoted to textiles, sewing, and dressmaking. Sewing, drafting, designing, fitting, and cuttingare treated in considerable detail as is also the making of the personalbudget for clothing. 

The authors hold that harmony will be the keynote of the home inproportion as the makers of the home regard the plan, the sanitation, thedecoration of the house itself, and as they exercise economy and wisdom inthe provision of clothing. 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

 Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York