Class Book f Copyright N°__. COPYRIGHT DEPOSfT. THE FAMILY FOOD BY T. C. O'Donnell THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY PHILADELPHIA 191 1 7 II Diet for Mental Efficiency 13 III Diet for Muscular Efficiency .... 30 IV Shopping Economics 40 V Hygiene of the Kitchen 54 VI Cooking 69 VII Meat Foods . . . 82 VIII The Cereals 102 IX Vegetables 133 X Fruits ....'. 156 XI Nuts 174 XII Dairy Products 186 XIII Condiments and Spices 199 XIV Beverages 206 XV Catering for the Sick ....... 229 Index 255 THE FAMILY FOOD CHAPTER I BETTER FOOD AT LESS COST The science of the human body has failed to keep pace with the progress which has been made in the mechanical sciences. Within the space of a century and a half, locomotive engineering has reached a state of perfection which leaves little, it would seem, to be added. Within the same period of time electricity has been discovered and wrought into the very fabric of our every-day life. Little more than a century ago the first balloon ascension was made; to-day we are flying at will in heavier-than-air machines. Knowledge of medicines and surgery has likewise made rapid strides; we have become marvelously adept in the art of making people well; but only now are we beginning to discover the science of keeping well. Every man and woman spends on an aver- 7 8 THE FAMILY FOOD age ten days a year under the physician's care — laid up for repairs, as it were. Add to this the further fact that most people suffer constantly from chronic headache, nervous- ness, indigestion, or other ailments which im- pair their working efficiency, making concen- tration and alertness of mind and deftness of hand impossible, and one sees at once that it is a crude sort of machine with which we at- tempt to do our part in this strenuous world's work. A locomotive as inefficient as the aver- age human body would be consigned to the scrap heap. And yet, compared with the obstacles which have had to be overcome in, say, mastering the air, progress in human efficiency is a sim- ple affair. In the one case, long and expen- sive series of experiments were necessary to ascertain the type of craft best suited to aerial navigation, while the means of propulsion pre- sented problems which even now have not been solved. With the body, however, the case is different. We cannot alter the ma- chine with which we have been endowed, not even with respect to those anatomical and me- chanical defects in the human organism which Darwin regarded as positive disproof of the creation of man by an intelligent power. BETTER FOOD AT LESS COST 9 FOOD AND HEALTH Efforts toward the perfection of the body- as an efficient working and thinking machine must therefore be confined to improvements in its motive power ; and since this is generated from the foods we eat, the range of our en- quiries is narrowed down chiefly to what food we shall eat and how and when we shall eat it. It is said, on good authority, that 90 per cent, of all physical ailments are attributa- ble to gastric disorders, and it would not be wide of the truth to add that the remaining 10 per cent, are for the greater part inherited from the wrong dietetic habits of our ances- tors. VALUE OF PROPER DIET We would not be understood as saying, of course, that 90 per cent, of all sickness could be eliminated by proper habits of diet; but it is an undoubted fact that proper habits of diet, combined with fresh air and exercise, will eliminate 90 per cent, of chronic dis- ease, and at the same time so build up the system as to make the individual immune, or practically immune, to acute diseases. 10 THE FAMILY FOOD KEEP WELL AND SAVE MONEY Immunity to disease means, as we have said, muscular and mental efficiency; but it has as well a decided value in household economics : while you are cutting out sickness you are at the same time cutting down your doctor's and druggist's accounts. Many families on the amount which needless sickness costs them could live in a fair degree of independence. The money which they spend for medicines and " dope " would give the children a college edu- cation or set them up in business. This question of economics, moreover, has another important phase: those foods which are most conducive to efficiency and immu- nity to disease are the cheapest. Chowders, salads, hot sauces, expensive cuts of meat, fritters, and indigestible foods of this kind, for instance, cost double the price of plain, nourishing food such as potatoes, rice, bread and butter, milk, etc. To illustrate : the dinner menu for the aver- age family of six, on a $2,000 income, will read something as follows: salmon (broiled), .30; peas, .085; bread, .04; beef (rib roast), .60; potatoes, .02; tomatoes (stuffed), .067; lettuce and cucumbers, .10; French dressing, BETTER FOOD AT LESS COST 11 .08; saltines, .025; cheese, .03; coffee, .032; relishes and garnishes, .15; total, $1,529, or an average of 30 cents per person, while the number of calories per person is 1,400. * Let us see if good palatable food cannot be purchased that will yield 1,400 calories at a considerably less expense, as indicated by the following suggestive bill of fare: tomato soup, .10; potatoes, .02 ; baked cauliflower, .04; Lima beans, .12; spinach, .10; macaroni (with cheese), .07; bread, .04; butter, .15 ; ripe olives, .10; pie (pumpkin), .08; cocoa, .05; walnuts (3 ounces), .08; or a total of 95 cents, or a trifle less than sixteen cents per person, with a food value of 1,440 calories. Not only is the meal quite equal in point of variety and palatableness to the more elaborate dinner, but each dish is wholesome and not open, from the standpoint of health, to some of the ob- jections which can be brought against such foods as salmon, saltines and roast rib. To state, then, in a simple, practical way the means by which health and efficiency may be increased and the doctor's and grocer's bills decreased is the aim of the following chap- ters. The author has no thesis to present, 1 For the above figures the author is indebted to Mrs. Ellen H. Richards' valuable work, " The Cost of Food." 12 THE FAMILY FOOD convinced as he is that it is facts, not theory, which the housewife must have access to in planning an efficiency diet for her family. He takes this opportunity, also, of asking the reader's indulgence if in places the writing seems involved and technical. The only justi- fication which he offers is this : that as already suggested, the subject is comparatively a new one, and in lieu of a popular nomenclature one is obliged, in writing for the lay reader, often to adopt a scientific term or else use a round- about mode of expression which would be- wilder the reader in a maze of circumlocution. CHAPTER II DIET FOR MENTAL EFFICIENCY Most important of all questions relating to diet is the amount of food necessary to keep the body in health. It may not be true in every case that " we eat too much by half," as has been averred, but almost every one of us could cut down his daily ration by a long way and be the better for it. An adult body doing muscular work re- quires nearly one and one-half pounds of food a day to replace the heat which is consumed in its energies. Of this amount four ounces, or 119 grams, should consist of the proteins, 1 1 The chemical elements which compose our food fall into four groups: (1) proteins, (2) fats, (3) car- bohydrates, and (4) water and salts. The proteins are made up chiefly of nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, and hy- drogen. They are found chiefly in nuts, meats, eggs, milk, cream, cheese, peas, beans, lentils, and to a lesser degree in grains. The carbohydrates compose that group in which carbon exists in combination with hy- drogen and oxygen, and are found chiefly in cereals, fruits, and vegetables. Cane sugar and the various forms of starch are typical carbohydrate foods. The fats represent another combination of carbon, hydro- gen and oxygen, in which carbon predominates. Olive oil, which is almost pure fat, butter and nuts are excel- 13 14 THE FAMILY FOOD the cell-building element; two ounces, or 56 grams, should be made up of the fats, and 17.5 ounces, or 500 grams, of carbohydrates, both purely heat- or energy-producing groups. Either in an oven or in the body the combustion of these 23.5 ounces of food produces about 3,000 calories, 1 or heat units, lent types of the fats. Water forms about sixty-five per cent, of the weight of the body, and consequently enters quite largely into the composition of food. The mineral salts, calcium, chlorin, sodium, iron, etc., exist in our bodies in various combinations, and consequently must form a part of the food we eat. They are found chiefly in fruits and green vegetables. The proportion in which these various substances should be present in our food will be given attention in later chapters. 1 1 gram protein is equivalent to 4.1 calories (a cal- orie is the amount of heat necessary to raise the tem- perature of a gram of water from 15-16.8 Fahrenheit). I gram fat is equivalent to 9.3 calories. I gram carbohydrate is equivalent to 4.1 calories. Thus, 118 grams of protein are equiva- lent to 483.8 calories. 56 grams of fat are equivalent to 520.8 500 grams of carbohydrate are equivalent to 2050.0 " Total 3054.6 " These figures represent the ration in the various food elements for the muscular worker. Reduced one-third, they give in each instance the amount of the various elements required for the sedentary worker, or ap- proximately : proteins, 300 calories ; fats, 350 calories, and carbohydrates, 1350 calories. A woman doing ac- tive housework needs practically the same amount of food as a man doing muscular work, considering, of course, the size of the individual, which as shown in the table on page 19, is an important factor. Very light housework will approximate more nearly the ration for DIET FOR MENTAL EFFICIENCY 15 precisely the amount of heat which the body transforms into energy when doing muscu- lar work. THE BALANCE BETWEEN FOOD AND EXERCISE It is important that this nice balance be- tween the intake of food and the body's de- mand for heat and energy be maintained. There are two ways in which substances taken into the- body as nourishment are eliminated : {i) in the generation of heat and energy, and (2) in the excretions of the various elimina- tory organs. When one takes into his system more food than is required to supply heat and energy, the surplus must be eliminated by the excre- tory organs. Now in a perfectly healthy body these organs are worked to their full capacity in casting off the poisons which result from the chemical changes which take place in the digestion and assimilation of food. The lungs, for instance, while they constantly breathe in oxygen from the air, at the same time exhale carbonic acid gas. the sedentary man. A boy 12 or a girl 13-14 years of age requires seven-tenths the amount of food demanded by a man doing muscular work;, a boy 10-11 or a girl 10-12 years of age six-tenths ; a child 6-9 years of age, one-half ; 2-5 years of age, two-fifths, and under two years, three-tenths. 16 THE FAMILY FOOD If, in addition, we fill our system with food which cannot be utilized in the produc- tion of energy and heat, it is thrown upon the various organs for elimination, with the re- sult that these organs collapse under the addi- tional load. THE CAUSE OF FATIGUE Unable to leave the, body either as energy or as excretions, these substances are carried by the blood to all parts of the body, where they undergo chemical changes which convert them into virulent poisons. Circulating in the brain, these toxins, as they are called, pro- duce migraine and other forms of headache; they give to the skin a dingy, yellowish hue which we are in the habit of considering a symptom of " biliousness," though the fact is that biliousness and sallowness of the skin are both symptoms of a common disorder — poisoning of the body tissues by the circulating toxins, a condition which has become known as " autointoxication." An aspect of autointoxication that must ap- peal with special force to the sedentary and the muscular worker is its production of fatigue. The poisons which cause autointoxication, in- DIET FOR MENTAL EFFICIENCY 17 deed, are sometimes spoken of as " fatigue poisons," because, paralyzing the nerves and muscles, they render them incapable of pro- longed application without producing intense weariness. If the condition is allowed to go on without relief the fatigue becomes chronic, and mental work is entirely out of the ques- tion. PROTEINS DECAY READILY Particularly virulent are the toxins which rise from decaying protein substances. Meat, for example, which is rich in protein material, is set upon by the germs of decomposition as soon as it reaches the alimentary canal, and gives rise rapidly to poisonous substances which enter the system through the blood and cause fatigue of the most pronounced character. Meat on this account should be omitted from the dietary of the man who wishes to attain the highest efficiency of mind. The legumes — peas, beans and lentils — are likewise rich in protein and should not be eaten in excess, though they do not decay so rapidly as does meat, and in themselves contain no poisons, whereas in the case of meat the fatigue poi- sons which are present in the human body were 18 THE FAMILY FOOD also present in the body of the animal at the time of slaughter, and serve to surcharge the system with the toxins of fatigue and autoin- toxication. EAT ACCORDING TO YOUR VOCATION In determining the quantity of food neces- sary for a man doing sedentary work, one must bear in mind his particular vocation. The clerk whose duties require him to move about the office a portion of the time demands more food, other things being equal, than his em- ployer who sits at his desk throughout the day. The traveling salesman gets a good deal of exercise in the way of walking, and will eat more heartily than the bookkeeper who sits astride a stool all day. One must study his individual case and arrange his diet accord- ingly, though in hardly any occupation which can be termed " sedentary " is an excess of 2,000 to 2,200 justifiable. Size and weight of the individual have like- wise an important relation to the daily ration, but the following table, based upon the results of careful experiments, will show approxi- mately the number of calories required for persons of various heights and weights: DIET FOR MENTAL EFFICIENCY 19 DAILY FOOD REQUIRED FOR MEN OF VARIOUS SIZES Height Weight Calories n squired Total in in Pro- Carbo- calories inches pounds teins Fats hydrates required 62 1 1 0.0 165 378 1132 1675 63 "5-5 173 391 1 175 1739 64 121.0 181 407 1222 810 65 126.5 190 419 1256 1865 66 132.0 198 431 1292 1921 67 137-5 206 442 1328 1976 68 143.0 215 454 1363 2032 69 148.5 222 466 1399 2087 70 I54-0 231 478 1433 2142 71 159-5 239 487 1463 2189 72 165.0 247 499 1499 2245 73 170.5 255 511 1534 2300 74 176.0 264 5-25 1575 2364 DAILY FOOD REQUIRED FOR WOMEN OF VARIOUS SIZES Height Weight Calories required Total in in Pro- Carbo- calories inches pounds teins Fats hydrates required 57 78-4 118 278 833 1229 58 83.6 125 308 922 1355 59 88.8 132 319 958 1409 60 94.1 141 335 1005 1481 61 99-2 149 349 1045 1543 62 1045 156 360 1080 1596 63 109.3 163 375 1 126 1664 64 1 15-0 172 391 1174 1737 65 120.2 180 402 1208 1790 66 1254 187 416 1249 1852 67 130.7 195 428 1283 T9o6 68 1370 205 442 1327 1974 69 143.0 215 454 1363 2032 70 149.0 223 467 1399 2089 7i I55-0 232 479 1436 2147 72 161.0 241 491 1472 2204 20 THE FAMILY FOOD Age likewise influences the individual food requirement, the digestive organs of a growing boy and of a healthy and active young man being naturally more vigorous than in the case of a man who has reached maturity. A per- son of advanced years should be careful to eat those foods which are particularly easy of digestion, for it has been found that one- eighth of the energy derived from food is expended in its digestion, and it is important that a man, when he reaches the time of life when he does not have a superabundance of vital force, conserve as much as possible of what he does have. RELATION OF SEASONS TO DIET Variations with the season are also marked. In the more northern climates the vital fires, like the fires of our stoves and furnaces, burn more briskly during the cold months of winter than in the warm months of summer when the body requires less heat to maintain its temperature. Inasmuch as heat produc- tion is an important consideration in a winter ration, fats and carbohydrates should usually occupy rather a more important place in the dietary than is the case in the summer time; though to what extent this is true will be de- DIET FOR MENTAL EFFICIENCY 21 termined in each case by the vigor of the in- dividual's digestive organs. The mistake commonly made by sedentary workers is to eat heartily during the cold season of what are termed " heavy " foods ; that is, meats, peas, beans, and other foods rich in proteins, when it is not increased protein that the sys- tem craves, but fats and carbohydrates — ele- ments furnished in abundance by the vegeta- bles and cereals, which are obtainable in abundance, if the cellar and larder have been prudently stocked with them during the au- tumn months. In planning a dietary adapted to his par- ticular needs, and in working out menus, the reader will find the following table of food equivalents of practical assistance. Owing to lack of uniformity in size of servings * and in size and composition of samples of the same species of foodstuff (fruit for instance), it is impossible to be exact, but the figures as given are approximately so, and may be followed with the utmost confidence. More precise in- formation concerning each food will be found in subsequent chapters: 1 Where the weight or other measurement of the serving is not given, the ordinary side-dish serving is understood. THE FAMILY FOOD rood Element Served CaLl Apples: fresh C. i apple 90 stewed " 1 serving 70 Apricot " 1 serving 70 Banana *• 1 banana (2 oz.) 55 Beans: baked p. 1 serving 20 string C. 1 serving 12 Lima P. 1 large serving 20 Beets C. 1 beet, average size 20 Beverages: grape juice " J4 pint 190 apple juice " Yi pint 140 cocoa F. 1 cupful 100 lemonade C. 1 small glassful 75 Blackberries, fresh " I serving 50 stewed " 1 serving 100 Breads: white «• 1 slice 75 wholewheat " 1 slice 75 graham « 1 slice 75 Vienna rolls ........ « 1 large roll 100 Zwieback ■' 1 slice 90 toasted wheat flakes . «• 1 serving 100 toasted corn flakes . . " 1 serving 65 shredded wheat biscuit " 1 biscuit 100 oatmeal biscuit (square) jt 2 biscuits 100 soda biscuits (small round) 8 biscuits 100 Butter F. 1 serving (1 oz.) 100 Cabbage, creamed C. 1 serving 14 Cake " 1 serving 170 Cantaloupe " 1 serving (6% oz.) 70 Carrots, creamed " I carrot, medium 40 Cauliflower, creamed .. M 1 serving 15 Celery C. 1 entire stalk (10 oz.) 55 Cheese: cream P. and F. 1 serving (same size as ordinary butter serv- ing) 100 cottage " " ** 1 serving (same size as ordinary butter serv- ing) 100 Cherries: fresh C. 1 serving 50 stewed " 1 serving 90 Cornmeal mush " 1 serving 75 Corn: sweet, canned " 1 serving 100 succotash P. and C. 1 serving 100 hominy C. 1 serving 85 hominy (grits) " 1 serving 65 1 Abbreviations used in this table: P.= proteins; F.= fats; C.= carbohydrates; Cal.= calories. DIET FOR MENTAL EFFICIENCY Food Cranberries Cucumber Dates Eggs: scrambled or boiled . . poached poached on toast . . . white yolk eggnog Egg plant Fig, fresh or stewed . . Honey Ice cream Lentils Lettuce Macaroni, with egg or cheese Milk: sweet skimmed buttermilk cream Nuts : almonds Brazil nuts cocoanut filberts hickory nuts pecans peanuts pinenuts , nutbutter Chief Element C. Served i serving i serving 4 dates, large F. and P. i egg, large « « » j egg) large " " i serving P. White of i egg F. Yolk of i egg i serving i serving i serving i serving (4 teaspoons) 1 serving 1 serving 1 serving C. Oatmeal mush Olives: ripe oil Onions Oranges Parsnips Peaches: fresh stewed Peas, green . Pears: fresh stewed Pie: apple custard lemon pumpkin Pineapple .... Plums: fresh stewed P. and C. 1 serving F. and C. 1 glassful P. 1 glassful P. and C. 1 glassful F. 1 serving (2% 02.) " 8 nuts " 3 nuts " 1 serving (2 oz.) " 10 filberts " 10 nuts " 8 nuts " 12 nuts " 1 ounce " 1 serving (size dairy butter) C. 1 serving (4*4 oz.) 10 olives 1 tablespoon 1 small onion 1 orange 1 serving 3 peaches 1 serving 1 serving 1 large pear 1 serving 1 serving 1 serving 1 serving 1 serving 1 serving 3 large plums 1 serving CaL i45 20 100 100 So 200 SO SO 50 55 140 100 100 100 20 100 150 IS 75 125 xoo IOO 100 IOO IOO IOO IOO IOO IOO 75 no IOO IS 75 5o IOO IOO So IOO 95 16S n5 170 170 70 IOO 97 24 THE FAMILY FOOD Food CWef xooa Element Prunes: dried _ c stewed "' Potatoes: baked C. boiled " mashed " sweet potato " Raisins, stewed " Raspberries: fresh " stewed " Rice: boiled " puffed " toasted rice flakes ... " Salad: beet " fruit " potato " Soup: bean P. corn C. and F. tomato C. vegetable " Spinach " Squash, baked " Strawberries: fresh, sugar and cream " stewed " Sugar : cane " maple " Tapioca custard " Tomato: canned " fresh " Turnips, creamed " Vegetable oysters " Watermelon " Served CaL 3 large prunes 6 large prunes 100 zoo i potato, i potato, i serving l potato, : i serving fairly large large medium 100 100 65 175 175 l serving i serving 5o 90 i serving i serving i serving no 45 100 i serving i serving i serving 20 60 30 i serving, i serving i serving i serving i serving i serving large 35 45 5o 25 50 40 i serving l serving 100 j 00 i lump 4 teaspoons i serving 16 100 65 i serving l large tomato i serving l serving i serving (8 02.) 25 35 3t> 25 100 HOW TO MEASURE YOUR FOOD To plan a day's ration with the assistance of these food equivalents, it is necessary simply to bear in mind that of the 2,000 food units or calories necessary, 300 should be pro- tein, 350 fats, and 1,350 carbohydrates. One can easily vary his diet with a variation in the DIET FOR MENTAL EFFICIENCY 25 nature of his work. When he is called upon to do an unwonted amount of muscular labor he can increase the proportion of fats and car- bohydrates, as it is these two elements from which muscular, energy is generated. When, on the other* hand, one is obliged to undergo a " siege " of intense mental work, with little or no opportunity to take physical exercise, he should eat fewer of the fats and carbohydrates, without, at the same time, increasing his intake of protein. NUMBER OF MEALS There is a considerable variety of habit among sedentary workers with respect to the number of meals and the time when they are eaten. The demands of business, especially in the large cities, make it impossible to dine at home for the midday meal, so luncheon is eaten at the restaurant and the six-o'clock dinner is made the chief meal of the day. This plan is ideal in this one respect, that it places the main meal at the end of the working day; but unfortunately it leaves too little time for the digestion of the dinner. So heavy a meal as a six-o'clock dinner should have at least four hours for digestion, but as this would mean an eleven- or twelve-o'clock bed time in 26 THE FAMILY FOOD most cases, we must do the best we can under the circumstances, and render the dinner as digestible as possible. This we can do by choosing the foods which are most digestible, and masticating them with absolute thorough- ness. From a study of subsequent chapters one can select those foods which digest most easily — rice and the various other grains, fruits, many of the vegetables, etc., and by Fletcherzing these until they are reduced to a liquid he can make even a six-o'clock dinner healthful. THE IDEAL MEAL SCHEDULE The ideal plan is to breakfast lightly at nine or half-past, and dine at four, with no subsequent meal or work, for digestion pro- ceeds more rapidly when the mind is at rest. At the same time a light breakfast, preferably of fruits, does not fill the blood with surplus food elements which clog the mind, and fer- menting, produce early fatigue. Many sedentary workers eat but one meal a day, taking nothing, or at most an apple, in the morning, and eating one meal in the after- noon at the end of their period of work. Con- venience, dictated by business or social duties, determines in most cases the arrangements of DIET FOR MENTAL EFFICIENCY 27 meals, but under no conditions should one eat more than three meals. A fourth or fifth would be an indulgence of the appetite at the expense of the body, and sooner or later a penalty would be exacted in the form of dys- pepsia, indigestion, gout, or some other dis- order of the digestive system. Where three meals are eaten, half the total number of calories should be divided between breakfast and luncheon (or supper, in cases where the midday dinner is the chief meal of the day) ; and the other half, or 1,000-1,200 calories, devoted to dinner. If but two meals are eaten the breakfast and second meal may divide the two thousand calories equally be- tween them, or the breakfast may consist of but 500 or 600 calories, the dinner consuming the remainder. Experience and observation of one's own case will determine which of the two proportions is the better. BREAKFAST — I. Calories. Peaches, stewed 100 Wholewheat bread 75 Butter 100 Poached egg on toast 200 Cocoa 100 Total 570 28 THE FAMILY FOOD BREAKFAST — II. Calories. Rolled oats 75 Cream 125 Vienna roll 100 Butter 100 Grape juice 190 Total 590 LUNCHEON — I. Cheese macaroni 100 White bread 75 Butter 100 Apple pie 165 Milk 150 Total 590 LUNCHEON — II. Tomato soup 50 Potato salad 30 Graham bread 150 Butter 100 Strawberries, stewed 100 Cocoa 100 Total 530 DINNER — I. Vegetable soup 25 Egg plant 55 Potatoes, baked 100 Brown gravy 75 Lima beans 20 White bread 150 Butter 100 Ripe olives no Celery 55 Pears, stewed 95 Cake 170 Apple juice 140 Total 1070 DIET FOR MENTAL EFFICIENCY 29 DINNER — II. Calories. Corn soup 45 Sweet potato 175 Milk gravy 100 Parsnips, creamed 50 Wholewheat bread 150 Butter 100 Tomatoes, fresh 35 Cottage cheese 100 Tapioca custard 65 Almonds 100 Raspberry nectar 75 Total 995 CHAPTER III DIET FOR MUSCULAR EFFICIENCY The ideal diet for the muscular worker does not differ materially from that of the seden- tary person — it contains about 3,000 calories instead of 2,000, and fats and carbohydrates should occupy a more important place, that is all. To many persons 3,000 calories seem like an impossibly small amount of food upon which to do a hard day's work. Most people eat 4,000 to 4,500 calories, while experiments have shown that Maine lumbermen eat often as many as 8,000 calories ; and yet the lumber- jack protests, as strenuously as does the man who eats 4,000 calories, that he does not eat too much. Grant, then, that a reduction from 8,000 to 4,000 is possible in the one case, and there is no reason to believe a reduction from 4,000 to 3,000 is impossible. The experience of many of the most phys- ically efficient nations in the world have shown that a light ration is of all diets the 30 DIET FOR MUSCULAR EFFICIENCY 31 most conducive to muscular strength and en- durance. The marvelous virility of the Jap- anese, whose soldiers in the late war did some of the most strenuous campaigning recorded since the days of Caesar, and whose laboring classes thrive upon a diet so meager as to seem better adapted to a child than to an active adult, is proverbial. The natives of India likewise are almost indefatigable, the agile runners, for instance, covering as many as one hundred miles a day upon a sparse diet of rice. HEAVY DIET UNNECESSARY IN COLD CLIMATE It cannot be said in behalf of our heavy diet, as opposed to the light diet of the races named, that we live in a more rigorous climate, and hence must eat more food in order to supply necessary heat to the body, for the fact is that our heavy diets are made up very largely of nitrogenous foodstuffs, when it is the fats and carbohydrates, the former particularly, from which heat is generated. Pork and beans, for example, are the most important features of the diet of the Maine lumberman, and both are notably rich in proteins. The working- man in other trades feels that he " just must " have his meat, particularly during the cold 32 THE FAMILY FOOD winter months, when meats do not afford him any particular amount of heat in winter nor energy at any season of the year. Remove from the diet, then, the unneces- sary protein and it is a safe venture that the ration of most workingmen will not greatly exceed 3,000 or 3,500 calories. The amount of protein which the system actually requires in muscular work is about 118 grams, or ap- proximately, 480 calories. These 480 calories enter into the construction of the cells, within which, as coal within a stove, the fats and car- bohydrates undergo combustion and produce heat and energy — a process known as " me- tabolism." If the cells of the body did not wear out, the diet would not have to afford a constant supply of protein substances, but the life of the cell is very brief, so new cells are constantly being made. WHEN THE CELL WEARS OUT As the cell wears out, the protein of which it is made becomes converted into poisonous substances, the most deadly of which are what are known as " skatol " and " indol." It is the function of the kidneys and other ex- cretory organs, as we explained in a previ- ous chapter, to eliminate these poisons, and DIET FOR MUSCULAR EFFICIENCY 33 pretty busy they are kept at it, too. When a vast quantity of proteins is eaten which can- not be used in the construction of cells they further contribute to the production of these poisons until the capacity of the various or- gans to eliminate them is overtaxed, so that the poisons, unable to leave the body, penetrate into every nook and corner of the system and cause fatigue, headache, rheumatism, and even derange the digestive system by giving rise to biliousness, dyspepsia and constipation. It is like the great volume of water which backs away from a high dam, spreading itself out over a wide area of land and forming swamps and morasses which breed miasmas and fevers. The usual remedy for these symptoms is " dope "of some kind, but drugs are utterly powerless to effect a cure; they either have no effect whatever, leaving the benefits en- tirely to the imagination of the sufferer, or else they contain opiates which deaden the pain without removing the cause. A far sim- pler plan is to reduce the daily food ration to correspond with the actual needs of the body. This remedy is as economical as it is effective, for while one is cutting down his meat and grocery bills he does not, at the same time, contribute to the support of the patent medi- 34 THE FAMILY FOOD cine industry, an industry which both the indi- vidual and the nation could very well do with- out. In conforming one's ration to a 2,000-calorie standard, " individual idiosyncrasy," as the physician calls it, must be borne in mind. Many persons find, on giving the matter a test, that 2,800, even 2,500 calories are suffi- cient. Metabolism in these cases is very thor- ough, every portion of the food being utilized in the formation of heat and energy. In other cases metabolism is more uneconomic- ally performed, valuable food materials being excreted as wastes without assisting in the production of heat and energy. In these cases rather more than 3,000 calories may be neces- sary to keep the body in health. These cases can, however, in most instances, be made sus- ceptible to a still further reduction if pains are taken to masticate the food thoroughly and thus get it as near ready for absorption into the system as possible. Careful observa- tion will also inform one as to those foods which he digests most readily and with least waste, these foods being, as a rule, most com- pletely utilized in metabolism. Different kinds of muscular work will also call for different quantities of food. The DIET FOR MUSCULAR EFFICIENCY 35 less intense the labor the smaller the amount of food which the body will demand, from a railway section hand, say, with 3,000 or 3,200 calories, to the less strenuous plumber, or painter, who maintains health and working efficiency on from 2,400 to 2,800 calories. Age is likewise a factor in computing one's dietary, since the metabolism of a man well on in years is less complete than in a younger man, while the elder man is less active about his work and so consumes a smaller amount of heat in the form of energy. SEASONAL INFLUENCES Seasonal influences also enter into the prob- lem of the working man's diet. The fires of the body burn more briskly in the winter than in the summer time, just as the hearth fire glows brightest on the coldest days, and more fuel is consequently necessary. At the same time one can easily extinguish the fire on the grate by smothering it with coal, and so in feeding his vital fires one should remember that between eating too much and too little, there is little to choose, inasmuch as eventu- ally the blaze is put out anyway, and that the only true way to healthful feeding is to eat just enough. 36 THE FAMILY FOOD COLD DINNERS CAUSE INDIGESTION Like the sedentary worker, the muscular la- borer must conform the arrangement of his meals to the demands of his work. Too often, however, the latter is obliged to eat a cold midday meal, and thereby loses much in the way of palatability, as the result of which the glands which secrete the digestive juices do not act as freely, and indigestion is apt to occur. DIGESTION DIFFICULT DURING SLEEP The chief disadvantage, though, to which the muscular worker is subject is the fact that if he takes his dinner at home and makes it the chief meal of the day he is obliged to take up work again almost before digestion has begun, and experiments and individual experi- ence have shown that digestion proceeds slowly, in some cases almost not at all, when the body is performing muscular labor. On the other hand, if he eats a lunch at noon and a heavy dinner at seven o'clock he must retire soon after in order to obtain sufficient sleep, and digestion is quite as difficult during sleep as during work. On this account it is of the utmost impor- tance that the workingman choose those foods DIET FOR MUSCULAR EFFICIENCY 37 which combine the greatest rapidity of diges- tion with the highest energy-producing value. Among the foods which possess these quali- fications are rice and the other cereals (par- ticularly when masticated), fruits, and most of the vegetables. THE EIGHT-HOUR DAY AND DIGESTION The universal application of the eight-hour working day will also be a vast help, as it will enable the worker to dine earlier in the even- ing and thus allow ample time for digestion of the evening meal before he retires. With the table of food equivalents as a guide the muscular worker can easily plan his day's ration of 3,000 calories, allowing the fat and carbohydrate foods to predominate to the extent say of three-fourths the total num- ber of calories. Some latitude is allowable in the proportion of fats to carbohydrates, as the system can use them interchangeably, mak- ing up a deficiency of fats with carbohydrates, and vice versa. The following menus are merely suggestive, and can be varied in an endless variety of ways. Meats are omitted for this reason, that they do not conduce (but quite the contrary) to the highest muscular efficiency, for the reasons given above: 8 THE FAMILY FOOD BREAKFAST — I. Calories. Toasted corn flakes 125 Milk 150 Scrambled eggs 200 White bread 150 Butter 100 Cocoa 100 Total 825 BREAKFAST — II. Steamed rice no Cream 125 Wholewheat bread 150 Butter 100 Cottage cheese 100 Apples, fresh 70 Buttermilk 75 Total 730 LUNCHEON (midday)— I. Eggs, boiled 200 Sandwich, wholewheat bread and cottage cheese 250 Pears, stewed 95 Pie, pumpkin 170 Nuts, filberts 100 Total 815 LUNCHEON (midday) — II. Beans, baked 40 Vienna rolls 200 Butter 100 Bananas 55 Tapioca custard 65 Milk 150 Total 6xo DIET FOR MUSCULAR EFFICIENCY 39 DINNER — I. Calories. Tomato soup 50 Mashed potato 125 Brown gravy 75 Spinach 50 Egg macaroni 100 White bread 225 Butter 200 Cream cheese 100 Apricots, stewed 70 Cake 170 Nuts, pecans 200 Cocoa 100 Total 1465 DINNER — II. Vegetable soup 25 Sweet potato 175 Milk gravy 100 Parsnips ioo Squash 40 Potato salad 60 Wholewheat bread 225 Butter 200 Raisins, stewed 175 Pie, lemon 170 Pine nuts 200 Apple juice 140 Total 1610 CHAPTER IV SHOPPING ECONOMICS When we consider the thousands of men and women who spend their lives and their fortunes in the pursuit of health, and the mil- lions of people who lead incompetent and in- efficient lives because a state of chronic ill health makes then incapable of constant appli- cation to their work, it would seem that effi- ciency would be cheap at any price. Yet the facts are that health and efficiency cost less than nothing, for when one cuts down his daily ration from 4,000 to 2,000 calories he cheapens the cost of living, so far as grocery bills are concerned, 100 per cent. Efficiency and good health are thus within reach of the poorest equally with the wealthiest individual. Attention to a few simple points in food values will enable the one who does the family shopping still further to reduce the food budget. 40 SHOPPING ECONOMICS 41 ADULTERATION Adulteration is the great bane of the Amer- ican housewife. She purchases maple sugar for twenty cents a pound because it looks cheap, for maple sugar, and 90 per cent, of it is cane sugar which cost the adulterator six cents. A fancy price is paid for a flour with a fancy name, which is in reality an inferior flour put through a bleaching process. A mix- ture of much oleo and a little daiiy butter, ingeniously colored, parades as butter and is sold as such. Spices, condiments and flavor- ing extracts, all, happily, in no sense essential to the support of life, are a favorite field for the adulterator, some brands of pepper, for in- stance, being compounded of every conceiv- able substance, from ground cherry pits to pumice stone, with sufficient pepper to add flavor. These and similar products are substances in which the adulterator substitutes an innutritious for a nutritious foodstuff. Another class is that in which the presence of unsound or in- ferior ingredients is covered up by the use of poisonous preservatives. A catsup, for in- stance, may be made of inferior and decaying tomatoes which, because of the preservatives 42 THE FAMILY FOOD which have been added, are never suspected. The potted ham and other canned meat prod- ucts which in the Spanish-American War wrought as much havoc among our men as the bullets of the enemy, and which still claim a heavy toll in the form of victims of ptomaine poisoning, are among this class. Jams and marmalades particularly are subject to the grossest adulterations. THE PURE FOOD LAW The federal Pure Food Law has done much to protect the consumer, but it has not elim- inated adulteration. For one thing, it is de- fective in this important regard, that it ap- plies only to a product brought from one State into another State and sold there. It does not protect a consumer from impure foods manu- factured in his own State. Labels, also, which the law requires shall state the materials which enter into the composition of a product, are often so ingeniously devised that a positively dangerous preparation may appear a perfect paragon of wholesomeness. In several States pure food and drug laws have been enacted which reinforce the federal law, and where these are made operative by an active State board of health the consumer SHOPPING ECONOMICS 43 may usually feel himself amply protected. It is always well to be on the safe side, however, and the shopper will find that it pays to select foods made by those manufacturers whose names are synonymous with purity and clean- liness, and who invite the closest scrutiny of the conditions under which their products are made. Their foods often cost a trifle more than a grade put out by an unknown firm, but one has the assurance that he is paying for value received. BULK GOODS ARE NUTRITIOUS This does not always apply, however, to package goods, which are also sold in the bulk. Rolled oats in bulk, for instance, are quite as nutritious as those sold in a package under a trade name. Even dried peas and beans are now sold in package, but nothing is gained except that in the case of a reputable packer, their freshness can always be relied upon, whereas one's confidence in the same product in bulk is determined by his confidence in the veracity of his grocer. But then, if you can- not trust your grocer, by all means get a new one, for a dealer who will not guarantee the food he sells you has it in his power to do you a great deal of mischief. 44 THE FAMILY FOOD Fresh vegetables and fruits should always be eaten, or cooked, as soon as possible after being gathered, for they rapidly become insipid and the processes of decay soon begin, thus impairing their value as food and making them a possible source of infection. It is par- ticularly important that meat be absolutely fresh when eaten, for decomposition begins immediately after slaughter, and by the time it reaches the consumer is far advanced, only to continue in the alimentary canal the man- ufacture of toxins which, like the fatigue poisons which we have already described, are absorbed into the system and give rise to head- ache and many other symptoms of autointoxi- cation. CHOOSING CUTS OF MEAT The various cuts of meat also offer a wide field of economic study for the housewife. A cheaper cut of meat, it should be remembered, may be composed largely of bone, thus con- siderably increasing the price paid for the edible portion. It may be an economy in such cases to purchase a more expensive cut, though pound for pound of edible portion there is little difference in nutritive value. The fol- lowing table gives the proportion of bone and SHOPPING ECONOMICS 45 other wastes in the various cuts of meat, and the net price which one pays for a pound of edible meat: NET COST OF EDIBLE PORTION OF DIFFER- ENT CUTS AS COMPARED WITH A GIVEN MARKET PRICE PER POUND. o o a fig c o Kind of meat 'S o" Per cent. Beef: Brisket 23.3 Rump 19.0 Flank 5.5 Chuck rib 53.8 Porterhouse 12.7 Neck 31.2 Ribs 20.1 Round 8.5 Shin 38.3 Heart 5.9 Tongue 26.5 Veal: Cutlets 3.4 Breast 24.5 Mutton: Leg 17.7 Chops 14.8 Foreq'ter, stewing. . . 21.2 Pork: Loin 19.3 Salt pork 8.1 Bacon 8.7 Ham 12.2 Assumed mar ket price pei pound Net price pel pound of edi- ble portion Cents Cents 7.0 9.0 10.0 12.5 7.0 7-5 10.0 22.0 20.0 23.0 7.0 10.0 15-0 20.0 150 16.0 3-0 5-o 5.0 5-3 22.0 29.8 20.0 21.0 12.5 17.0 15-0 18.0 ISO 17-5 12.5 20.0 ISO 20.0 12,5 130 20.0 22.0 20.0 23.0 46 THE FAMILY FOOD In the third column it will be observed that porterhouse, veal cutlets, bacon and ham are the same price per pound. Of the three, how- ever, veal cutlets are cheapest, for there is but 3.4 per cent, waste, whereas porterhouse has as high as 12.7 per cent. Again, beef ribs and round steak, leg and chops of mutton, and loin of pork are each fif- teen cents a pound. Of the five, round steak is cheapest, having but 8.5 per cent, of waste; while beef ribs, with 20.1 per cent, of waste, are the most expensive. These and other comparisons which the reader can make for himself show how important it is for one to avoid paying for more waste than is neces- sary. MEAT AN EXPENSIVE FOOD In these days of high costs in food the con- sumer should study once more the item of meat in the daily menu. Meat is at best an expensive source of nu- trition, when compared with non-meat foods. Some calculations made by the government to determine the actual cost of energy when pro- duced by various foodstuffs gave the remark- able, almost startling, results shown in the following table : SHOPPING ECONOMICS 47 COST OF 1,000 CALORIES OF THE COMMON ARTICLES OF FOOD AT STORE PRICES. Price per Cost of 1,000 Kind of food pound calories Cents Cents Codfish, fresh 10 46 Halibut, fresh 18 38 Dried beef 25 32 Eggs, 24 cents a dozen 16 26 Sirloin 25 25 Mutton, leg 20 22 Codfish, salt 7 22 Beef, shoulder clod 12 17 Smoked ham 22 13 Canned salmon 12 13 Mutton chops 16 1 1 Milk, 6 cents per quart 3 10 Roast pork, loin 12 10 Cheese 16 8 Turnips I 8 Butter 25 7 Rice 8 5 Wheat bread 5 4 Wheat breakfast foods 7.5 4 Rye bread 5 4 Oat breakfast foods 7.5 4 Beans 5 3 Potatoes, 60 cents per bushel . . . 1 3 Sugar 6 3 Oatmeal 4 2 Wheat flour 3 2 Corn meal 2.5 2 The reader will gather, from the prices in- dicated, that the table was compiled in that glorious era when " food barons " and their consciences had not yet parted company. It was, as a matter of fact, published in 1902, but the fact that it is the meat products which have most rapidly jumped up in price only 48 THE FAMILY FOOD accentuates the fact which we have already pointed out: that day in and day out, the man who buys his muscular and mental energy in the form of meat is paying double, a con- servative estimate, the amount of money paid by the man who invests his in non-meat foods. This is a consideration that no family of lim- ited income can afford to overlook. DIGESTIBILITY AN ECONOMIC FACTOR The digestibility of a foodstuff has also a direct bearing on household economy. A food which is difficult of digestion yields up to the system a minimum of nutrition. An easily digested food, though it costs a trifle more, will be the more economical food of the two. So far as meats are concerned, experiments conducted by the federal government show that there is very little difference between the various cuts of meat or the meat of various animals with respect to the thoroughness or the ease with which they are digested. Vege- tables and other non-meat foods vary consid- erably in their digestibility and assimilability, a variability which is always lessened, how- ever, by thorough mastication. In subsequent chapters the digestibility is considered along with other features of various foodstuffs. SHOPPING ECONOMICS 49 FILL THE CELLAR IN AUTUMN In the summer time the prudent shopper takes thought for the winter. Mason jars and the cellar are at one's command, and by utiliz- ing them to the fullest extent one can often effect a saving of 20 to 30 per cent, in the year's grocery budget. Two or three varie- ties of apples should be put away to give va- riety of flavor, one being a variety which will keep well into the early spring — even the despised Ben Davis is welcomed in February and March. Potatoes and other roots are cheaper by a long way in the fall than during the spring, and provided the cellar is dry and light, and kept at the proper temperature, they will keep without difficulty. WHAT AND WHEN TO CAN Many of the green vegetables, such as peas, string beans, beets, etc., can be canned in the home as easily as fruit, and a considerable sum saved over the price of tinned goods. The following recipe for canning string beans applies in principle also to beets and peas: Wash and string enough beans to fill a quart jar. Cook in two and one-half cups of boiling water until tender. Place at once in 50 THE FAMILY FOOD a sterilized jar and fill almost full with the water in which they were cooked. Place the lid without the rubber on the jar, but do not tighten. Set the jar in a shallow pan with a little water in it and place in a moderate oven. Increase the heat until the water in the jar has reached the boiling point, which will be in about twenty minutes. Then remove from the oven, being careful not to expose to drafts or to wet objects. Lift the lid and quickly adjust a new rubber and fill the jar to over- flowing with the boiling water in which the beans were cooked, or, if none remains, use clear boiling water, and screw on the sterilized cover. Tighten the cover from time to time as the jar cools. Fruit for canning should be ripe and as near perfect as possible. Green fruits require a great deal of sugar to make them palatable, whereas fruits left to ripen on the trees have their acids changed into sugar by the activi- ties of the sun. This represents a decided economy. To provide against possible sickness, do not forget a few jars of fruit juices. A good variety of juices will be afforded by beginning early in the season and putting up a jar of each kind. The fruit should be washed and SHOPPING ECONOMICS 51 stemmed and put into a granite or aluminum kettle, without water, and allowed to heat slowly on the back of the stove or on an as- bestos pad. When the skins are broken and the juice escapes, bring to a boil and then put into a jelly bag and drain without squeezing. To a quart of juice add from one-half to one cup of sugar. Heat to boiling and can as for other fruit. The pulp may be rubbed through a fine colander, reheated, sweetened, and made into marmalade. TABLE WASTES All these precautions are useless, however, unless economy is used in the serving of food, and table wastes are guarded against. A gov- ernment agricultural station conducted a series of observations made in the case of a family of eight — one man, one woman, four boys and two girls — and covering a period of three weeks, during which time all kitchen and table refuse and wastes were carefully collected and analyzed. Altogether there were collected 95.96 pounds of material, of which about seventy pounds was vegetable matter. The composition of this material and the amounts which would be collected in one year at the above rates are reported as follows: 52 THE FAMILY FOOD y u2 Kind ~u fc g«f. | H ^ £ h < O c d< * Ph Per P*?r P*r Per Per Per Pounds ct. ct. ct. ct. ct. ct. Vegetable 1208.31 84.46 0.22 1.83 13.71 0.12 0.54 Animal (mostly) . 455-00 58.70 13.68 9.78 31.52 2.74 0.30 Whole product ..1663.31 77.42 3.90 4.00 18.58 0.84 0.47 In addition to the above figures there was 0.30 per cent, nitrogen waste for the vegeta- ble material, and 1.64 for the animal ma- terial. At this rate it is estimated that there would be gathered from 20,000 people about 2,080 tons of garbage each year, with an analysis and value equal to good barnyard manure. By treating with suitable solvents and drying the residue there could be secured 388.5 tons of fertilizer, worth $14.69 per ton, and over 81 tons of grease, which sells for an average of $70 per ton wherever this system is in op- eration. The total population of the cities- and towns of New Jersey is approximately 918,722, and the garbage of this number of people would amount to 95.516 tons per an- num, from which could be manufactured 17,- 848 tons of tankage, worth $262,180, and SHOPPING ECONOMICS 53 3,726 tons of grease, worth $260,800, a total of $522,980. There are several remedies for this appall- ing waste. In the first place do not cook too large a variety. Besides being more health- ful, a meal composed of a few simple dishes is more likely to be entirely eaten than one where many of the foods are scarcely touched. At the same time, do not cook too much of any one kind of food. A careful study of the caloric value of the various foodstuffs at one's command, and of the food requirements of the various members of the family, will enable the housewife to judge quite accurately the amount of food which she must cook for the various meals. Table waste can also be vastly reduced by combining left-over foods into tasteful and nutritious dishes for a subsequent meal. Po- tatoes, for instance, can often be made into a salad which, with a dressing, makes a capital dish. Other vegetables can be utilized in soups, bread and rice puddings — there is al- most no food, in fact, which it will not pay to save. CHAPTER V HYGIENE OF THE KITCHEN Without absolute cleanliness in the kitchen and pantry, where foods are cooked and kept, precautions in the selection and preparation of food are not of the least avail. The in- gredients of a salad may be in perfect condi- tion, and purchased in the most spotless of stores, and every effort made to have them hygienic, yet if they are prepared in utensils which swarm with germs, and the salad be- fore serving is placed in an unclean ice-chest or pantry, the shopping could as well have been done in a corner grocery where cleanli- ness is conspicuous by its absence. KITCHEN WASTES One of the most important problems which confronts every housewife is the disposal of kitchen wastes. Garbage should be removed from the kitchen as fast as it accumulates. The farmer's wife has solved the problem by emptying her sewage into the " swill pail " on 54 HYGIENE OF THE KITCHEN 55 the back porch, and feeding it to the hogs, while the consumer, in turn, eats the garbage- fed hogs. In the large cities house-to-house collection of kitchen wastes is made by the municipality. Even in this case care should be taken to keep the receptacles from the win- dows and doors of the house, as odors and fumes from the decaying mass are easily wafted in by every breath of air. Sprinkle frequently a little chlorid of lime or other dis- infectant in the garbage receptacle, and thus keep down as much as possible the production of germs. BURNING THE GARBAGE Where a range is used, one of the most hy- gienic and practicable means of disposing of kitchen refuse is to burn it, small quantities at a time, within the stove, just between the top of the oven and the back lids. Here it is reduced to ashes, while the stove draft carries all odors into the chimney. Another method which has proved success- ful is to place in the stovepipe an enlarged joint, within which a coarse-wire screen has been attached, access being afforded by an aperture opened and closed by a slide. Wastes placed upon this screen are soon dried up, 56 THE FAMILY FOOD ashes, at most a charcoal which can be burned in the stove, remaining. KEEP THE SINK CLEAN And of all places, garbage should not be allowed to accumulate in the sink and force the housewife, bending over her work, to in- hale the fumes which rise from the decaying mass. An aid to a clean sink is a small wire basket which is made to hang in a corner of the sink. It must be frequently emptied of its contents and scalded, however, else it does as much harm as good. The sink itself should be given a frequent scrubbing with hot soap- suds, which are a good germicide, or a com- mercial disinfectant, such as chlorid of lime, or washing soda. Diluted ammonia is like- wise valuable for this purpose, as also in the cleaning of ice-chests. For a refrigerator no less than a sink must be frequently cleansed — thoroughly scrubbed inside and out, ice compartment and food compartments, at least once a week, and the shelves, upon which food particles tend to col- lect and decay, three times a week. For this tri-weekly cleaning, soapsuds or washing soda may be used, first removing the shelves, if they are detachable, placing the food in a clean spot HYGIENE OF THE KITCHEN 57 and covering with clean linen during the process. CARE OF THE REFRIGERATOR For the more thorough overhauling, use a brush with stiff bristles, which penetrate the crevices and scour the surface of the com- partments of all adhering substances. Am- monia, diluted with water, should be used for this purpose, applying a solution of bicarbon- ate of soda, if desired, to overcome the pun- gent odor of ammonia. Flush the drain pipe carefully with the am- monia water, and scald the pan, where a pan is used, once a day. A collecting tank lo- cated in the cellar and connected with the ice- chest by a long drain pipe, has this drawback, that being in the cellar it is more difficult to cleanse than a pan, and is apt to be overlooked. The ideal drain is one which is fed by a short pipe into the sink. The shortness of the pipe adds to the thoroughness with which the flush- ing is done — and as the sink is frequently scalded anyhow, the labor in connection with the drain is reduced to a minimum. This ar- rangement is possible in many built-in sinks, and in new houses may be especially provided for in the plans. 58 THE FAMILY FOOD In choosing refrigerators, cleanliness at the expense of a minimum of work should be sought, and this combination is found in the easily cleansed porcelain and glass lined chests. The tiles and the glass, it is true, often crack and become the harboring place of germs, but the danger of cracking may be lessened in the case of the wood-bound refrigerator by plac- ing it where the wood will not be subject to the warping influence of an alternate dry and damp temperature. HOW TO COOL DRINKING WATER A pure ice supply is as important a matter as the refrigerator itself. Freezing does not destroy all the bacteria which abound in every open body of water, and many a malignant disease has been traced from the outbreak back to the infected water of a lake or pond whence the community's ice had been taken. On this account never attempt to cool water for drink- ing purposes by placing in it the ice, but pack the ice around the outside of the water recep- tacle, within a second larger receptacle. There are several varieties of water coolers upon the market based upon this principle. Ice manufactured from distilled water is likely HYGIENE OF THE KITCHEN 59 to be germ free, and so is not subject to these objections. Ice is often brought to the door covered with filth, incident to packing in the ice-house and to delivery. Before placing it in the re- frigerator, therefore, insist that the ice-man rinse each block at the door with a dash of cold water. But if infected ice is a source of danger, what shaU we say of the water supply? Drinking water vies with the house-fly as a producer of typhoid fever and malaria, and were diseases named according to their cause instead of the symptoms which they produce, we should find that the mortality from " drinking-water disease " exceeded that of all other diseases, except those due purely to di- gestive disorders. A deep driven well, indeed, is practically the only water supply which is approximately free from germs and contamination, shallow wells containing much impure surface water and frequently the filth of cess-pools and out- houses; springs often being polluted in their underground courses; rain water during the descent from the clouds collecting dirt from the atmosphere ; and public supplies from lakes 60 THE FAMILY FOOD and rivers being approximately pure only when passed through filtration plants. METHODS OF STERILIZATION In any event, cultivate an attitude of con- stant suspicion toward your drinking water, and observe an eternal vigilance by rendering it germ free so far as lies within your power. Boiling is the simplest form of sterilization, but this is impracticable for larger quantities than are required for drinking purposes, and has the additional disadvantage that boiled water tastes flat and insipid. The taste may be improved, however, by pouring the water several times from one vessel to another until it has become aerated. Be careful to do this in a clean room, else the water will become infected with the germs which always abound in a dusty room. Filtered water is seldom satisfactory for the reason that few niters are hygienic — even safe, we might say. Most filters become infected by the very impurities which they are constantly removing from the water, and yield a product which is more dangerous than the water before it entered the filter. The small " faucet filters " are on this account positively dangerous. HYGIENE OF THE KITCHEN 61 A filter should be so constructed that every part can be easily cleansed and the filtering material frequently renewed, and it should be incapable of transmitting to the water metal- lic, putrefactive and other impurities. The only filters which meet these and also the more obvious requirements of cleanliness — such as strength of the filtering medium and sufficient rapidity of water flow — are the Pasteur-Chamberland and the Berkfeld, along with others based upon the same principle. The small stills in household use are open to many of the same objections which we have cited against the filter, the metal and other parts often imparting to the water impurities which offset their beneficent effects. PURIFY THE WATER SUPPLY The remedy for infected water is prophy- lactic in nature — the supply itself must be purified. In the case of the municipal supply this means the installation of an improved filtration plant; if the supply is a private pump, the well must be dug deeper if the danger lies in surface water; if it lies in the contiguity to a cess-pool or stable or other outbuildings, either the buildings should be removed to a greater distance from the well, or a new well 62 THE FAMILY FOOD should be sunk. Where a spring is used as the water supply and it becomes infected, the well should be driven in such a location as to avoid if possible the underground courses which connect with the infected springs. THE PURE MILK PROBLEM With the water problem we associate in our mind the milk question — not, we may add, because of the proverbial inability of the dairy- man to distinguish between the two, but be- cause an infected supply is in each case so seri- ous a matter. Milk, however, is more uni- versally contaminated than water, particularly with disease germs. Pure milk can be produced from a healthy herd, provided precautions are taken by the dairyman to exclude filth at every stage of the process from cow to consumer, but eternal vigilance is an expensive commodity, and in the case of " certified milk " x the expense ul- timately falls upon the consumer in the form of an additional two to four cents a quart. But then, pure milk is cheap at any price, and it must never become true with respect to 1 The various methods which have been devised for the purpose of purifying milk and insuring to the custo- mer a clean product are presented in Chapter XIII. HYGIENE OF THE KITCHEN 63 milk as has been said of water, that the " prob- lem has become not how to insure a clean supply, but how to render it even safe." In the ice-box milk should be closely cov- ered so that germs from impure ice or from possibly tainted food or unclean fruit may not gain access to it. Cooked vegetables and other strongly flavored food readily impart their odors to milk and cream, and for this rea- son in an ice-chest dairy products should be kept in a compartment by themselves. DISINFECTING FRUITS AND VEGETABLES Danger from contaminated fruits and salad plants may be minimized by making use of the following disinfectant: one part of hy- drogen peroxid to one hundred parts of wa- ter. Wash the fruit and plants in this solu- tion after they have been previously cleansed from dust and coarse dirt. Sometimes to in- sure one's self a clean fruit and vegetable sup- ply it is advantageous to confine one's custom to a single source — a farmer whose products are known to be above reproach, as regards infection, or a merchant who buys from a pro- ducer whose wares he knows to be clean. Disease germs often find in soil a splendid medium for their development, passing on into 64 THE FAMILY FOOD green vegetables, which in turn convey them to the consumer, and here, as has occurred in several recorded instances, they produce dis- ease infection. Some farmers are also care- less in the picking and handling of fruit and allow it to become polluted with filth and dis- ease germs. Strawberries and raspberries, for instance, are often picked by persons with acute skin diseases, while at the same time there is no law to forbid a consumptive from gathering the grapes which you eat at lunch- eon, and expectorating about the fruit as it is being crated for hauling to market. DESTROY THE FLIES All foodstuffs should be carefully pro- tected from flies and other insects, both on display in the store and in the home. Screens were devised, of course, for the purpose of keeping out flies, but they nevertheless gain access to the house and sow the seeds of typhoid and other disease in our food and drink. Fly paper should be distributed about the room in liberal quantities — the sticky kind, for a fly laid out by means of the poison- ous paper may cause a lot of mischief if it drops in a jar of milk, for instance, and there deposits a load of germs which he has been HYGIENE OE THE KITCHEN 65 carrying about with him. There is also a fur- ther danger that small children may drink of the poisonous fluid and succumb to its effects. COCKROACHES AND OTHER VERMIN" Cockroaches, if kitchen conditions favor their development, are almost ineradicable, and are more loathsome even than the flies, and almost as dangerous* A cockroach will not thrive, however, in a light and spotlessly clean kitchen, and if they gain access to your cupboard shelves take it as a hint that soap and water are needed, and set about applying them with a will. Few of the preparations in the market can be compared with this simple method for effectiveness. Powdered borax sprinkled freely about the shelves and in the cracks will also free your cupboard of roaches. Mice and other vermin about a kitchen are a menace to the health of the home. Sound, well-built floors and walls are an important factor in rendering a kitchen vermin proof, and go a long way toward making it germ proof. WALL AND FLOOR COVERINGS A rough wall paper and a floor full of wide cracks are ideal breeding places for germs. 66 THE FAMILY FOOD The most hygienic form of wall treatment in the kitchen is a tiled surface. Where the cost of this makes it prohibitive, use an oiled paper or a paint, either of which can be frequently scrubbed and kept free of germs. Tiles are likewise the ideal floor covering, but a closely matched floor of oak or Georgia pine, painted or varnished, and kept scrupu- lously clean, answers the demands of hygiene very satisfactorily. Linoleum is unobjection- able if pains are taken to lay it so that the joints are perfectly made, with no cavities to collect germs and other filth. THE FUEL PROBLEM Fuel is not a vitally important kitchen prob- lem, provided one is careful in the case of wood and coal to minimize the production of dust. If a coal range is used the coal should be fed direct to the stove from the scuttle rather than from a kitchen box previously filled, as one handling of the fuel is thus saved, and every handling means the production of dust. Where wood is used a well-constructed wood box with a close-fitting cover should be placed as near the stove as possible. When gas or gasoline is used the poisonous fumes which rise from the flame make thor- HYGIENE OF THE KITCHEN 67 ough ventilation imperative. In planning the new house make certain that the kitchen is provided, with windows on opposite sides of the room to allow of a cross-circulation of air. In kitchens already built, and where these conditions do not obtain, a register simi- lar to those used to admit furnace heat into a room may often be introduced into the ceiling and roof, so protected without as to shelter the opening from rain and snow. The heated air, carrying the heated odors with it, rises and escapes, while the fresh air rushes in and takes its place. Thus a constant current of air is maintained, and the kitchen is made a habitable work shop instead of being a dark, stuffy corner which a kitchen was wont to be in the olden days. DISH CLOTHS AND DISHES And what shall we say of dish cloths and cooking utensils ? Than the dish cloth, as used in the ordinary kitchen, nothing can be more filthy. It is the hold of everything unclean and hateful. This is the more deplorable be- cause it is so unnecessary, when with a little extra care a fresh cloth could be provided for each dish-washing operation. If this does require too much work, then rinse it out, using 68 THE FAMILY FOOD clean hot water and soap each time it is used, and hang away in a clean, unexposed place, -preferably in the direct sunlight. Chipped earthen- and glassware are also favorite resorts of germs, and should be given particular attention with strong soapsuds when dishes are washed. Even then, one cannot be sure that she has destroyed all the germs which lurk in the cracks and crevices of the utensil, hence it is always advisable to discard cracked dishes and replace them with whole ones. It is likewise for hygienic reasons that the easily cleansed agateware and aluminum ware are superior to tinware for cooking purposes, in- asmuch as the latter is continually subject to erosion and rust, the patches of which form an easy lodgment for germs. CHAPTER VI COOKING In primitive times eating was a simple af- fair. Nuts, a few wild fruits and vegetables, and what meat the forests and rivers yielded, quite satisfied the wants of man when he lived the simple life in caves. Nothing, not even meat, was cooked. The people were as inno- cent of all the fine points of cuisine as they were of tables and china, chairs and pianos. So far as can be ascertained from historical records and from the customs of modern un- civilized people, roasting was the first form of cooking which demonstrated the increased palatability of foods when submitted to the action of heat. Then there were brought into use — the exact chronological order unknown — grilling, boiling, stewing, frying, braising, baking, and steaming. COOKING AN AID TO DIGESTION It is more than a mere matter of palata- bility, however, the advantages derived from 69 70 THE FAMILY FOOD cooking one's food. The increased palatabil- ity is but a means to an end. Cooking of any kind develops in the food certain flavors and aromas which please the taste, and thus whet the appetite, the stimulated appetite, in turn, tending to increase the flow of the gastric and other digestive juices. The improved appear- ance of food, likewise, has a pyschic influ- ence in stimulating the secretion of the diges- tive ferments. Cooking, moreover, aids digestion by soften- ing the food and making it possible for every part to come in contact with the digestive fer- ments. Meat is an exception to this rule, one of its constituents, albumin, coagulating and becoming more solid. At the same time, how- ever, the meat is rendered less tough, and hence can be more easily and more thoroughly ground up by the teeth. CHEMICAL EFFECT OF COOKING Cooking also alters the chemical nature of certain meats and starches so that the diges- tive action of the saliva and other ferments is greatly facilitated. The higher temperature at which cooking takes place is often in itself a considerable aid to the digestive processes. Lastly, the intense heat which is generated COOKING 71 within the food by certain forms of cooking has a decided germicidal effect, destroying parasites and bacteria which, taken into the system alive, might produce serious conse- quences. BOILING The primitive method of boiling water was to plunge hot stones into a hollow dug in the ground filled with water. At a later period utensils began to be used as people acquired skill in the making of pottery and metal ware. Water begins to boil at a temperature of 212° F. No amount of additional heat will raise the temperature of the water, its only effect being to increase the ebullition which takes place in boiling water. In making soups and broths this commotion has an important advantage, in that it tends to soften the meat or other foods and thus allow minute parti- cles of nutrient matter to escape into the wa- ter. When a " thick " or nutritious soup is desired, be careful to mince the meat and put it into cold water, and bring slowly toward, but not quite to, the boiling point. This al- lows a large part of the nutrient portions of the meat to escape into the soup or broth. When a broth is not desired, however, place 72 THE FAMILY FOOD the meat in boiling water for five minutes. The sudden contact with the heat of the boil- ing water coagulates the outer portions of the meat and prevents the escape of the rich salts and other substances. Prolonged boiling, on the other hand, will too firmly coagulate the albuminous substances of the meat and render it tough, and it is well after five minutes to continue the cooking at a temperature of 165 to 170 F. This method insures at once thor- ough cooking and a tender condition of the meat, and retains delicate flavors which other- wise would escape into the water. It is for this same reason that meat, if very salt, should be but partially boiled, the cooking being com- pleted by frying or roasting. STEWING In a stew the object sought is to dissolve the nutritive portions of the meat or other food in the water in which it is cooked. To facilitate this the food should be finely minced, thus affording a larger surface for the heated water to act upon. In the case of meat, a higher temperature also coagulates the albu- min lying near the surface, thus preventing the escape of the nutrient juices within. To avoid this the temperature for stewing should COOKING 73 be low enough to prevent extensive coagu- lation — or between 135 and 160 F. In stews the cooked food is usually eaten along with the juices, or liquor. If, how- ever, only the juice is desired, as in soups or beef teas, the minced food may be soaked in the cold water before raising the temperature to the cooking point, as at this low tempera- ture the juices pass more readily into the wa- ter. The meat which remains intact after a thorough stewing of this kind will be found to consist of a mass of tasteless fiber, quite devoid of any nutritive value. Stews consisting of meat mixed with sliced vegetables form a digestible and an econom- ical dish, since the various ingredients are cooked with absolute thoroughness, so that little of it passes into the body in an indigesti- ble and unassimilable form. At the same time, there is little steam to carry into the air minute particles of the rich, nutritive juices. ROASTING Roasting bears a certain similarity to stew- ing. In stewing, the food is cooked by being broken up in, and coming in contact with, water at a cooking temperature. In roasting, the food remains intact; and the interior, 74 THE FAMILY FOOD raised to a stewing temperature, is soaked and boiled, as it were, in its own juices. As in boiling, the albumin near the surface of the roast coagulates and prevents the escape of the nutritive juices of the interior. These diffuse themselves throughout the meat and impart a rich flavor to the roast which is wanting in a stew or a boiled piece of meat, however tender and sweet it may be in itself. Be careful to apply the roasting temperature at the very beginning of the process, in order to produce the coagulated coating, and thus lose as little of the fragrant juices as possible. After the coating is formed the temper- ature may be lowered to 130 F. — poultry and veal to 158 or 160 F. — in order to pre- vent charring of the surface. The escape of meat juices to the surface can be still further guarded against by basting the roast with the gravy which in spite of the utmost precaution will exude in small quantities. This tends to lower the rate at which the surface cools, and consequently the rate at which it absorbs the heated vapor from the interior. Melted but- ter or melted fat may be used for the same purpose. Baste the smaller and leaner joints of meat more frequently than the larger. While roasting imparts a more delicate fla- COOKING 75 vor than does boiling, still, on the other hand, it makes palatable slightly tainted food which by any other cooking process would be unbear- able. A leg of mutton, for instance, which some people prefer slightly " high," is unpalat- able when boiled, though pleasing when roasted. What has been said of roasting applies like- wise to grilling — which in reality is roasting on a small scale. FRYING Frying is in many respects similar to roast- ing. In the latter case heat is applied to the joint by radiation direct from the flame; in the frying process heat is applied by direct contact with melted butter, oil, or other fat. Also, as in roasting, the sudden application of heat hardens the surface and thus prevents the escape of the interior juices. Because of the quantities of fat which cling to the surface, fried foods are apt to be more or less difficult of digestion, especially in the case of persons whose digestion is weak. Compared with other modes of cooking, in- deed, frying is the most unhealthful of all methods of preparing food. Steaks which baking or roasting would make quite whole- 76 THE FAMILY FOOD some, are rendered well nigh indigestible by the process of frying. The housewife can often lessen the force of this objection by employing deeper dishes than are ordinarily used, with a quantity of heated fat sufficient to submerge the food. This closes the outer portion of the food against the absorption of the indigestible fat, and reduces the outgo of salts and other nutritive elements. On this account, while frying is proverbially unhealthful, it is at the same time one of the most economical methods of cooking food from the standpoint of the conservation of nourishment. BRAISING Braise is a preparation of vegetable and animal juices in which meat is cooked in a covered vessel at a temperature sufficiently high, yet not boiling. This method, known as " braising," is particularly valuable in the cooking of tough meats, also of meat which is too fresh or young. The kettle lid is so ad- justed as to prevent any considerable amount of evaporation. During the cooking the meat becomes permeated with the juice of fresh vegetables and herbs and does not dry out. COOKING 77 BAKING In baking, the application of heat is more indirect than is the case with other methods. A cooking temperature is created within a con- fined space, as an oven, which forms a crust or coating upon the surface of the food. Through this the heat penetrates, as in roast- ing. Meats are apt to acquire a strong odor when baked, since the coating is too heavy to permit the escape of certain oils which remain, and which, saturating the meat, give it a strong, unpleasant flavor. STEAMING For cereals, puddings, etc., no method of cooking is superior to steaming. The small " double boiler " answers the purpose very well, though where the fare is very elaborate and a number of dishes have to be prepared, the larger steamers, which can be obtained on the market in several styles, are of great value. Nature has a method of her own for cook- ing fruits. Unripe fruit contains a large por- tion of starch and cellulose, and there is a con- centration of its acids. By the action of the sun during the ripening process, the propor- 78 THE FAMILY FOOD tion of cellulose is lowered and made more di- gestible. By the same process the starch is transformed into the various sugars which the system can assimilate, and the acids are ren- dered dilute. It is the influence of these acids on the sugars which produce the pleasing fla- vors of the various fruits. There are very few fruits which are rendered more appetizing and wholesome by artificial cooking. THE FIRELESS COOKER No kitchen to-day is complete without a fireless cooker. During the heated summer months it avoids the broiling of the housewife over a hot cook stove, and on camping expedi- tions it is far more cleanly and convenient than the bed of coals and forked limb which makes it necessary for someone always to be on duty at the tent while the cooking is being done. The vast saving in fuel, of course, is apparent to everyone, and with most people is equal, as an argument in its favor, to its con- venience. The original fireless cooker came from Ger- many and was known as the " hay box." The hay box consisted of a wooden box fitted with a cover and filled with hay. The food to be cooked was first boiled over an ordinary flame COOKING 79 for a few minutes, then transferred quickly to a nest hollowed out in the hay, and the lid closed tightly. The cooking proceeded slowly and evenly, the time required being about double that ordinarily consumed on the range. THE INSULATED STOVE The principle upon which the hay cooker was constructed is the retention of heat within the food receptacle by means of the insulating vacuum which surrounds it and through which the heat cannot radiate. The numerous cook- ers on the market to-day all conform to the same principle, each attaining a more or less perfect retention of heat according as the ma- terial used in securing insulation is more or less effective. In one of the best of these, re- tention of heat is secured by means of an in- sulating hood which fits down over the utensil on a gas burner onto a perfectly flat insulating surface. Before the flame is turned out, the hood is lowered as close to the flame as is pos- sible without interfering with the burning of the flame, the interior of the hood in this way becoming thoroughly heated. The dropping of the hood and extinguishing of the flame are simultaneous, so that almost no heat what- ever is lost. The baking compartments are 80 THE FAMILY FOOD similarly insulated, and make baking as simple a matter as with the old-fashioned oven, and infinitely more agreeable, doing away, as they do, with the sweltering heat which has driven most women to the professional baker and made " baking day " little more than a tradition among many classes of people. THE ALADDIN LAMP The fireless cooker is of particular value in making stews, thick broths, and other foods which require slow cooking. Also valuable for this purpose is the " Aladdin lamp," a partially insulated stove made in the form of a simple iron box, closed in front by a door, an aperture in the top connecting with a tube to let off any superfluous steam. Around this box is a second with top and sides of a non- conducting material for the purpose of holding the heat, which is generated by a kerosene lamp. This lamp raises the temperature of forty pounds of meat and fifteen quarts of water to 180 F. in seven hours, and the lamp can then be removed without producing an ap- preciable diminution of the temperature for four hours. The inventor has asserted that whereas in an ordinary oven two pounds of fuel for every pound of food are required, in COOKING 81 his apparatus two and one-half pounds of fuel will cook sixty pounds of food, and with a daily cost of only one cent per person for a family of ten. ADVANTAGES OF COOKING BY ELECTRICITY Where a slightly increased fuel bill is not a matter of grave importance, electricity is proving a boon. Electric cooking is so abso- lutely clean, so free from fumes and smoke, that it can be done anywhere — in the dining- room, if it is desired; you can utilize the top of your sideboard as a range, or toast your bread and cook your morning beverage on the table at your side as you eat. Electricity at the same time is free from heat, and makes of cooking in the summer months a positive delight. Withal, cooking by electricity is not prohibitively more expen- sive than gas. With gas at one dollar per thousand feet and electricity at five cents per kilowatt, for instance, the electricity is per- haps two-thirds more than for the gas; but freedom from heat and fumes and dirt which it affords makes cooking by current cheap at this price. CHAPTER VII MEAT FOODS Meat as a source of food is open to two ob- jections: in the first place, lean meats are al- most entirely devoid of carbohydrates, the chief factor in the production of energy. In the sec- ond place, we must remember that in the body of every animal, poisonous wastes are con- stantly being given off by the wearing down of the tissue cells during exertion, just as is the case in the human body; these substances, consequently, which were in the process of manufacture at the moment of slaughter, re- main in the meat and are eaten along with it. When absorbed into the system their effects are the same as those produced by the waste substances being given off by cell metabolism in the human body. Uric acid, one of the chief factors in rheumatism and gout, is al- ways present in meat, and for this reason physicians recommend persons afflicted with these diseases to discontinue its use. 82 MEAT FOODS 83 THE DIGESTIBILITY OF MEAT The digestibility of meat varies slightly with the kind, and with conditions under which the animal was prepared for slaughter, with age at slaughter, and with the time that has elapsed since slaughter; underfed, ill- treated animals yield meat of an inferior qual- ity, while the flesh of a young animal is more digestible than that of an older one. Meat is more digestible when it has been kept a day or two after slaughter, though the gain in this respect is more than offset by the fact that the germs of decay increase at an enor- mous rate from the moment death sets in, and when taken into the human system tend to produce what we have described as " in- testinal autointoxication," with its symptoms of constipation, headache and biliousness. The following table presents the more com- mon meat foods in the order of their digesti- bility : Oysters Soft cooked eggs Sweetbreads Whitefish, boiled or broiled, such as blue fish, shad, red snapper, weak fish, smelt 84 THE FAMILY FOOD Chicken, boiled or broiled Lean roast beef or beefsteak Eggs, scrambled, omelet Mutton, roasted or boiled Squab, partridge Bacon, crisp Roast fowl, chicken, capon, turkey Tripe, brains, liver Roast lamb Chops, mutton or lamb Corn beef Veal Ham Duck, snipe, venison, rabbit, and other game Salmon, mackerel, herring Roast goose Lobsters, crabs Pork Smoked, dried, or pickled fish and meats in general. Contrary to an idea which has gained more or less currency, raw meat is not superior to cooked meat in point of digestibility, nor has it any particular claims as a medicinal agent. BEEF Beef is the most universally used of all meats. It is, indeed, the only form in which meat can be used as a steady diet, as we use MEAT FOODS 85 potatoes and bread. Attempts to eat quail or partridge three times a day for thirty days have signally failed, the diet creating a dis- gust and loathing on the part of the experi- menter. The nutritive value of the different cuts of beef are shown in the following table: FOOD VALUE OF VARIOUS CUTS OF BEEF Mineral Fuel Name of cut Water Protein Fats matter value Perct. Per ct. Per ct. Perct. Calories Flank 54.5 16.7 24.3 0.8 1,335 Round 63.0 18.7 8.8 1.0 720 Loin 53.3 15.9 17.3 0.9 1,025 Clod 57.9 16.8 9.7 1.0 725 Plate 46.0 12.7 23.9 0.7 1,245 Rump 47.3 14.4 19.0 0.8 1,070 Chuck 54.1 15.3 9.9 0.8 705 Rib 44.9 13.6 20.6 0.7 1,120 Neck 46.3 13.9 10.7 0.7 710 Fore shank . . 44.1 13.1 5.7 0.6 485 Hind shank .31.3 9.2 4.3 0.4 355 Beef is undoubtedly the cheapest form of meat, when by cheapness the number of calo- ries of food value one can buy for a given sum of money, and in this respect there is a vast difference in the various cuts of beef. Fifty cents worth of flank at seven cents a pound will yield 9,350 calories, while hind shank at four cents gives only 4,418 calories, and porterhouse at twenty-eight cents but 86 THE FAMILY FOOD 1,929 calories, as shown by the following table : « U u> O ■" Name of cut .n •c 1 ** £ 2.9 ,J2 1, *S 2 'So c£?jf.5 pounds pounds Flank, for boiling ... 7 7 1.17 Clod, for boiling .... 10 5 0.84 Porterhouse 25-28 1.8-2 0.28-0.32 Sirloin 18-20 2.5-2.8 0.40-0.44 Brisket, for boiling 8 6.3 0.79 Round steak 12-16 3.1-4.2 0.58-0.78 Round steak for roast 12 4.2 0.78 Chuck, ninth rib roast 12-15 3-3~4.2 0.50-0.64 Rib, prime roasts .... 18-20 2.5-2.8 0.34-0.37 Rump, steak 12 4.2 0.60 Rump, roast 12 4.2 0.60 Fore shank, soup and hash 5 10 1. 31 Hind shank, soup and hash 4 12.5 1. 15 pounds calories 1.70 9.350 0.48 3,588 0.31-0.34 1,929 0.43-0.47 2,680 1-49 7.759 0.27-0.37 2,115 0.37 3.012 0.33-0.42 2,664 0.51-0.66 3.099 0.80 4.492 0.80 4,492 o.57 0.54 4,842 4,4iS The heart and other organs have much the same food value as the rest of the carcass, as shown by the following table : Organs Protein Heart 16.0 Kidney 16.6 Liver 20.4 Lungs 16.4 Sweetbreads 16.8 Tongue 18.9 Suet 4.7 Tripe 11.7 Carbo- Calories 7 ats hydrates per lb. 20.4 1,160 4.8 0.4 520 4-5 i-7 605 3-2 440 12.1 S25 9.2 740 81.8 3,540 1.2 0.2 270 As a source of food the various organs are in no respect superior to other portions of the carcass, while at the same time one quickly MEAT FOODS 87 becomes tired of them. For this reason their use is very restricted. PREPARED BEEF Owing to the preserving processes, which remove part of the water from the beef, the food substance of canned and corned beef is more concentrated than fresh beef, and con- sequently they contain rather a higher per- centage of proteins and fats. Canned meats, however, almost invariably contain poisonous chemical preservatives, often in quantities sufficient to seriously af- fect the health. In addition to this the proc- ess of decay is apt to take place in the can and produce what are known as " ptomaine poi- sons," substances which every year are respon- sible for a larger number of deaths than some of the diseases which we usually label as " fatal." MEAT JUICES The Standards Committee of the Associa- tion of Official Agricultural Chemists defines meat juice as being the fluid portion of mus- cle fiber obtained by pressure or otherwise, and capable of a certain degree of concen- tration by evaporation at a low temperature 88 THE FAMILY FOOD and containing not less than 12 per cent, of nitrogenous, or protein, material. It is upon this protein element that the food value of beef juices chiefly depends, and because they are very deficient in nitrogen, the commercial brands of meat juices and extracts yield very little nutrition. BEEF TEA The nutritive value of beef tea is often very greatly overestimated. It has been as- serted that a pint contains hardly a quarter of an ounce of anything. The following is one of the methods best calculated to retain in the tea the nutritious elements of the beef. Tender, lean, raw beef is chopped into small pieces about a quarter of an inch in diameter and macerated in cold water for five or six hours. The water is to be added in the pro- portion of a pint to a pound of lean beef; ten drops of hydrochloric acid are then added, and the solution is gradually heated up to 160 F., but not more, for from fifteen to thirty minutes. This is best accomplished by placing the vessel in a second vessel of boiling water. The water of the outer vessel com- municates its heat to the inner one, but its contents prevent its temperature from rising MEAT FOODS 89 to that of the outside water, which is nearer the fire. A large variety of bouillons and broths, of which the following is a sample, can be pre- pared for the sick room from vegetables. These are more nutritious, quite as pleasing to the palate, as meat tea, and at the same time they offer a greater variety : Pick over and wash a cup of dried peas and put to cook in a quart of cold water, cook slowly in a double boiler or in a kettle placed on the range and allowed to simmer, until but a cupful of liquid remains. Strain off the broth, add salt, and one-third of a cupful of the liquor without pulp, from well- stewed tomatoes. Serve hot. VEAL The various cuts of veal are richer in protein than the corresponding parts of beef, but are deficient in fats, and wholly lacking in car- bohydrates, or the energy-producing element. This makes it inferior to beef as an all-round food for persons engaged in muscular work, while its continued use by sedentary workers is likely to supply the system with too much protein. The excess of protein overtaxes the kidneys and other eliminative organs, and 90 THE FAMILY FOOD so remaining in the system produces poison- ous substances which cause constipation, headaches, biliousness, etc. The chief value of veal lies in the variety which it affords the diet. PORK Pork, like beef, is wholly lacking in car- bohydrates, but it contains a high percentage of proteins and fats, as shown by the follow- ing table : Calories Cut Proteins Fats per pound Chuck ribs and shoulders . . 17.3 31. 1 1,635 Flank 18.5 22.2 1,280 Ham (lean) 25.0 14.4 1,075 Ham (fat) 12.4 50.0 2,345 Head 13.4 41.3 1,990 Head cheese 19.5 33.8 1,790 Loin (chops, lean) 20.3 19.0 1,180 Loin (chops, fat) 14.5 44.4 2,145 Loin (tenderloin) 18.9 13.0 900 Middle cuts 13.3 34.2 1,690 Shoulder 15.7 36.3 1,825 Side (including lard and other fats) 9.4 61.7 2,780 Side (not including lard and other fats) 9.1 55.3 2,505 ORGANS Brains 11.7 10.3 655 Heart 17.1 6.3 585 Kidneys 15.5 4.8 490 Liver 1 21.3 4.5 615 Lungs 1 1.9 4.0 390 Marrow 2.3 81.2 3,4/0 1 Liver contains 1.4 per cent, carbohydrate. MEAT FOODS 91 So far as the supply of heat and energy- producing fats is concerned, pork, supple- mented by some carbohydrate food, such as cereals, would be an ideal food for the labor- ing man. With the above table before him he could choose those cuts which were poorer or richer in fats, according as his labor for the day were more or less strenuous. The fact of the matter is, however, that most kinds of pork are notoriously indigestible, on ac- count of the excessive quantity of fat which they contain. The working man describes it correctly when he says that " it sticks to the ribs." Now, an indigestible mass of food in the stomach ferments rapidly and gives off poi- sonous substances which are picked up by the blood-vessels which line the stomach and car- ried into the system or passed into the intes- tinal canal, where they likewise enter the blood and find their way into the system. Moreover, parts of this body of fermenting food pass into the intestinal canal, until they reach the colon, a large reservoir-like enlarge- ment of the canal, and there they lie and rot, giving off into the system great quantities of these poisonous substances known as " tox- ins." 92 THE FAMILY FOOD If there is any person who needs a body- free from these toxins, it is the man doing hard muscular work, for they mean headache, chronic fatigue and a constant feeling of weariness, restless and unre freshing sleep, constipation, biliousness, gastritis, perhaps, and catarrh of the stomach, and so reduce the vital resistance that the individual falls an easy prey to infection of various kinds, such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, influenza, etc. It is these symptoms, produced by the constant use of indigestible foods, which cause prema- ture old age in the workingman, and not nec- essarily the nature of his work. Trichinosis is another disorder which re- sults from the eating of pork. It is caused by the Trichina spiralis, a small worm which becomes imbedded in the flesh of the hog, and which later on becomes carried by the blood into the human system, where it sets up a long list of gastric disturbances which are cured only by the most careful treatment and which often prove fatal. PREPARED PORK Owing to the removal of a portion of the water in the processes of smoking, pickling, etc., the nutritive elements of the various MEAT FOODS 93 forms of prepared meats is more complicated than in fresh meats. The accompanying table shows the composition of the more commonly used meats : Calories Kind of meat Protein Fats per pound Smoked ham (lean) . . 19.8 20.8 1.245 Smoked ham (fat) .... 14.8 52.3 2,485 Smoked ham (medium fat) 16.3 38.8 1,940 Pickled tongue 17.1 19.1 1,125 Pickled feet 16.3 14.8 930 Salt pork (clear fat) . . 1.9 86.2 3,670 Salt pork (lean ends) . 8.4 67.1 3,985 Smoked bacon (lean) . 15.5 42.6 2,085 Smoked bacon (medium fat) 9.9 67.4 3,030 Deviled ham 19.0 34.1 i»790 Preserved pork is open to an important objection, which we raised against canned beef, that ptomaine poisons are often present and endanger the lives of those who eat it. SAUSAGE Sausage, to borrow an old mathematical axiom, is as nutritious as the nutritiveness of its various constituents combined, and no more. Aside from the fact that it often contains ptomaine, and the objections which hold good against meat of any kind, the chief objections to sausage are the filthy conditions under 94 THE FAMILY FOOD which much of it is made, and the unwhole- some materials used in its manufacture. The rigid inspection enforced by many State and municipal health boards, and the requirements of the Pure Food Law, have lessened these dangers to some extent, but the dangers are still sufficiently formidable to cause one to hesitate before using the product. The composition of a few of the common sausages is as follows: Carbo- Calories Sausage Proteins Fats hydrates per pound Bologna 18.7 17.6 0.3 1,095 Frankfort 19.6 18.6 1.1 1,170 Holsteiner 29.4 37.3 3.4 2,220 Pork 13.0 44.2 1.1 2,125 Pork and beef .... 19.4 24.1 .. 1,380 Wienerwurst 28.0 22.1 4.4 1,485 MUTTON Mutton contains a smaller amount (in some cases 4 and 5 per cent, less) of protein than beef, but is considerably richer in fat, so that it is more nutritious by 25 per cent, than beef. This large proportion of fat ren- ders it less easily digested, however, than beef. Lamb, owing to its large percentage of fat, is still more difficult of digestion, and against its wide-spread use is the fact of its expen- siveness. MEAT FOODS 95 VENISON Venison is about as nutritious as lean beef, and more digestible when obtained from young deer. Dyspeptics, however, find that it disagrees with them on account of its strong flavor, particularly when, as is usually the case, it has been kept for some time. POULTRY The best breeds of chickens for table use are said to be the light and dark Brahmas; buff, partridge, white and black Cochins, and the white and black Langshans, these varie- ties having a larger proportion of meat in comparison with the bone, and a large, full breast. White meats, we may observe, while slightly more digestible than the darker meats, are, on the other hand, richer in protein, and hence accentuate the danger with which the meat-eater is confronted: viz., the danger of taking into the system an excess of proteins. The white meat of turkey is sometimes as easily digested as chicken, but the darker por- tion is considerably less digestible. Guinea- fowl are easy of digestion when young, as are also young pigeons; particularly so is the breast of the squab, which may be eaten by 96 THE FAMILY FOOD invalids when no other food can be given. Goose and duck, tame, unless young, are hard to digest, on account of the large quantity of fat which they contain. The composition of the various domestic fowls is as follows : Calories Kind of fowl Proteins Fats per pound Chicken 19.3 16.3 1,045 Chicken (broilers) 21.5 2.5 505 Goose (young) 16.3 36.2 1,830 Turkey 21. 1 22.9 1,360 Duck 18.3 19.0 1,290 Squab 18.6 22.1 1,430 GAME BIRDS Wild game birds have a high percentage of protein (in the case of quail as high as 25 per cent.), but are wholly wanting in car- bohydrates, and contain but from 1 to 2 and 3 per cent, of fat. The meat of the older birds is tough and possesses a strong flavor that is unpleasant to most persons. Many persons prefer their game in a state of greater or less decay, a condition in which it is said to be " high." But it is a loath- some food at best, and the germs which pro- duce the decomposition often work havoc with the digestive system, and are a prolific source of autointoxication. He who " cannot afford game " need not envy his neighbor who eats it. MEAT FOODS 97 EGGS Uncooked eggs contain 13.4 per cent, of protein and 10.5 percent, fat, with a food value of 720 calories to the pound. The yolks con- tain 15.7 per cent, protein and 33.3 per cent, fat. A dozen eggs usually furnish more nu- trition than a pound of meat; in other words, with eggs at 25 cents a dozen, ten eggs for a family of five persons are cheaper than a pound and a quarter of beef at twenty-two cents a pound. Eggs, especially where the fowls are fed and cared for under cleanly conditions, are usu- ally freer from disease and decay germs than are meats, and this fact, added to their nu- tritive superiority, makes them rank as one of the most economical of animal foods. Of their digestibility a government experiment station bulletin (No. 182) says: "The yolk of raw, soft-boiled eggs is equally digestible. The white of soft-boiled eggs, being semi- liquid, offers a little more resistance to the digestive juices than raw white. The white of a hard-boiled tgg is not generally very thoroughly masticated. Unless finely divided, it offers more resistance to the digestive juices than the fluid or semi-fluid white, and un- 98 THE FAMILY FOOD digested particles may remain in the digestive tract many days and decompose. From this deduction it is obvious that thorough masti- cation is a matter of importance. Provided mastication is thorough, marked differences in the completeness of digestion of the three sorts of eggs . . . will not be found." FISH Because they contain no carbohydrate, and a small percentage of fats, the two energy- forming foods, fish are not a good food for the muscular laborer. Even the sedentary worker, who uses a minimum of energy, should supplement them with cereals or other carbohydrate foods, and with dairy products or other source of fat, in order to balance his ration. It is a mistaken idea that fish, because of the large quantity of phosphorus which they contain, are a particularly valuable food for brain-workers. As a matter of fact, many kinds of fish contain less phosphorus than does meat. The digestibility of fish is about the same as that of meats, though this depends some- what on the kind of fish and upon the indi- vidual. To some persons fish of any sort MEAT FOODS 99 are indigestible, while others can tolerate one or more varieties. The fish most easy of di- gestion are fresh sole, whiting, bluefish, whitefish, bass, fresh codfish, halibut, shad and smelt. Care should be taken to eat fish only in their season, as otherwise the flesh is likely to be inferior, both in nutritiousness and flavor. They should also be used as nearly fresh as possible, as the least taint is capable of caus- ing severe digestive disorders. For the same reason, fish preserved in ice are dangerous, as the cold prevents the detection of the odors of decay, even when putrefaction has really set in. The following table will enable one to choose from the market the varieties of fish most nearly suited to his needs : Kind of fish Proteins Bass, black 20.6 . Bass, red 16.9 Bass, sea 19.8 Bass, striped 18.6 Blackfish 18.7 Bluefish 19.4 Catfish 14.4 Cod 16.5 Eels 18.6 Flounder 14.2 Haddock 17.2 Hake 7.3 Halibut 18.6 Herring 19.5 Mackerel .• 18.7 Calories Fats per pound 1.7 455 o-S 335 0.5 390 2.8 465 1-3 405 1.2 410 20.6 1 135 0.4 325 9-1 730 0.6 290 0.3 335 0.3 150 5-2 565 7-1 660 M 045 100 THE FAMILY FOOD Kind of fish Proteins Fats Mullet 8.2 2.0 Muskellunge 20.2 2.5 Perch (white) .... 19.3 4.0 Pickerel (pike) . . . 18.7 0.5 Salmon 22.0 12.8 Shad 18.8 9.5 Smelt 17.6 1.8 Sturgeon 18.1 1.9 Trout, brook 19.2 2.1 Trout, lake 17.8 10.3 Whitefish 22.9 6.5 PRESERVED AND CANNED Cod (salt) 25.4 0.3 Haddock (smoked) 23.3 0.2 Halibut (smoked) . 20.7 15.0 Herring (smoked) . 20.5 8.8 Mackerel (salt) ... 16.3 17.4 Salmon (canned) . 21.8 12.1 Sardines 23.0 19.7 Note: None of these varieties contains hydrate element. Calories per pound 235 480 530 370 950 7SO 405 415 445 76S 700 410 440 1020 750 1035 915 1260 the carbo- SHELLFISH Many of the shellfish and crustaceans con- tain a considerable quantity of protein, but the proportion of fats and carbohydrates is low, and at best they are not an economical source of food. To many persons, more- over, they are a positive poison, producing various "forms of stomach trouble, and skin eruptions, such as urticaria, and aggravating eczema when it already exists. The shellfish and crustaceans, moreover, de- MEAT FOODS 101 serve the reputation which they have acquired as " scavengers of the sea." They are usu- ally secured from waters into which city sewage is emptied, and on this filth they feed. This is especially true in the case of oysters, and oysters are notoriously prolific as typhoid conveyers — indeed, the president of one met- ropolitan board of health has asserted that oysters rank third among the causes of ty- phoid. The following table presents the nutritive value of the various species: Kind of sea food Proteins Clams (long) in shell 8.6 Clams (round) in shell 6.5 Clams (round) re- moved from shell . . 10.6 Crabs (hardshell) ... 16.6 Lobsters 16.4 Mussels 8.7 Oysters 6.2 Scallops 14.8 Terrapin 21.2 Turtle 19.8 Carbo- Calories T ats hydrates per pound 1.0 2.0 240 0.4 4.2 215 1.1 5-2 340 2.0 1.2 4i 5 1.8 0.4 390 1.1 4-1 285 1.2 37 235 O.I 3-4 345 3-5 545 0.5 390 CHAPTER VIII THE CEREALS Long before the study of human foods be- came a science, bread was called the " staff of life " ; and the more exact studies of re- cent times have shown the characterization to be well founded — for whatever the cereal of which it is made, whether wheat, or rye, or barley, bread is almost a perfect food. A loaf of whole-wheat bread contains 9.7 per cent, protein, 0.9 per cent, fats, and 49.7 per cent, carbohydrates. It is somewhat lacking in fats, but the addition of butter or other oils amply supplies this deficiency. It is only recently, however, that cereals have begun to come into their own, the predomi- nance of bread having served to draw attention away from the great variety of forms in which they can be prepared. But now, with one or two exceptions, there is not a cereal which cannot be purchased in the market in the form of toasted flakes, ready with the addition of cream, fruit juices, or sauces, to be eaten. 102 THE CEREALS 103 " BREAKFAST FOODS " There is also a growing list of delightful breakfast foods for serving in the form of mushes, puddings, etc. A large number of biscuits, whose nutritive values are varied by a combination of two or more cereals, are also at the service of the housewife. Bread- making has become a science and a fine art, and the nicest taste as well as the most deli- cate digestive apparatus can be easily satisfied, whether the housewife bakes her own bread or patronizes the bakery. As regards economy, the cereals stand first among foodstuffs. The experience of thou- sands who joined the recent boycott against meat confirms the experiments of the Bureau of Chemistry of the U. S. Department of Ag- riculture, which show that the purchasing value of a given sum of money is from one hundred to five hundred per cent, greater when spent for cereals than for meat. The cereals have also this advantage over meat and other classes of food, that there is a minimum of waste. The percentage which the body cannot digest and assimilate is very- small, indeed. On account of the advantages which "we 104 THE FAMILY FOOD have named, there is no doubt that the house- wife will come to give cereals a more and more important place in the family dietary. WHEAT Wheat is an exceedingly nutritious food, a given sum of money purchasing a greater quantity of nutritive material from it than from any other food except corn. The fol- lowing table shows the food values of the va- rious wheat flours (the table is based on win- ter wheat, spring wheat having a slightly lower nutritive value) : Proteins Whole-wheat 13.8 Graham 13.3 Fine white flour . . 10.9 The reader will observe the advantage which the coarser flours have over fine flour as regards the total food value. The case is different, however, when we come to consider the relative digestibility of each of the three flours, and the extent to which each is ab- sorbed into the body and made use of in the manufacture of heat and energy. The case of the coarser versus the finer flours has been before the world for so many years, that the following summary of a series of experiments Carbo- Calories ?ats hydrates per pound 1.9 71-9 1,675 2.2 71.4 1,670 I.I 75-6 1,655 THE CEREALS 105 conducted by the federal Bureau of Chemistry will be of interest, particularly since the results coincide with the opinions now held by most scientists : TESTS OF WHEAT Various kinds of wheat were milled so as to secure from each three flours: graham, whole-wheat and standard patent. The flours were made into bread, and the bread fed to workingmen, and its digestibility determined. It was found that white bread is an exceed- ingly digestible food, nearly 98 per cent, of the starch or carbohydrate elements and about 88 per cent, of the gluten or protein constit- uents being assimilated by the system. In the case of the graham and whole- wheat flours, although they contained a larger total amount of protein, yet the nutritive elements were not as completely digested and absorbed by the body as in the case of the white flour. The body gained more nutrition from the white than from the other grades of flour, the digestibility of the three types being: Standard patent flour, protein 88.6 per cent, and carbohydrates 93.5 per cent.; graham flour, protein 74.9 per cent, and carbohydrates 89.2 per cent. 106 THE FAMILY FOOD The bulletin reporting the experiment says, however, that " entire wheat and graham flours should be included in the dietary of some persons, as they are often valuable be- cause of their physiological action, the branny particles stimulating the process of digestion, and encouraging peristaltic action. In the dietary of the overfed, they are valuable for the smaller rather than the larger amounts of nutrients they contain. For the laboring man, where it is necessary to obtain the largest amount of available nutrients, bread from white flour should be supplied; in the dietary of the sedentary, graham and entire wheat flour can, if found beneficial, be made to form an essential part. The kind of bread that it is best to use is largely a matter of personal choice founded upon experience." This agrees with the results of an experi- ment conducted by Dr. Abramowski, a fa- mous dietitian, upon himself to determine the relative value of whole- wheat and white bread, where no other food was eaten and where intestinal activity had no other stimu- lant than the bread eaten. A five days' diet of white bread and water produced headache, languor and depression, fatigue, bad breath, dry, sticky throat and tongue, and other symp- THE CEREALS 107 toms of intestinal disorder. Final collapse occurred during a short bicycle ride. On a subsequent diet consisting wholly of whole- wheat bread and water he was able to maintain strength and vigor. BREAD A loaf of bread contains more water than the flour from which it is made, and this re- duces the proportion of its nutrients as com- pared with flour. The following table repre- sents the food values of three kinds of bread from the flours just referred to : Carbo- Calories Proteins Fats hydrates per pound Whole-wheat 9.7 0.9 49.7 1,140 Graham 8.9 1.8 52.1 1,210 Fine white flour . . 9.1 1.6 53.3 1,225 Gautier, one of the foremost dietitians of the day, has described a loaf of ideal bread in these words : " Good bread ought to be light, resounding and well raised. It should give a minimum of 2.2. per cent, of a golden crust, brittle and difficult to detach from the crumb. The latter ought to be elastic and to have large cavities in it; if, after the bread is cool, it is moderately compressed be- tween the thumb and index ringer, the crumb 108 THE FAMILY FOOD should not stick together, but should slowly return to its original volume ; it should not cling to the fingers which knead it. Good bread should absorb a great deal of liquid without being dissolved when it is moistened. It ought not to rub away under the fingers. The color of the crumb ought to be very clear yellowish white and slightly translucid ; its sweet odor of wheat should recall neither sourness, mouldiness nor fermentation. Dried in the oven without being baked, good wheat bread should not lose more than 36 per cent, of its weight." After standing twelve to fifteen hours, bread becomes " stale," a condition due to chemical changes within the loaf. Since about 2 per cent, of the water within the bread has es- caped, it is not less wholesome, while at the same time, it is more accessible to the diges- tive juices. Many people do not like the crust edge of the bread, as also the " heel," yet in discard- ing it they throw away the most valuable part of the bread, for it is more nourishing than the crumb; is more soluble in water and richer in nitrogenous matters in the propor- tion of one to two. It is also more digesti- ble. THE CEREALS 109 GRAHAM BREAD Graham bread, on account both of its nutri- tiveness and its palatability, deserves being known better than it is; hence we venture the following recipes : Take one pint of buttermilk or sour milk and add one teaspoon of soda, one-half cup sugar, one cup flour, one-half cup cornmeal, two cups graham flour, one- half cup of molasses, and one teaspoon of salt. Bake one and one-half hours. A soft graham bread may be made as fol- lows : Mix the ingredients in the order given, adding sufficient warm water to make a soft dough — one and one-half quarts gra- ham flour, one pint white flour, two teaspoons salt, one cake compressed yeast, one-half cup molasses, two tablespoons butter (melted), about three cups warm water. Beat thor- oughly and set in a warm place until it is quite light. Then beat down again and fill bread pans half full. When light again, put to bake in a moderate oven and bake three-quarters of an hour to an hour. To make cream graham rolls, take one-half cup of cold cream, add one-half cup of soft ice water. Make into a dough with three cups of graham flour, sprinkling in slowly with 110 THE FAMILY FOOD the hands, beating at the same time, so as to incorporate as much air as possible, until the dough is too stiff to be stirred; then knead thoroughly, form into rolls, and bake. TOAST AND ZWIEBACK Toast and zwieback deserve the universal favor with which they are regarded. The heat produces chemical changes in the starch which makes it more readily absorbed by the body. Moreover, toasted bread, like the crust, is more easily saturated by the saliva and other digestive juices. Be careful in making toast and zwieback to cut the bread thin enough to allow every por- tion of the slice to become thoroughly toasted. Otherwise the inner portion will be sticky and the toast more indigestible than untoasted bread. A toothsome toast may be made from light dough rolled thin, cut into strips, rolled into hollow cylinders and baked in a quick oven. CRACKERS The nutritive value of the various crackers, wafers, etc., on the market is considerably higher than that of plain wheat bread, due chiefly to the fats and other ingredients which THE CEREALS 111 are used in making the dough. Butter crack- ers, for instance, contain 1,935 calories, or food units, to the pound, 10.1 per cent, being fat, 71.6 carbohydrates, and only 9.6 nitrog- enous materials. Soda crackers give much the same analysis, while vanilla wafers, with 2,045 calories to the pound, contain only 6.6 protein, 14 per cent, being fats and 71.6 car- bohydrates. TOASTED WHEAT FLAKES Wheat in the form of toasted flakes is in many respects an ideal food. It is exceedingly nutritious, and when thoroughly chewed is easily digested. In fact, people with weak digestion who cannot eat meat and other " solid " foods without discomfort find that wheat flakes agree perfectly with them. For most persons engaged in sedentary work, a bowl of flakes, with cream or fruit juice of some kind, and with a cup of warm drink, will form an ample and at the same time a delightful breakfast. Cream has this advantage over fruit juices for the breakfast dish, that it contains a large proportion of fats, in which the flakes are somewhat de- ficient. Persons with slow digestion will find wheat 112 THE FAMILY FOOD flakes eaten dry very helpful. A greater amount of saliva is required to reduce them to a liquid in the mouth, and this larger quan- tity of saliva and its thorough saturation of the flakes insure a more rapid digestion. Flakes have this additional advantage, that they are one of the most economical foods which the housewife can buy. In a ten-cent package containing a pound one obtains 1,600 calories, or food units. The same amount spent in sirloin steak at the modest price of twenty cents buys but 975 calories. What has been said of flaked wheat applies for the greater part to shredded and puffed wheat as well. NOODLES AND MACARONI Homemade noodles are a wholesome food, but most of the noodles on the market, al- though of a golden yellow color, are not made with eggs, being dyed either with a vegetable color or a coal-tar dye. Of twenty-two samples of noodles collected and analyzed by a State agricultural experi- ment station all were found to " contain for- eign coloring matter, which in twelve cases was turmeric and in ten cases was an azo color, evidently added with the intention of THE CEREALS 113 conveying the impression that the noodles were made with eggs. The average composi- tion of the noodles examined was, protein, 13.46 per cent. ; carbohydrates, 71.89 per cent., and fat 0.83 per cent., or about the same as macaroni, and but little different from that of the wheat flour from which it is prepared. Few of the samples examined showed any evidence of the use of an appreciable amount of egg in their preparation." The total food value per pound of noodles is 1,665 calories, of macaroni the same, of spaghetti, 1,660, and of vermicelli, 1,625. CORN Corn is America's gift to the world. Co- lumbus found it in use among the Indians, and carried specimens home with him to Spain. It is thus one of the newest of the cereals, but so rapidly has its use extended throughout the world that it is raised wherever there is a climate adapted to its growth. It has even been dubbed " King Corn," and the more en- thusiastic of its promoters venture to assert that it will yet supplant wheat as the staple cereal of mankind. Such a claim is extravagant, of course, but the fact remains that corn is exceedingly nu- 114 THE FAMILY FOOD tritious, that its various food elements — pro- teins, fats and carbohydrates — are well bal- anced, that it may be prepared in an infinite variety of ways, and that it is one of the most economical foodstuffs on the market. Respecting its food value, corn meal is 9.2 per cent, protein, 1.9 per cent, fat, and 75.4 carbohydrates. The proportion of fat is somewhat low, but this is amply supplied by the butter or cream which is usually eaten with it. Corn is thus an excellent food for the man doing muscular labor. Moreover, with a total food value of 1,655 calories per pound of meal, its claim to being the cheapest food obtainable is not a rash one, since two pounds a day will supply sufficient nutrition to a labor- ing man, and its retail price is usually from two to three cents a pound. JOHNNY CAKE The various kinds of bread, having meal as their basis, are the corn foods most gen- erally in use. Of these " Johnny cake " and " hoe-cake " are perhaps the most popular. Both are easily digested. Butter, or some other form of fat, should be eaten with both cakes for two reasons : because, as in the case of rice, it prevents the corn from forming THE CEREALS 115 into a sticky mass in the stomach ; and because the butter supplies an abundance of fats and a slight amount of proteins, in which, partic- ularly the fats, corn is somewhat lacking. Similarly, cane and corn syrups and molasses are still eaten very extensively with corn bread as a " spread." The molasses, like the meal, is composed chiefly of carbohydrates on the one hand; and the fats and nitrogenous elements, on the other, are increased. A wholesome hoe-cake may be made by scalding one pint of white corn meal, with which, if desired, a tablespoonful of sugar and one-half teaspoon ful of salt have been mixed, with boiling milk, or water enough to make a batter sufficiently thick not to spread. Drop on a hot griddle, in large or small cakes as pre- ferred, about one-half inch in thickness. Cook slowly, and when well browned on the under side, turn. The cake may be cooked slowly until well done throughout, or, as the portion underneath becomes well browned, the first brown crust may be peeled off with a knife, and the cake again turned. As rapidly as a crust becomes formed and browned, one may be removed, and the cake turned, until the whole is browned. The thin, wafer-like crusts are excellent served with hot milk or cream. 116 THE FAMILY FOOD A delicious corn pudding is made as fol- lows: Three tablespoons corn meal (white preferred), three tablespoons corn starch or rice flour, three cups milk, one-fourth cup su- gar, one-half teaspoon cinnamon, one teaspoon chopped citron, one-half teaspoon salt. Mix the meal and corn starch. Scald the milk and add it to the meal, stirring continuously. Cook until thick. Next add sugar and seasonings, and cook in a double boiler for one hour. Serve with a custard sauce. CORN BREAD Corn bread is very wholesome, but is made more pleasing to the palate by mixing the meal with the wheat flour. The wheat flour im- parts a flavor of its own, and in addition corn meal lacks the tenacious qualities of wheat flour and a piece of bread crumbles and falls apart upon the merest touch. The wheat flour, at the same time, adds a considerable quantity of protein to the bread. CORN-MEAL MUSH. Corn-meal mush, made wholly of corn meal, is a very nutritious dish, but unless it is care- fully chewed it is difficult of digestion and apt to cause sour stomach. The addition of a THE CEREALS 117 small amount of butter renders it more di- gestible. HOMINY Hominy is as wholesome as it is popular. In the case of the home-made variety, in which the hulls are removed by means of lye, partic- ular pains must be taken to masticate it thor- oughly, else large particles which the digestive juices cannot readily penetrate will lodge in the intestine and ferment, giving rise to poisonous substances which pass into the blood and pro- duce autointoxication. The prepared hominy which one obtains in the market is nutritious, and possesses a more pleasing flavor than the old-fashioned kind. GREEN CORN Green corn is composed mainly of water, and so is less nutritious than maize. Its analy- sis is as follows : protein, 2.8 per cent. ; fats, 1.2 per cent.; carbohydrates, 19.7 per cent.; with the exception of about one per cent, of waste material the rest is water. Because of its delicate flavor it is one of the most popu- lar of American foods, a fact attested by the enormous quantities which are canned and dried for winter use. 118 THE FAMILY FOOD SUCCOTASH Succotash is only one, though the most com- mon, of several ways in which green corn can be prepared. It contains nearly one per cent, more protein than green corn. Any cook book will contain recipes for a variety of dishes which are both tasty and healthful. PARCHED CORN Parched corn has never attained the dignity of a popular dish, but it possesses some very substantial merits. It is nutritious, nearly as much so as corn meal — and richer by four per cent, in the fats. Ground fine and eaten with cream or with the juice of some fruit, parched corn is quite the equal, in palatability, of many of the more pretentious patent break- fast foods. POPPED CORN Popped corn is considered rather a food for the children to nibble at in odd hours than a dish for sober consideration for its food qual- ities. Yet it is a fact that in proteins and fats popped corn is quite the equal of corn meal, and in carbohydrates is considerably richer. THE CEREALS 119 It does not agree with many persons whose di- gestion is weak ; but even in these cases it may- be found quite as digestible as corn bread, if the chewing is thorough in the extreme. RICE Peruse the grocery bills of American house- wives and you will almost invariably come across this item : " J / 2 lb. rice," or the purchase may have been more extravagant, and we read, " I lb. rice." Yet this cereal of which we eat so sparingly is, in point of quantity produced, a close second to wheat — the latter with 190,000,000,000 and rice with 175,000,000,000 pounds. It forms, indeed, the staple food of over half the inhabitants of the world. The signs indicate, moreover, that we of the Occident are acquiring a real taste for rice as we become familiar with a variety of tasty ways of preparing it. The fact that of the total output, 600,000,000 pounds were pro- duced in America, is a good omen. One obstacle which has stood in the way of the popularity of rice in the past has been the monotony which it seemed to bring into the dietary. Rice could be steamed, or it could be boiled and made into a pudding; but there our 120 THE FAMILY FOOD knowledge of its preparation ceased. Steamed rice to-day meant the plain boiled product to- morrow, and pudding the next, and then the round began again. Now, however, we are adding new and tasty dishes to our stock of rice recipes, and the time will no doubt come when rice will be one of the chief items in the nation's bill of fare. Rice is rich in starch — it contains 79 per cent, starch — but is at the same time propor- tionately low in protein. For this reason it should be eaten along with foods containing more or less of the nitrogenous element. Len- tils, beans, or peas will supply the deficiency, if a vegetable food is preferred. DIGESTIBILITY OF RICE Rice is one of the most digestible of all foods. Nearly a hundred years ago a hunter named Martin St. Alexis received a gunshot wound which tore a great hole in his side, and exposing the stomach to view, enabled his phy- sician, Dr. Beaumont, to observe the digestive processes going on within. Among other things determined by Dr. Beaumont was the time required for the digestion of rice, as com- pared with some other foods. The results are shown in the following table : THE CEREALS 121 Rice, boiled, I hour. Apples, sweet and mellow, I hour and 30 minutes. Tapioca, 2 hours. Barley, boiled, 2 hours. Milk, boiled, 2 hours. Milk, raw, 2 hours, 15 minutes. Eggs, raw, whipped, 1 hour, 30 minutes. Eggs, hard boiled, 3 hours. Eggs, fried, 3 hours, 30 minutes. Stewed oysters, 3 hours, 30 minutes. Roast beef, 3 hours, 30 minutes. Fried beef, 4 hours. Corned beef, 4 hours, 15 minutes. Pork, roasted, 5 hours, 15 minutes. Corn bread, 3 hours, 15 minutes. Wheat bread, 3 hours, 30 minutes. Potatoes, Irish, boiled, 3 hours, 30 min- utes. Potatoes, Irish, baked, 2 hours, 30 min- utes. Cabbage, boiled, 4 hours, 30 minutes. Cabbage, raw, 3 hours, 30 minutes. To add still further to the digestibility of cooked rice, eat it with a little butter. This guards against the formation of the rice into a sticky mass within the stomach which would prevent the digestive juices from coming in contact with the bulk of the rice and reducing it quickly to chyme. 122 THE FAMILY FOOD Rice is imperfectly cooked if it comes to the table in the form of a heavy, sticky paste. Every grain should stand out by itself, quite detached from every other kernel. This is next to impossible when the rice is boiled by the usual method of boiling, hence the pref- erable way is to steam it. Steamed rice has also a richer flavor than the boiled, as one's own experience will prove. Nothing more elaborate than the ordinary small double boiler is necessary to get the best results. In preparing a sauce for rice do not make the very common mistake of making it too elaborate — so elaborate that it hides the fla- vor of the rice. Rich cream, without the ad- dition of sugar, or some kind of fruit juice, is more satisfactory on this account than a sauce. BOILED RICE To boil rice, use three cups of water to one cup of rice. Bring the water to the boiling point and add three level teaspoonfuls of salt. Next add the rice, and let boil violently for twenty minutes. The agitation of the water during the boiling will tend to keep the grains separate and intact. Drain the rice into a col- THE CEREALS 123 ander and place in a warm oven for five min- utes in order to dry and further insure the sep- aration of the grains. Rice gruel is valuable to the housewife or nurse who is obliged to vary the dish of a pa- tient. A pleasing rice gruel may be made as follows: ground rice, two ounces; powdered cinnamon, one- fourth ounce; four pints of wa- ter. Boil for forty minutes and add a tea- spoonful of orange marmalade. Again, rice with oranges makes an appetiz- ing dish. Use one cup rice, two and one-half cups rich milk, one-half teaspoon salt, yolks of two eggs, four tablespoons sugar, one teaspoon vanilla. Wash the rice thoroughly and put to cook in double boiler with the milk and salt. Cook until the rice is tender and the milk ab- sorbed. When tender mix in lightly the beaten yolks of the eggs, sugar and vanilla, and cook five minutes longer. Remove from fire and mold as desired. Unmold on small plates and surround with sliced oranges prepared from one and one-half cup sugar, one-third cup wa- ter, and one teaspoon lemon juice. Cook su- gar and water ten minutes, and add lemon juice. Peel oranges deeply so as to remove every particle of the white skin. Cut into 124 THE FAMILY FOOD slices and place a few at a time in the hot syrup and cook two minutes. Arrange around the molded rice. A delightful rice jelly can be made by wash- ing one cupful of rice and soaking for two hours in a cupful of water. Pour both rice and water into one quart of boiling water and let boil for three-quarters of an hour. Strain through a muslin bag. When cold and thick serve with powdered sugar and cream. If de- sired it may be garnished with a few berries, or other suitable fruit. The newer and more complete cook-books contain many recipes which add variety to the simpler dishes here described. Then, too, the housewife has flaked rice to fall back upon. The market contains a number of brands which may be depended upon to furnish palatable and nutritious dishes. PUFFED AND FLAKED RICE Rice flakes in a toasted form are a still later product. To a crisp palatability they unite ex- treme ease of digestion. With cream or fruit juices they form an ideal food for one whose digestion is not in the least vigorous. Puffed rice, another recent product, forms a pleasing breakfast dish, and like the foods just men- THE CEREALS 125 tioned, combines nutritiveness with ease of di- gestion. RYE Rye flour contains from four to six per cent. less nitrogenous, or cell-building, material than does wheat flour, but on the other hand it contains from two to six per cent, more of the carbohydrate, or energy-producing, element. This excess of carbohydrate would seem to make rye bread more valuable to the working- man than wheat bread, but this advantage is offset by the fact that it is more difficult of digestion than white bread. Bread from rye, on the other hand, is coarser of texture than white bread, and con- sequently is slightly laxative, and so may be eaten with good effect in cases of constipation. Rye bread has also this advantage, particu- larly in the summer months, that it is slightly hygroscopic — that is, it gathers moisture from the surrounding atmosphere and does not dry out so quickly as wheat bread. BARLEY Barley is a little more nutritious than rye, being richer in proteins and fats, though con- taining six per cent, less carbonaceous ma- terial. In general favor among the housewives 126 THE FAMILY FOOD of early New England for bread, barley flour is to-day used almost not at all for this pur- pose. Barley bread, however, offers a change in the diet, and while, like rye bread, it is more difficult of digestion than wheat bread, it is, at the same time, slightly laxative, and for this reason persons subject to constipation can use it to advantage. In making barley bread be careful to mix with the flour a small quantity of wheat flour, in order to make good a deficiency of gluten in the barley flour. Likewise, a little barley flour added to the ingredients for wheat bread im- proves the flavor of bread, and because of its hygroscopic qualities enables the loaf to retain its moisture. Pearl barley is barley from which the outer shell, or husk, has been removed, and which has been polished by a mechanical rubbing process. It contains rather less nitrogenous material than barley flour, but has a higher percentage of carbohydrates. The two recipes which follow are simple, and as pleasing as they are simple. BAKED BARLEY Soak six tablespoonfuls of barley in cold water over night. In the morning, turn off THE CEREALS 127 the water, and put the barley in an earthen dish, and pour three and one-half pints of boiling water over it ; add salt as desired, and bake in a moderately quick oven about two and one-half hours, or till perfectly soft, and all the water is absorbed. When about half done, add four or five tablespoonfuls of sugar mixed with grated lemon peel. It may be eaten warm, but molded in cups and served with cream or nut cream it is pleasing eaten cold. PEARL BARLEY WITH RAISINS Carefully look over and wash a cupful of pearl barley. Cook in a double boiler in five cups of boiling water for four hours. Just before serving, add a cupful of raisins which have been prepared by pouring boiling water over them and let stand until swollen. Serve hot with cream. In making up a diet for a sick person, be sure to include barley water. This may be made as follows : Take two ounces of pearl barley and wash well with cold water, discard- ing the washings. Afterwards boil with a pint and a half of water for twenty minutes in a covered vessel, and strain. The product may be sweetened and flavored with lemon 128 THE FAMILY FOOD peel, or lemon peel may be added during the boiling process. Lemon juice is also some- times added to flavor. BARLEYADE For a delightfully refreshing drink take one- half pint pearl barley, three pints of water, one tablespoonful of orange juice, season. Care- fully pick over the barley and wash it. Cover with three pints of water and cook slowly for two hours; then pour off a teacup ful, strain and sweeten to taste. Add salt and orange juice. Cook before serving. Let the rest of the bar- ley cook until it is sufficiently soft to pass through sieve, adding water if necessary. Then salt, sweeten and flavor with nutmeg. Mold and serve with cream or fruit juices. OATS When Dr. Samuel Johnson taunted the Scotch with being a nation of oat-eaters, de- fining oats as being, " In Scotland, food for men; in England, food for horses," a canny Scot rejoined, " Aye ! and where will ye find such fine men as in Scotland, or such horses as in England ! " The Scotchman, perhaps, was prejudiced in favor of his race. This will depend upon THE CEREALS 129 whether one hails from the " Hielands " or no. It is probable, too, that in addition to the oats, the general simplicity of the Highlander's fare and his outdoor life contribute to his condition of rugged health. In any case, however, one can admit that the Scotchman's enthusiasm for oatmeal was well founded. Oatmeal is exceedingly nutritious, contain- ing, to the pound, 1,860 calories, or heat units, of which 16.1 per cent, is protein, 7.2 per cent. fat, and 67.5 per cent, carbohydrates. Ex- cepting the low percentage of fats, so closely balanced are these three elements that an oat- meal diet alone would be sufficient to keep a man in health, so long as he did not tire of it. The fats could be added in the form of butter or cream. Three thousand calories, we have found, are sufficient to keep a man doing a nor- mal amount of muscular work, and with oat- meal selling at five cents per pound, the eco- nomic value of the cereal will be apparent. DIGESTIBILITY OF OATMEAL Oatmeal is somewhat more difficult of di- gestion than wheat, and when served in a pasty, underdone condition is almost indigestible, par- ticularly if chewing has not been thorough. The meal should be poured into boiling water 130 THE FAMILY FOOD and cooked slowly and continuously. Do not stir, but cook in a double boiler, or steamer, or best of all, in a fireless cooker, the latter method allowing the cooking to proceed slowly and evenly, and tending to retain the flavor. Oatmeal, in the popular form of mush, may be prepared as follows : Heat a quart of wa- ter to boiling, in the inner dish of a double boiler; stir into it one cup of coarse oatmeal, and boil rapidly, stirring continuously until it sets; then place in the outer boiler, the water in which should be boiling, and cook three hours or longer. Serve with cream. A tasty jellied oatmeal may be made by cooking the oatmeal with an additional cup or cup and a half of water, and when done turning into cups to mold. Serve with hot cream. OATMEAL GRUEL An oatmeal gruel may be made with two tablespoons of oatmeal, salt to taste, one scant teaspoonful of sugar, one cup boiling water, and one cupful milk. Mix the oatmeal, salt and sugar together, and pour in the boiling water. Cook thirty minutes. Strain through a fine colander to remove the hulls, replace on stove, add the milk, and heat just to the boil- THE CEREALS 131 ing point and serve hot. Gruel is one of the most nourishing and appetizing of foods for the invalid. Oatmeal may be combined with apples in making the following choice dessert: Bring to the boiling point in a double boiler one and one-half cups of water, and stir into it half cup of oatmeal and salt to taste. Boil rapidly until it begins to thicken. Place in the outer part of the boiler, and cook for three hours. Pare and core, scooping out large cavities in the center, six apples, and cook in a liquid made of one quart of water and one and one- third cup of sugar. When done, place on platter and fill centers with the oatmeal. Boil water and sugar until of the consistency of syrup and pour over the filled apples. A large variety of oatmeal biscuits may be obtained in the market. On account of the butter or other oils which are used in their preparation, these contain a fairly high per- centage of fat (n.i per cent), also of protein and carbohydrate, and are therefore very nu- tritious. BUCKWHEAT In certain districts of Europe, particularly in Russia and Brittany, buckwheat forms a 132 THE FAMILY FOOD staple part of the diet. In our own country, however, it is used wholly in the making of pancakes. Buckwheat flour is very nutritious, and is rich in the carbonaceous, or heat- and energy-producing elements — the exact pro- portions of the various elements are: protein, 6.4 per cent. ; fats, 1.2 per cent. ; carbohydrates, 77.9 per cent., with 1,620 calories to the pound. The use of butter on the cakes makes up for their low amount of fats, and for this reason is more healthful than syrup or molasses, which add a higher proportion of carbohydrates to a food already highly carbonaceous. Buckwheat cakes are notoriously indigesti- ble, because of the frying process. Working- men speak of them as " sticking to the ribs " — merely one way of saying that they remain undigested in the stomach for several hours, and thus stave off the approach of hunger. Omit the frying — but then, pancakes would not be pancakes prepared in any other way. CHAPTER IX VEGETABLES The term " vegetables " is used in this chap- ter to denote all members of the vegetable kingdom not included under the following heads: cereals, fruits and nuts. The cereals have already been discussed; fruits and nuts will be taken up in their order. The vegetables, as a class of foodstuffs, are notably low in protein when compared with the cereals, legumes and lean meats. The starches are the predominating food element, and since the proteins, though low, are suffi- cient for the needs of the body, one has at his disposal a wide range of foods from which to select this part of his dietary. This fact is appreciated by every housewife, who at the waning of the long winter welcomes spring- time for the variety which it promises to bring to her larder. Many of the vegetables, cabbage, for ex- ample, are coarse-grained, and contain a bulky cellulose structure which stimulates intestinal 133 134* ■ THE FAMILY FOOD activity, thus making them valuable in cases of constipation. Most vegetables also contain valuable salts which, along with the proteins, fats and carbohydrates, enter into the making of body tissue. POTATOES A pound of potatoes, boiled, yields but 440 of the 3,000 calories required daily to keep the body in working condition, 75.5 per cent, of the potato being water. The great bulk alone would keep us from attempting to make up the required number of food calories by eating six pounds a day. But more than this, the nutritious part of the potato is wholly com- posed of carbohydrates in the form of starch, so that a potato diet would leave one short on proteins and fats. The large proportion of the energy-produc- ing carbohydrates, however, makes the potato a valuable food for the workingman, and as the price is usually easily within the reach of every purse, it is one of the most economical foods for the laborer as well. For the sed- entary worker it is valuable on account of its bulk, since a diet of highly concentrated foods is apt to overload the system with food elements which it does not need. VEGETABLES 135 Between the pink-skinned and the light or yellowish varieties of potatoes there is little to choose. The blue and dark kinds are unde- sirable for table use, except for salads and garnishes. Aside from the varieties put on the market as " earlies," those whose skin has either a netted or a corky appearance or touch are usually preferred to the smooth and clear- skinned potatoes. The potatoes of smooth and clear skin are oftentimes excessively watery or immature. After peeling the potatoes, do not keep them standing in water before boiling, as a consid- erable portion of the nutritious elements passes out into the water and is thus lost, while the flavor is also depreciated. Potatoes are best cooked in their jackets, either boiled or baked. In this form they are more mealy and their starch is more easily di- gested, while at the same time the nutritious portion which otherwise would be cut away in the peeling process is preserved. When boiled and well mashed, the potato is finely broken up and thus rendered digestible. New potatoes, on the other hand, are not mealy, and unless very thoroughly cooked are less digestible than old potatoes. When dressings are desired, butter or rich 136 THE FAMILY FOOD cream affords one of the most nutritious, be- cause of the fat which each contains. Meat sauces, rich both in protein and fats, are also desirable, though apt to be less digestible than butter or cream. Fried potatoes are notoriously indigestible, as also, though to a lesser extent, " potato balls." Potato salads, because of the insuffi- ciently cooked condition of the potato, and because of the use of indigestible ingredients, such as vinegar, raw onions, etc., belong to the same class. SWEET POTATO The sweet potato is somewhat more nutri- tious than the Irish potato, containing less protein and fats, but considerably more of the carbohydrates. Its food value per pound is 570 calories. The sweet potato, however, is less digestible than the white potato, being less mealy when cooked, and often contains an indigestible stringy substance. As is the case with Irish potatoes, however, or any food in which the starches predominate, and mouth digestion plays an important part, thorough mastication will remove a vast amount of this objection of indigestibility. VEGETABLES 137 ARTICHOKES In this connection we may mention the Jerusalem artichoke, which, though less nutri- tious than either of the potatoes, is very easily digested. Its proportion of carbohydrates is 16.7 per cent. ; of protein, 2.6 per cent. ; of fats, 2 per cent. BEETS Water comprises 87.5 per cent, of the best substance, and of the remainder 9.7 per cent, represents starches and sugars. The total food value is 215 calories to the pound; in other words, beets are less than half as nutritious as the potato. Though not, however, highly nu- tritious, they are very digestible, unless we ex- cept beet pickles, in which form the saturation with vinegar tends to toughen them and make them difficult of digestion. Beets, on account of the beautiful red which they impart, have an ornamental as well as a gustatory value in the making of salads. Eggs, too, boiled hard and allowed to stand two or three days in the vinegar of beet pickles ac- quire a beautiful deep wine color and a pleas- ing pungent taste, though the vinegar detracts from their digestibility. Beet top greens, while without food value, 138 THE FAMILY FOOD are nevertheless pleasing to the taste, as greens go, and eaten with lemon juice instead of vine- gar are by no means indigestible. PARSNIPS Almost devoid of proteins and fats, and con- taining 83 per cent of water, the parsnip con- tains, nevertheless, 300 food units, chiefly car- bonaceous, to the pound. In preparing it for the table it may be either boiled or fried. The boiling process preserves a more delicate flavor and renders it the more digestible form of the two. Persons subject to flatulence should avoid parsnips, as they tend to promote this condition. CARROTS Carrots contain five per cent, more water than do parsnips, practically the same amount of fats and proteins, but four per cent, less carbohydrate material. Its total food value is 210 calories to the pound. They have this dis- advantage, that they can be prepared in but a small number of ways — boiling, frying, and in stews along with vegetables are, in fact, about the only forms in which carrots can be prepared, but within this narrow range they afford a pleasing variety to the diet. VEGETABLES 139 TURNIPS As we descend the scale of nutritiveness we come to turnips, with 185 calories to the pound. Water composes 89.6 per cent, of the turnip substance, and carbohydrates 8.1 per cent, of the remainder. The large proportion of cellulose which is present tends to make it hard to digest for persons with a weak diges- tive apparatus. Turnips contribute a pleasing flavor to vegetable stews, but boiled alone, they have a flavor which is rather too strong to make them a general favorite. Baking is one of the most pleasing ways of cooking turnips. Select turnips of uniform size; wash and wipe, but do not pare them. Place on the top grate of a moderately hot oven. Bake until tender. Peel and serve at once, either mashed or with a cream sauce. Prepared in this manner the turnip retains much of its natural sweetness. SALSIFY Salsify, or " vegetable oyster," as it is often called, is likewise of low food value, but con- taining less indigestible cellulose than carrots and turnips, is more easily digested. Escalloped salsify is an appetizing dish, and 140 THE FAMILY FOOD is prepared as follows : Drop into boiling wa- ter six medium sized roots, cleansed and scraped. Boil gently for thirty minutes. Slice and place in a baking dish in layers, al- ternating with stale bread crumbs. Over this pour the following sauce and bake one-half hour: One-fourth cup of the water in which the salsify was cooked, three-fourths cup of cream, one-fourth teaspoonful salt, two tea- spoons flour. RADISHES Radishes are composed almost wholly of water, and with the remarkably low food value of 135 calories per pound, they count almost not at all as a source of nourishment. Their pungent flavor makes them a particularly pleas- ing relish in the early spring when one has be- come tired of the monotonous diet of winter. The radish is even said to give certain me- dicinal effects, possessing slight " antiscor- butic " properties — that is to say, it is a pre- ventive of scurvy. CABBAGE With 145 calories to the pound, cabbage is slightly more nutritious than the radish, but like the radish its chief value lies in the pleas- VEGETABLES 141 ing variety which it affords the diet. It is rather difficult of digestion, however, and in the alimentary canal, where fermentation ex- ists, the considerable quantity of sulphur which it contains is likely to produce flatulence. Cab- bage also possesses slight antiscorbutic proper- ties. In cooking be careful to boil vigorously, as slow cooking is apt to make it watery and stringy. Among the ways of preparing cabbage, salad is a general favorite, for which a tasty sauce is made of three tablespoons lemon juice, two tablespoons sugar, and a half cup of whipped cream, thoroughly beaten together in the order named. Sauerkraut is less nutritious than plain cab- bage, and to many people is indigestible. Where this is not an insurmountable objection the effects are not injurious. In Germany the liquid portion of sauerkraut is used to relieve intestinal autointoxication. CAULIFLOWER Belonging to the cabbage family, and a trifle less nutritious than cabbage, are cauliflower and broccoli. They are more easily digestible than cabbage, but like the latter they tend to 142 THE FAMILY FOOD cause flatulence in the case of persons whose digestion is not vigorous. Boiled or stewed cauliflower is very pleasing eaten plain, but a cream of tomato sauce, or dilute lemon juice, adds much to its palatability. In washing cauliflower and cabbage, hold the head down- ward, so as to facilitate the removal of any insects which may be within. BRUSSELS SPROUTS Coming down still lower in the scale of nu- tritive value, we find "sprouts" with 1.5 per cent, of protein, 0.1 per cent, fat, 3.4 per cent, carbohydrate, and a total food value of 95 calo- ries to the pound. Owing to their delicate fla- vor, however, sprouts are enjoying an increas- ing popularity in this country. They are fairly easy of digestion, and give a delightful variety to the diet. In boiling, a consider- able portion of liquid substance and flavor pass into the water, so that the liquor should also be eaten in order to get the full value of the sprouts. SPINACH AND DANDELIONS Spinach also has a low food value, contain- ing no calories to the pound. The proportion of its fats to the protein and carbohydrates is VEGETABLES 143 larger than in most other vegetables of its class, being 2.1 per cent., with 0.3 per cent, fat and 3.2 per cent, carbohydrates. Spinach is also rich in iron, and on this account is valuable in cases of anaemia. Dandelion leaves, with 285 calories, are more than twice as nutritious as spinach, and contain a higher percentage of carbohydrates — 10.6 per cent., to be exact. Both possess laxative properties, and are helpful in cases of chronic constipation. Before cooking freshly gath- ered spinach or dandelion leaves wash them in scalding water to remove sand and grit. Lemon juice, instead of the vinegar usually used as a dressing, will render greens more di- gestible. Sliced boiled eggs afford a pleasing garnish. In the same class with spinach and dande- lions, and possessing almost precisely the same food value, digestibility and laxative proper- ties, may be mentioned green peppers, parsley, chervil, endive, chickory and okra. CELERY Celery is practically devoid of nutritive value, with but 85 calories to the pound. Eaten raw it is difficult of digestion. The popular conception of the medicinal value of celery is 144 THE FAMILY FOOD unfounded in fact, either in cases of rheuma- tism or disordered nerves, or any other condi- tion. The various celery compounds sold in the drug store are of no value whatever. However, celery has a flavor distinctly its own, and it is almost indispensable in the mak- ing of salads and sandwiches, so that it has come to be, particularly at the winter and au- tumn holidays almost a national institution. Celery salt is useful in the flavoring of soups and salads. When boiled, celery is easily digested. A simple recipe, and one on which several varia- tions can be made by the inventive housewife, is stewed celery as follows : Cut the tender inner parts of celery heads into pieces about a finger-length long. The outer and more fibrous stalks may be saved to season soups. Put in a stewpan and add sufficient water to cover, then cover the pan closely and set it where it will just simmer for an hour, or until the celery is perfectly tender. When cooked, add a pint of rich milk (part cream), salt to taste, and when boiling stir in a tablespoonful of flour, rubbed smooth in a little milk. Boil at once and serve. Celery makes a pleasing dish prepared as fol- lows : get the celery ready as in the preceding VEGETABLES 145 recipe, and cook until tender in a small quan- tity of boiling water. Drain in a colander and for three cups of stewed celery prepare a sauce with a pint of strained, stewed tomato, heated to boiling, and thickened with a tablespoonful of flower rubbed smooth in a little cold water. If desired, add a half cup of thin cream. Pour over the celery and serve hot. LETTUCE Lettuce is also a non-nutritious food, with but ninety calories per pound. It is not diffi- cult of digestion, has a delicate, pleasing flavor, and is easily made into salads — these quali- ties amply atone for its low food value, and unite to give it universal popularity. Lemon juice may be substituted to advantage for the vinegar dressing commonly used on lettuce. Its reputation as a sleep producer is wholly un- deserved. ASPARAGUS Asparagus is one of the most digestible of all vegetables, if eaten when quite fresh. In cooking, remove it from the water just as soon as it has become tender, as prolonged cooking detracts from the flavor, and when it becomes soft and mushy it is unappetizing. 146 THE FAMILY FOOD For a plain asparagus dish, cleanse the stalks and break into inch pieces, simmer until ten- der in sufficient water to cover, add enough rich milk to make a gravy, thicken slightly with flour, add salt to taste. This dish may be varied in this manner: serve the asparagus as prepared above on toast, with an egg sauce made by heating a half cup of rich milk to boiling, adding salt, and turning into it slowly a beaten egg yolk, stirring constantly. Thicken and remove from the stove at once. RHUBARB The only point of comparison between rhu- barb, or " pie plant," and asparagus is the total food value, which is 105 calories in either vegetable. Rhubarb has decidedly laxative properties, and is therefore valuable for per- sons suffering from constipation, while at the same time it aggravates gout and rheumatism. When thoroughly cooked it is easily digested, and with its tart flavor it ranks with the fruits as a dessert dish, either stewed or as a filling for pie. ONIONS The onion is one of the most nutritious of the succulent vegetables, the fresh onion con- VEGETABLES 147 taining 225 calories, 9.9 per cent, being carbo- hydrate, or energy-producing element. On ac- count of the strong odor which it imparts to the breath, however, and its tendency to cause flatulence, it is not in the best of repute. These objections can be removed, however, by letting the onions stand in water until the acrid oil has passed from the onion and collects on the sur- face of the water. The evaporation which takes place during the cooking process is usu- ally sufficient to produce the same effect. With many persons raw onion is difficult, or even impossible, of digestion, but when stewed it is one of the most digestible of the vegetables. Particularly is this the case when the onions have been allowed to stand in water before cooking, as suggested above. Used for flavoring entrees, etc., so small a portion of onion is used that it has no apparent effect upon the digestion, and is negligible from the standpoint of food-value. The onion has some medicinal value, being antiscorbutic and slightly laxative. A delicious soup may be made from the onion as follows : cut one medium-sized onion in thin slices and brown in .butter. When nicely browned, add one pint of broth, salt and pepper to taste, and let it come to a boil. Boil 148 THE FAMILY FOOD for about two minutes, then pour into a dish into which slices of bread have been put and serve hot. This soup may be served with grated Swiss cheese scattered over the top as desired. PUMPKIN AND SQUASH Neither the pumpkin nor the squash, partic- ularly the former, is remarkable for its food value. A pound of pumpkin contains 120 cal- ories, mostly of the energy-producing elements, while the same amount of squash contains 215 calories, 9 per cent, being energy-producing material. Neither vegetable is difficult of di- gestion. The methods of preparing squash are few and well known. The pumpkin is almost in- variably used as a filling for pie, but it is also pleasing baked like squash, or stewed in the following manner : cut a good, ripe pumpkin in halves, remove the seeds, slice part way round, pare, cut into inch-pieces, put over the fire in a utensil containing a small amount of boiling water, and stew gently, stirring frequently until it breaks to pieces. Cool, put through a col- ander, and let it simmer until the water is all evaporated. Pumpkin for pies is much richer baked like VEGETABLES 149 squash and put through a colander after the peeling has been removed. SUMMER SQUASH AND VEGETABLE MARROW These vegetables are chiefly composed of water, and have practically no food value. They are easily digested, however, have no objectionable qualities, and at the same time afford a pleasing variation to the diet. CUCUMBER Water comprises 95.4 per cent, of the bulk of the cucumber, and waste matter, or what the chemists call " ash," one-half of one per cent. As a source of nutrition, therefore, this vegetable figures almost not at all. At the same time, unless it is eaten fresh from the picking it is difficult of digestion, and is an important factor in the production of those intestinal disorders known as " summer com- plaint," etc. Especially indigestible are cu- cumbers as usually served in vinegar and sea- soned with pepper and salt. Sour " pickles," because almost impermeable by the digestive juices, are likewise indigestible. Cooked cucumber, however, is more digesti- ble, and may be tastily prepared as follows : pare the cucumber and divide into quarters, 150 THE FAMILY FOOD remove the seeds and cook in a small quantity of water until tender, and serve on toast with an egg or a cream sauce. TOMATO The tomato, like the cucumber, is composed largely of water — 94.3 per cent. The re- maining solid portion is largely composed of the energy-producing elements, carbohydrates, with one-half of one per cent, waste matter, or ash. It is, however, easily digested, and be- cause of its adaptability, is a universal favorite with the housewife. It can be served as the chief ingredient or as a mere flavoring in- gredient in soups; eaten raw with a sauce it forms a most delightful relish; it is often baked; it helps to form roasts, entrees, and salads innumerable, and stewed plain it makes a simple side dish. From green tomatoes a delicious mince-meat may be made as follows : one peck green to- matoes, chopped ; drain, cover with water, and boil one hour, then drain again. Four pounds brown sugar, two pounds seeded raisins, one pint vinegar, less than one-half pound butter, salt to taste, two tablespoon fuls each of allspice, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Boil until thick. VEGETABLES 151 A pleasing salad may be made as follows from tomatoes and sliced cucumber: peel cu- cumbers and tomatoes; line dish with lettuce leaves; put layers or circles of the sliced cu- cumbers and tomatoes upon the lettuce and serve with mayonnaise dressing. THE LEGUMES Next to cereals in importance are the legumes — peas, beans and lentils. (Peanuts are really a legume, but are popularly classed as a nut, and so are discussed in Chapter XI.) The food values are as follows : Carbo- Total food Proteins Fats hydrates Value Per Per Per Calories cent. cent. cent. per pound Peas, dried . . 24.6 1.0 62.0 1,655 Beans, Navy 22.5 1.8 59-6 1,605 Beans, Lima 18.1 1-5 65-9 1,625 1.0 59-2 1,620 DIGESTIBILITY Owing to their high nutritive value and their low cost legumes are one of the most econom- ical foodstuffs obtainable. Prejudice against them has existed in the minds of many people on the score of indigestibility. The facts are, however, that they are by no means indigesti- ble if care is taken to eat them in small quan- 152 THE FAMILY FOOD tities and to remove the hulls. This can be done by running through a colander after cook- ing. If this is undesirable they can be made fairly easy of digestion by first soaking in cold (preferably soft) water until the hulls are broken, then cooking. Split peas have their hulls removed and on this account are easily digestible. On account of the large proportion of pro- tein which they contain the legumes are capital substitutes for meat. Baked, stewed, made into soups, purees and roasts — the ways in which they can be prepared are legion, and make them extremely valuable. But at the same time, care should be taken not to eat of the legume to the extent of exceeding the 300 calories of protein which the body requires daily. Be careful, also, at the same meal to eat freely of the carbohydrate foods, such as potatoes and the cereals. A nutritious bouillon may be prepared from peas and beans, as follows : wash one cup each of white beans and dried green peas, and put each to cook in one quart of cold water. Cook slowly until about one cup of liquor remains. Rub through a colander. Add one cup of to- mato juice and one-half onion minced, a small piece of butter, one-half teaspoonful each of VEGETABLES 153 celery salt and salt. Add together and reheat. To make a delightful cream of pea soup, put three-fourths of a cup of fresh or tinned peas through the colander. Add three-fourths cup of milk, the same amount of water, and salt to taste. Heat to boiling, then add three-fourths cup of cream, and when it reaches the boiling point, serve. To make a lentil soup, soak one tablespoon- ful of lentils in cold water over night. In the morning drain off the water and put to cook in one-half cup of hot water. Cook slowly for one hour. Then put through a colander and add to the pulp one-fourth cup of strained stewed tomatoes and one-fourth cup of cream. Salt to taste. Heat and serve. Split peas may be made into a puree by stew- ing slowly for several hours until perfectly softened, and until the water has nearly all evaporated. Put through a colander and sea- son with salt. When ready to serve add suffi- cient boiling water to make a thick puree and serve hot. For a soup made from navy beans, wash one cup of beans and soak over night. In the morning put the beans to cook in the water in which they were soaked. Do not parboil, as by so doing the natural flavor of the beans 154 THE FAMILY FOOD is lost. Cook until tender, adding more water if necessary. If the flavor of onion and celery- is desired, add one small onion sliced and two stalks of celery about thirty minutes before the beans have finished cooking. Then put through the colander, season with two tablespoons but- ter and salt to taste, and add water to give the desired consistency. MUSHROOMS Mushrooms have a slight nutritional value, but in any quantity which would make them a factor in the diet they disagree with most persons — their digestion requiring three hours. They are apt also to contain elements of an impure nature, their rapid growth in- hibiting a complete chemical transformation of the substances found in the soil in which they grow. As this is often in an unculti- vated piece of ground, the danger is by no means fanciful. TAPIOCA, SAGO, ETC. As indicated in the following table, tapioca, arrowroot, cornstarch and sago contain a re- markably high proportion of carbohydrate, mostly starch, though their restricted use as VEGETABLES 155 dessert makes them of no great importance as factors in the diet. Carbo- Total food Proteins Fats hydrates Value Per Per Per Calories cent. cent. cent. per pound Tapioca 0.4 0.1 88.0 1,650 Arrowroot ... 07.5 1,815 Cornstarch ... 90.0 1,675 Sago 9.0 0.4 78.1 1,635 Prepared as puddings, however, these four substances represent less, than half as many- calories as are contained in the raw product. CHAPTER X FRUITS Except in a few instances (dates, figs, and bananas, principally) fruits furnish but little nutritive material, and this mostly carbohy- drates in the form of sugar. Water forms the greater part of its bulk. The following table shows the amount of water, proteins and carbohydrates contained in the more common varieties of fruit: Water Apples 82.5 Apples (Dried) ... 36.2 Pears 83.9 Apricots 85.0 Peaches 88.8 Green gages 80.8 Plums 78.4 Nectarines 82.9 Cherries 84.0 Gooseberries 86.0 Currants 85.2 Strawberries 89.1 Whortleberries .... 76.3 Blackberries 88.9 Raspberries 84.4 Mulberries 84.7 Grapes 79.0 Melons 89.8 156 oteins ^arDO- hydrates 0.4 12.5 1.4 49.1 0.4 H-5 1.1 12.4 0-5 5-8 0.4 13-4 1.0 14.8 0.6 15-9 0.8 10.0 0.4 8.9 0.4 7-9 1.0 6.3 0.7 5-8 0.9 2.3 1.0 2.3 0.4 14-3 1.0 155 0.7 7.6 FRUITS 157 Carbo- Water Proteins hydrates Watermelons 92.9 0.3 6.5 Bananas 74.0 1.5 22.9 Oranges 86.7 0.9 8.7 Lemons 89.3 1.0 8.3 Lemon juice 90.0 0.0 2.0 Pineapple 89.3 04 9.7 Dates 20.8 4.4 65.7 Figs 20.0 5.5 62.8 Prunes (dried) . . . 26.4 2.4 66.2 Currants (dried) . . 27.9 1.2 64.0 Raisins 14.0 2.5 74.7 Fruits are, however, rich in certain me- dicinal properties. In the first place, they are — Antiseptic. The acids which most fruits possess give them powerful germ-destroying properties. Oranges and lemons contain 1.3 and 7.2 per cent, of citric acid respectively. Apples and the various berries contain from a fraction of 1 per cent, to as high as 1.4 per cent, of malic acid, while currants contain 5.8 and certain kinds of strawberries contain 5 per cent, of tartaric acid. Taken into the stomach and the alimentary canal these acids have the power of destroying the germs which thrive there. Laxative. Practically all fruits have some laxative action, especially prunes and figs. This action is greater when the fruit is eaten alone, either before or between meals, or at 158 THE FAMILY FOOD bedtime. No other food is present at these times to prevent the fruit from coming in contact with the mucous membrane of the stomach and intestinal canal, and so stimu- lating them to action; nor will the chemicals which they contain be so much diluted Prunes and figs, for instance, both particularly- laxative foods, will have no special laxative effect if eaten with other foods at meal time; but, if taken on an empty stomach at bedtime, or an hour before breakfast, they will have this effect. The worst time for eating these fruits is at the end of a heavy mixed meal. Antiscorbutic. Fruits, particularly the more acid varieties, are an absolute preventive of scurvy, and for this reason they should form an important part of the winter dietary. Fresh fruits are more valuable for this pur- pose than preserved fruits, since the latter are " put up " with more or less cane sugar, which in large quantities is irritating to the lining of the stomach and the alimentary canal, while fresh fruit is also more easily absorbed by the system. Berries, however, together with pears, peaches, and similar fruits, cannot be secured fresh in the winter time except at great expense, and therefore must be eaten in their preserved form. FRUITS 159 Stimulating to the appetite. One of the most valuable services which fruit performs for the appetite is to stimulate the flow of the digestive juices. The quickened digestion which results, promotes a good appetite, eating becomes a pleasure, headaches disappear, the brain and body are active, and life becomes a delight. Fruits also contain various salts and acids which improve the quality of the blood. Green fruit contains a large proportion of cellulose, or woody structure, which renders it difficult of digestion. This decreases in amount during the ripening process, while cooking has the further effect of softening it and thus making it more digestible. DRIED FRUITS Dried fruits have come to occupy a very important position in the modern dietary. The chief effect of the drying process is, by removing the enormous proportion of water which they contain, to concentrate the nutri- tious substance of the fruit. This in itself is not prejudicial to the dried product, but in a few instances, the currant and citron, for example, the fruit becomes hard to digest. In the case of many commercial brands of dates, 160 THE FAMILY FOOD cane sugar is added as a preservative, and this in excessive quantities is apt to irritate the stomach, though not to detract from the nu- tritive quality of the fruit. This last objec- tion holds true with reference to jams, pre- serves and marmalades. So much cane sugar is added to the boiling fruit as to overload the system on the one hand, and on the other, to irritate the stomach and intestinal linings. Unfermented fruit juices are wholesome, and have a strong laxative effect. They are of special value in the sick room, the patient often being able to partake of grape-juice, for instance, when more solid foods are forbid- den. FRUIT EXTRACTS Caution should be observed in the purchase of flavoring extracts. The food adulterator has not passed them by, and his cunning has enabled him to imitate the very flavor of fruits by the use of injurious chemicals. A State health board recently examined twelve sam- ples of extracts purchased in the open market, and found eight of them to be unconformable to the State pure food law. An orange ex- tract contained " orange oil 0.41 per cent. Much below standard and highly colored. FRUITS 161 Adulterated." Thanks to the Pure Food Law, however, a careful study of the label will in most cases inform one as to the contents of the bottle. A home-made orange or lemon flavor may be produced by steeping a few strips of the rind of lemon or orange in milk for twenty minutes. Remove the rind before using for desserts. Be careful to use only the yellow part, as the white will impart a bitter flavor. Grated rind may also be used for flavoring, but pains must be taken to grate very lightly in order to obtain only the yellow portion, as this contains the essential oil of the fruit. TINNED FRUITS Caution is also advisable in the case of tinned fruits. Investigations made by various boards of health have shown the presence of arsenic, tin, lead, and other poisonous sub- stances, the quantity depending upon the va- riety of the fruit, and the condition of the fruit when tinned, for the fruit acids have a tendency to dissolve the tin and other metals from the receptacle, and of course the more acidic the fruit, and the longer the product has been kept, the greater the amount of metal which it will have absorbed. 162 THE FAMILY FOOD The tin used in making the cans is often of a poor quality, and may contain arsenic, which is also dissolved and held in solution by the fruit acids. Chemical preservatives, such as borax, salicylic acid, benzoic acid, and sodium sulphate, are sometimes added to pre- vent fermentation, and to retain the natural appearance of the goods. For these reasons, though the use of metal-tinned fruits is nec- essary, still they should not be used constantly if it can be helped. APPLES The apple is one of our best fruits. Stewed, it makes a delightful sauce; fresh, it is remarkably invigorating and stimulates the appetite ; apple pie vies for popularity with pumpkin pie; when baked it has a wonder- fully delicate flavor; unfermented apple juice has valuable antiseptic and laxative qualities, and is nourishing and palatable to the invalid ; while apple puddings — well, most people will declare that an old-fashioned apple pud- ding cannot be adequately described. As is the case with all fruits, on account of the large proportion of carbohydrate present, the raw apple should be thoroughly masticated, else in the presence of the acid juices of the stom- FRUITS 163 ach it will give rise to fermentation and the formation of gas. PEACHES AND PEARS The peach has very little nutritive value, and contains only 0.7 per cent, of acid. Its flavor is delicate, however, and it has nearly as wide a range of usefulness as the apple. It cannot be kept fresh over winter, as can the apple, but in these days of evaporated and preserved fruit this objection has really little weight. Except that they are doubly rich in carbohydrates and contain less water, what has just been said of the peach is equally true of the pear. Because of its tendency to break up in cooking, the peach is of little value in the making of pies and puddings — in fact, it is eaten chiefly in its raw state, or stewed, as sauce. PLUMS Plums and green gages contain, the former 14.8 and the latter 13.4 per cent, carbohy- drates, and each contains just 1 per cent, of acid, hence they have no little nutritive value. Plums are unjustly reputed to be a cause of colic and diarrhea, for it is only fruit that has been picked in an unripe condition which 164 THE FAMILY FOOD produces these effects. Fruit which is quite ripe may be eaten with perfect safety. Prunes, which may be mentioned in this connection, contain, dried, 66.2 per cent, car- bohydrates, and 2.4 per cent, protein. Plums, especially when eaten raw, are apt to derange the digestion, producing gas and eructations, but cooking lessens this tendency. Prunes, as we have already mentioned, have a considera- ble laxative value, and in spite of the oppro- brium cast upon them by the boarding-house wit, they still remain a popular fruit, as well they may. QUINCES While they have some food value, yet in the form in which they are usually used — as a flavor for other fruit dishes — the extent to which they contribute to the support of the body is almost negligible. To stew this fruit, rub a dozen ripe quinces with a coarse cloth to remove the down; cut in halves and trim out the blossom end. Pour over them boiling water and boil gently until thoroughly tender. Remove the skins and seeds and re- turn to the water in which they were boiled (add more if needed to make up a quart), FRUITS 165 together with one pint of sugar, and cook gently twenty minutes. For baked quinces, pour over fruit which has been pared, cored and halved, a thin syrup, and bake in a modern oven. Baste frequently and turn until they become tender and acquire a reddish color. If desired they may be baked without paring. AVACADO The " alligator pear," or avacado, is a trop- ical fruit which is growing in popularity in the North. Varieties differ considerably in shape and color, the latter ranging from a deep purple to light green, while in form they vary from that of an eggplant to the common plant. In texture the pulp is soft and not unlike butter. Owing to the 10.2 per cent, of fat which it contains it is commonly used in making salads. In addition to the fats the avacado contains 1 per cent, of protein and 6.8 per cent, of carbohydrates. THE OLIVE Pickled green olives contain 12.90 per cent. of fat, and 1.78 per cent, of carbohydrates. Ripe olives, pickled, are an exceedingly nu- 166 THE FAMILY FOOD tritious food, with 25.52 and 3.75 per cent, of fat and carbohydrates, respectively, while olive oil contains over 98 per cent. fat. Green olives are as nearly indigestible as a food can be, while the ripe fruit, on the other hand, is easy of digestion. Several brands of ripe olives may be obtained in the open market. Olive oil, besides being valuable for its lax- ative properties, is one of the most beneficial of all foods for persons suffering from tuber- culosis, on account of the large amount of fat which it affords. It is also useful as a dressing for salads, etc. Adulteration is fre- quent, however, American lard being exten- sively used in France as an adulterant and re- imported as pure olive oil. In cases of an absolutely pure product the label will state the fact. BANANAS When commercial methods are so perfected that they permit us to get bananas in a stage that approximates ripeness we of the North will wonder how we ever did without them. The half-ripened banana as it comes to our table is either tasteless or distasteful, and un- less it is most patiently chewed, is indigestible. In those 'parts of the world where it can be FRUITS 167 procured fresh and ripe it forms the staff of life. Banana flour and dried bananas are articles of commerce which, as their use be- comes more general and new recipes are de- vised, are bound to become popular. Fresh bananas contain a slight amount of fat, 1.3 per cent, protein, and 21 per cent, carbohy- drates; while banana flour contains practically the same quantity of fat, 73.5 per cent, of protein, and 79.82 per cent, carbohydrates, an increase in nutritiveness due to the fact that the drying process preparatory to the man- ufacture of the flour removes a large portion of the water contained in the fresh fruit. GRAPES Grapes contain very little nutritive value, but the salts which they contain are useful to the system, and are easily assimilated. In eating them be careful to reject the seeds and skins, for being too hard and tough to be affected by the digestive juices, they act as irritants, and are apt to set up inflammation of the membranes. It was at one time thought that appendicitis was caused by the entrance of grape seeds into the appendix, but scientists now assert that this is by no means a common cause of the disease. Grape skins and seeds 168 THE FAMILY FOOD are capable of giving rise to diarrhea, enteritis, or intestinal obstruction. MELONS Muskmelon is 89.5 and watermelon 92.9 per cent, water. For this reason they have almost no nutritive value. Eaten in too large quantities, watermelon has this additional ob- jection, that the large amount of water which it contains dilutes the digestive juices and makes them less efficient in their work of di- gestion. Both varieties of melon are refresh- ing and cooling in summer, and eaten in mod- eration are by no means unwholesome. PINEAPPLES Pineapple likewise is made up chiefly of water. Like the banana, it is usually shipped green, and on this account it is not as digesti- ble as when it is perfectly ripe. Its juice, however, is wholesome, and contains a fer- ment which possesses protein-digesting proper- ties. Pineapple juice is often used with suc- cess in the treatment of diphtheria and sore throat. A physician wrote in a druggists' trade journal, some months since : " For three or four years I have been hear- ing of the use of pineapple juice for the cure FRUITS 169 of diphtheria, but thought little of it. Re- cently, however, it has taken better shape in the report of a case where a child was given up by the doctor, and a friend coming in re- marked that he had known children to be re- lieved by the pineapple. The physician in at- tendance said, ' Get it and try it ; it can do no harm.' A ripe pineapple was brought and the juice expressed and given slowly in teaspoon- ful doses. It seemed to clear the throat, swallowing was much easier, and in a few hours the child was sleeping. Recovery fol- lowed. The pineapple was subsequently used with success in a number of cases in the same neighborhood, and the people think it better than medicine." In peeling a pineapple first slice the fruit across, rind and all, then take each slice, in turn in the left hand and pare it with a sharp slim knife, inserting the point and peeling downward toward you, close to the rind. The eyes are thus left so that they can be easily and quickly removed without loss of juice. THE TAMARIND The tamarind is sweet and slightly acid, and possesses some laxative properties. 170 THE FAMILY FOOD THE POMEGRANATE Notwithstanding its 76.8 per cent, water, the pomegranate contains 19.5 per cent, car- bohydrate, with 460 calories of food value to the pound. When ripe and fresh it is one of the most wholesome of foods, though some persons are obliged to cultivate a taste for it. GRAPE FRUIT A fruit which is coming more and more into popular favor is the grape fruit, a species of shaddock. Eaten at the beginning of the meal it has decided laxative and diuretic prop- erties. The pulp is somewhat bitter, and on this account it has been slow in winning favor. LEMON There is no more serviceable fruit to be had than the lemon. It is fast replacing vinegar as a condiment; it is valuable as a flavoring material in cooking and baking; in the form of lemonade it is a delightful beverage; it makes one of the most toothsome of pies ; and lemon juice, diluted, is refreshing to the in- valid; while at the same time it destroys any germs which may be lurking in the stomach, and thus lessens the possibility of autointoxi- FRUITS 171 cation. In each of these respects lime juice is also valuable, as is also orange juice. Or- ange and lemon ices are as popular as ice cream, quite as refreshing, and decidedly more healthful, since they are usually free from the bacteria which abound in cream. All three of these citrus fruits have laxative properties and are good preventives of scurvy. APRICOTS Apricots are chiefly valuable for the variety which they lend the dietary, though the acids which they contain make them slightly anti- septic, and on this account tend to discourage autointoxication in the alimentary canal. BERRIES In addition to their food value, which is by no means inconsiderable, the berries possess a medicinal value. When eaten with their seeds the common garden varieties, together with huckleberries, blueberries and cranberries, are decidedly laxative. They are also rich in mineral salts, which give them valuable diuretic properties. Owing also to the large propor- tion of water present, they exercise a cooling effect upon the body. Strawberries, so far from being injurious 172 THE FAMILY FOOD in cases of gout and rheumatism, as is popu- larly supposed, are beneficial in these cases, owing to the potash, soda, lime, and other salts which they contain. The great Linnaeus, it may be remembered, was once persuaded to eat strawberries during a severe attack of sciatica, with the result that sleep followed, and when he awoke the pain had partially subsided. On the following day he ate as many strawberries as possible, and on the next morning the pain was gone and he was able to leave his bed. The next year the pains re- turned in due time, but left him as soon as he began eating strawberries. DATES AND FIGS Composed of 65.7 per cent, carbohydrates, dates are one of the most nutritious of all foods, and for this reason and owing to their cheapness they deserve to be more popular than they are with the working classes. Be- cause of the large quantity of cane sugar used in packing the fresh fruit they sometimes irri- tate the mucous linings of the stomach and alimentary canal and set up inflammations which pave the way for gastritis and gastric catarrh. This difficulty can be overcome FRUITS 173 largely by mastication and by reducing the quantity of sugar eaten in other forms. As the packing of dates does not take place always under the most cleanly conditions, care should be taken to cleanse them carefully be- fore using. First put into cold water (hot water softens the fruit immediately) to re- move the stones, then wash by pouring over them boiling water. Figs are scarcely less nutritious than dates, in addition have a strong laxative effect that makes them valuable in cases of constipation. When stewed they make a pleasing dessert dish. CHAPTER XI NUTS So erroneous is the popular conception of the nutritive value of nuts, that a recent text- book on dietetics has thought it necessary to inform the student that " nuts should be re- garded as food, for they contribute to a ra- tion an appreciable amount of nutrients." Nuts are, indeed, more nutritious than any other class of foodstuffs. Six varieties con- tain over 3,000 calories per pound : almonds, 3,030; filberts (or "hazelnuts"), 3,290; pecans, 3,445 ; walnuts, 3,305 ; pistachio, 3,010; cocoanut (shredded), 3,125. Peanuts are a close seventh with 2,955 calories, while there are less than half a dozen varieties con- taining under 1,500 calories per pound. This high nutritive value will be better ap- preciated when we say that the almond with 3,030 calories contains in one pound three times as much nutrition as the loin of beef, with 1,025 calories to the pound, and more 174 NUTS 175 than four times as much as round steak with 720 calories to the pound. The widespread custom of confining nuts to dessert has been responsible for much of the failure to recognize nuts as a source of food, a custom of which Professor Jaffa, an emi- nent dietitian, has said : " It is certainly an error to consider nuts merely as an accessory to an already heavy meal, and to regard fruit merely as something of value for its pleasant flavor, or for its hygienic or medicinal vir- tues." DIGESTIBILITY OF NUTS Cookery books are beginning to contain large numbers of nut recipes, and the tasty en- trees and stews and salads in which nuts of various kinds and combinations take the place of meat enable one to use nuts extensively without fear of monotony, and at the same time to effect a very material reduction in the cost of living. A notion has long been current that nuts are indigestible. So are most of the vegetables which we eat if we do not chew them thor- oughly. The only point of difference lies in the degree of thoroughness. Nuts are diffi- cult of digestion if they are not masticated 176 THE FAMILY FOOD until they become a liquid mass, but when reduced to this condition they are as easily di- gested, and the system absorbs them as readily, as any other food. CHESTNUT The chestnut is preeminently an energy- producing food, with its 37 per cent, of carbo- hydrate. Nuts, as a class, are notoriously rich in fats, but chestnuts are an exception to the rule, containing but 6.7 per cent, and protein 5.7 per cent. A pound of chestnuts (kernels) contains 1,115 calories, or food units. In southern Europe chestnuts form a staple article of the dietary, being commonly pre- pared for the table by removing the skins and roasting, boiling, or steaming the kernels. They are also frequently ground into a flour, from which bread is made. The digestibility of the chestnut is considerably increased by cooking. THE ACORN Similar in composition to the chestnut is the acorn, which, ground into flour, in olden times was extensively used among Oriental na- tions for making bread. The cereals, how- ever, have so largely taken their place for this NUTS 177 purpose, that they do not figure in the world's food supply. THE HICKORY NUT The nutritious portion of this " character- istically American nut " (Hickoria pecan is its botanical name), as the hickory nut has been called, consists almost wholly of fats, and has a food value of 1,265 units, or calo- ries. On account of the difficulty in removing their hulls — the thin skin which covers them — they cannot be prepared in a great variety of ways, and their use, consequently, is con- fined chiefly to desserts. THE WALNUT 64.4 per cent, of the walnut is fat, with 16.7 per cent, protein, and 14.8 per cent, car- bohydrate. It is a well-balanced food, and is highly nutritious, containing 3,305 calories per pound. It is widely used as centers for choc- olate creams and in cake decorations, also in salads and roasts, and in breads and dressings. In any of these forms, or eaten alone, walnuts are valuable for the fats which they add to foods in which carbohydrates or protein are apt to predominate. A walnut roast is made by chopping walnuts moderately fine and 178 THE FAMILY FOOD adding to one cupful of nuts one cup of well- toasted bread crumbs. Mix nuts and crumbs with one and one-half pints of rich milk, and salt and chopped onion to taste, and bake in a moderate oven. The black walnut is slightly less nutritious than the English walnut, and is less used in general cookery, but is quite as digestible when care is taken to masticate it thoroughly. THE PECAN Most nutritious of all nuts is the pecan, with 3,445 calories per pound of kernels, 70.8 per cent, of these being fats. Of all nuts their flavor is perhaps the most delicate, which makes them one of the choicest of nuts for dessert. A pecan roast may be made by adding to two beaten eggs one cup of milk, one cup of cream, salt to taste, one teaspoonful grated onion, one cupful rolled bread crumbs, and one-half cup chopped pecans. Soak twenty minutes and bake in a moderate oven thirty to forty minutes. THE BUTTERNUT Very little claim can be made for the but- ternut, as compared with other nuts, on the NUTS 179 score of nutritiveness, for it contains but 430 calories per pound of kernels, yet this is con- siderably in advance of many of the meats and vegetables which go to make up our diet- ary. Like the pecans, too, it has a flavor all its own which makes it a favorite with many persons. THE FILBERT The filbert, or hazelnut, deserves a wider recognition from the standpoint of food than is accorded it. In point of nutrition it ranks next to pecans and walnuts, containing 3,290 calories to the pound. Of these 65.3 per cent, is fat, 13 per cent, carbohydrates, and 15.6 per cent, protein. So concentrated a food is it, indeed, that it should not be reserved to be eaten as a dessert after a hearty meal has al- ready been eaten, as the custom is, but should be given a place in the main part of the meal ; or if it must be eaten as a dessert, one should " leave room for it." BRAZIL NUTS The Brazil nut is exceedingly rich in nutri- tious oils, 33.6 per cent, being fat. By many people it is regarded as difficult of digestion, but complete mastication will remove this ob- jection in nine cases out of ten. 180 THE FAMILY FOOD THE BEECHNUT It is only the squirrel and the small boy who know the delightful qualities of the beechnut. The precariousness of the crop, added to the difficulty of extracting the small kernel from its husk, precludes any extensive use. It con- tains 34 per cent, fat and 13 per cent, protein, and 7.8 per cent, of the starchy element, with a total food value of 1,820 calories, so that with all the difficulties attending its use it is an exceedingly nutritious food. This is one of those sources of food that we shall learn to cultivate and appreciate with the pressure of population on subsistence. PINE AND PISTACHIO NUTS These two varieties of nuts, particularly the latter, are not as extensively used as their nu- tritious qualities would justify. The several varieties of pine nuts contain 675 to 1,905 calories per pound, with the proteins, fats and carbohydrates well balanced, while the pis- tachio kernel contains 3,010 calories to the pound. Pine nuts form a delightful addition to the ingredients of puddings of various kinds. Otherwise, along with pistachios, they are a dessert nut. NUTS 181 ALMONDS Almonds, because of the small amount of sugar which they contain (three to five per cent.), are recommended by physicians for persons suffering from diabetes. With their fine balance of 54.9 per cent, fats, 21 per cent, proteins, and 17.3 carbohydrates, a pound of kernels (3,030 calories) per day will supply the nutrition required by a man doing muscu- lar labor. The skin which surrounds the ker- nel is tough and apt to be irritating to the stomach lining, hence should be removed in the diet of a person who is troubled with stomach disorders of any kind. This can be done by soaking for a short time in hot water, when the skin can easily be rubbed off be- tween the thumb and forefinger. A pleasing sandwich filling may be made from one part chopped almonds to two parts chopped celery, and moistened with a mayonnaise dressing. COCOANUTS Of the wide variety of uses to which the cocoanut is put, a Maine agricultural experi- ment station bulletin says, " The small, green, and immature nut is grated fine for medicinal use, and when mixed with the oil of the ripe 182 THE FAMILY FOOD nut it becomes a healing ointment. The jelly which lines the nut of the more mature nut furnishes a delicate and nutritious food. The milk in its center, when iced, is a most de- licious luxury. Grated cocoanut forms a part of the world-renowned East-Indian condiment, curry. Dried (desiccated) and shredded cocoa- nut is an important article of commerce. From the oil a butter is made, of a clear, whitish color, so rich in fat, that of water and foreign substances combined there are but 0.0068. It is better adapted for cooking than for table use. At present it is chiefly used in hospitals, but it is rapidly finding its way to the tables of the poor, particularly as a substi- tute for oleomargarine." Over 50 per cent. (50.6 per cent., to be precise) of the cocoanut is composed of fats, and 27.9 per cent, of carbohydrates, with only 5.7 per cent, of protein. When used in any considerable quantity, foods rich in proteins and carbohydrates should be used along with it — the legumes, say, for the proteins, and rice for the carbohydrates. The milk of the cocoanut is composed chiefly of water, and is almost wholly devoid of nu- tritive qualities. NUTS 183 SHREDDED COCOANUT Shredded cocoanut has become an important article of commerce, and is considered indis- pensable by the housewife. Like the cocoa- nut in any form, however, it is difficult of digestion, unless pains are taken to give it the most careful mastication. A delicious sauce may be made from the cocoanut as follows: cut fresh cocoanut in thin slices and grind the nut very fine in a chopper or a strong hand mill. If nothing of this sort is available, the cocoanut may be grated. To each cup of the prepared nut add one pint of hot water, stirring and beating with a spoon to extract as much of the juice as possible. Drain off the liquid and add a second similar quantity of hot water and after beating again very thoroughly, strain through a thin cloth or very fine sieve, pressing out all the liquid possible. This may be used at once as a substitute for milk, to be eaten with rice or other grains, or to prepare puddings and sauces. It is excellent served with toasted cereal flakes, or eaten with toast. THE PEANUT If not the most nutritious, peanuts are cer- tainly the most widely used of nuts. They 184 THE FAMILY FOOD are roasted and eaten out of hand or at the table for dessert; they are ground into a flour from which soups are made; they are made into a kind of grits from which biscuits are made; and they are ground into a wholesome butter to serve as a substitute for dairy but- ter, or for sauces or flavorings. Roasted, however, they are more or less in- digestible, for being really a legume instead of a nut, they require thorough cooking just as any other vegetable. So nutritious are the soups made from peanut flours that they are used in the rations of the German army. PEANUT BUTTER Peanut butter may now be obtained in al- most any market, or it may be made in the home if desired, as follows: remove the skins from the nuts, but do not roast, and grind fine in a coffee mill or food chopper. Mills made for the purpose may be purchased. The meal thus prepared may be cooked by putting it dry in the inner cup of a double boiler and cooking for eight or ten hours. As it is re- quired for use, add water to make it of the desired consistency, and cook again for a few minutes, just long enough to bring out the es- sential oils of the nuts. Water may be added \ NUTS 185 as soon as the nuts are ground, and the mix- ture placed in a covered vessel and baked from eight to ten hours in a moderate oven, if de- sired. Butter may be made from almonds in a similar way. Nuts can be baked like beans as follows: to each pound of Virginia peanuts add one and one-half teaspoons of salt and a considerable quantity of boiling water. Boil rapidly for a half hour, then put in a slow oven where they will gently simmer for eight to twelve hours. When done the nut should be slightly juicy. One-half cup of strained tomato, thick- ened with two tablespoons of flour, makes an appetizing addition to the dish. CHAPTER XII DAIRY PRODUCTS Milk and milk products are perhaps the most universally used of all foods. In one- half the world rice occupies the position which wheat maintains in the other half. But in Orient and Occident alike, milk is used as a staple by all classes of people. It is also one of the oldest of foods, occupying a prominent place in the earliest historical narratives. During the past century pure milk has been the object of a campaign second in extent and achievements only to the anti-alcoholism cam- paign. So long ago as 1849 an agitation arose in New York City against the feeding of distillery slops to dairy herds. The agi- tation resulted in a reform of this abuse, but a few years later the existence of germs was discovered, and with improved methods of bacteriologic examination the state of the pub- lic milk supply began to be looked into. The investigations have proved from time to time what had long been suspected, that milk is one 186 DAIRY PRODUCTS 187 of the most prolific sources of disease. " The filthy food," indeed, it has not inaptly been called. " Tuberculous herds " is a term which has passed into our every-day language, to denote dairy herds one or more of whose cows have tuberculosis in a more or less viru- lent form which is easily transmitted to man. And it is the conviction of most men who have investigated the subject that there are very few if any herds which are not tuber- culous. Typhoid is another disease which owes much of its prevalence to milk. Dr. Sims Woodhead, the eminent physician of Cambridge, England, has said, " Every tu- berculous cow is either an actual or a poten- tial center of infection. We cannot get rid of the great white plague until we take bacilli of bovine origin into consideration." A CAUSE OF CHILDREN'S DISEASES Dr. Schroeder, of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, states in a bulletin on " Milk as a Carrier of Tuberculosis Infection," that " it is a fact, a plain, experimentally demonstrated fact, that no one who uses raw milk exten- sively can reasonably hope to escape introduc- ing many tubercle bacilli into his body. They are inevitably consumed in large quantities." 188 THE FAMILY FOOD It is as a source of infantile disorders, how- ever, that milk is most fatal. " Herod," says a well-known writer, " was a novice in the slaughter of helpless infants compared with the poison which is sold as milk, although it would cost far less to have pure milk than to bury our babies. Here is one of the greatest food problems now before the American peo- ple, for not only will bad milk cause the death of hundreds of thousands of infants, but dis- eases may be engendered in the years of the child's formative state, when the energies of the body should be used for growth, and not for resisting disorders carried to it by milk. A few gallons of bad milk will scatter disease and death enough to put a whole community in mourning. One-half of America's babies die before they are five years old. Many of these tiny bundles of humanity never reach their second birthday. Boston and Washing- ton lose over two hundred and fifty, and New York over two hundred and seventy-five chil- dren from every thousand born. ' Cholera in- fantum,' ' convulsions,' ' gastritis,' ' acute in- testinal inflammation ' — these are a few of the terms for infantile suffering which fall glibly from the doctor's lips when he is asked the cause of this fearful death roll, this list DAIRY PRODUCTS 189 of slain, in these piping times of peace, which exceeds that of nearly every great battle in the history of the world. But the doctor knows full well that the real destroyer of our youngest citizens is unclean milk." Women's clubs, civic organizations, munici- pal bodies, and philanthropic individuals, and scientific societies have been the chief factors in the " clean-up crusade," and results have long since begun to appear. In most of the larger cities of America depots have been es- tablished where " pasteurized," " certified," or, in the case of Boston especially, " modi- fied " milk may be obtained. PASTEURIZED MILK Pasteurised, or sterilised, milk is milk which has been subjected to a temperature of 157 F. for ten minutes or longer for the purpose of destroying the germs. Pasteurization has a tendency to coagulate the albumin of the milk and so make it difficult to digest. On this account the certified milk is preferable, as here the attempt is made by establishing cleanly conditions to keep the germs out, rather than destroy them after they have once gained access. Inspectors make periodical visits to the dairies, see that the stables, the 190 THE FAMILY FOOD cows, dairy houses, the bottles, and the at- tendants are kept in a condition of the utmost cleanliness possible. Cow's milk in its raw state is not adapted to the digestive apparatus of the human being. On entering the stomach it forms into large, tough cheese-like curds that require a long time for digestion. To make it approximate mother's milk, and thus suited to infant feed- ing, it is diluted with lime water, and a solu- tion of sugar is added. This is known as modified, or percentage, milk, and where used it has been successful in reducing the mortality rate for infants. The chief constituents of the kinds of milk in most common use are shown by the follow- ing table : Source Carbo- Calories of milk Water Protein hydrates Fats per pound Human 87.4 2.3 6.2 3.8 319 Cow 87.2 3.5 4.9 3.7 313 Goat 85.7 4.3 4.4 4.8 365 Ass 89.6 1.3 6.0 1.6 222 It will be seen from the above table that ass's milk more closely resembles mother's milk than does cow's milk, except in its total food value, but because of the absence of a general supply its use can only be resorted to DAIRY PRODUCTS 191 in rare cases of sick-room treatment, when the stomach will tolerate no other food. The nutritive quality of milk varies with herds, individual cows, feed, etc., and it is advisable, therefore, to use milk regularly from a single cow or herd, so far as possible. Condensed milk, unsweetened, has, when diluted, about the same food value as fresh milk. Sweetened, it is of double the food value, due to the sugar which is added in the evaporating process. CREAM After milk has stood for some time the fat, on account of its lighter weight, rises to the top as cream, the nutritive value of which is as follows: protein, 2..J per cent.; fat, 26.7 per cent. ; carbohydrate elements, 2.8 per cent. ; and various salts, 1.8 per cent. The remain- der is made up of water. Cream, by virtue of the large percentage of fat which it contains, is essentially a pro- ducer of energy, but its cost renders it rather an expensive source of fat. It is one of the most easily digested fats, is readily assimilated by the system, and where it can be procured in sufficient quantity, serves as a valuable food in tuberculosis. 192 THE FAMILY FOOD As in milk, the utmost care should be taken to secure cream that has been produced under the most cleanly conditions possible. Investi- gations made by the Oklahoma Agricultural Department show germs to be present in cream in dangerously large quantities. Tests were made during the .months of December, Janu- ary, and February which showed the presence in the milk of 134,800,000 germs per cubic centimeter. SKIM MILK Skim milk, the milk which remains after the removal of the cream, has a food value of 170 calories per pound, chiefly proteins and carbohydrates, the fats having been removed in the form of cream. In bread-making it may be substituted for the whole milk which many people use. As compared with bread made from water, skim milk bread contains 2,710 calories per pound as opposed to 2,694 calories. Also in the preparation of- soups, such as potato, celery, tomato, green pea, and green corn soups; fish, lobster, clam, and oys- ter chowders, bisques and stews, skim milk will replace whole milk. All kinds of quick biscuit, griddle cakes, etc., can also be made with skim milk as well as with whole milk. DAIRY PRODUCTS 193 In most kinds of cake skim milk will be found a perfect substitute for whole milk. ICE CREAM Ice cream, when made under wholesome conditions, is nutritious, and in the sick room is often helpful in relieving the monotony of the patient's diet. Owing, however, to the fact that oftener than not it is made of impure cream and adulterated ingredients, it is apt to be swarming with germs as dangerous as those which have caused the patient's disease. In purchasing cream the utmost pains should be taken to know that it has been produced under conditions which approximate absolute cleanli- ness. BUTTER Butter contains 85 per cent, fat, no carbohy- drates, and 1 per cent, of protein substance. It is therefore distinctly an energy-producing food, but because of its lack of protein could not alone support life for any considerable length of time. Butter is one of the most digestible of foods, and is easily assimilated by the system, 98 per cent, of the total fat being absorbed into the body tissues. 194 THE FAMILY FOOD As purchased in the open market butter is frequently adulterated. Stale butter is melted, washed, salted, and reworked, resulting in what is known as " renovated " butter. Chem- ical preservatives are often added to butter which is on the verge of decay, while coloring materials are sometimes injurious in character. The following is a simple test which will be found effective in testing butter for adulter- ants: a lump of butter two or three times the size of a pea is placed in a large spoon and heated over an alcohol or gas flame, or when more convenient, above the chimney of an or- dinary house lamp. If the sample in question is fresh and pure it will boil quietly without the evolution of numerous small bubbles and foam. Oleomargarine and process butter, however, will sputter and crackle and froth up to a considerable extent. The substitutes for butter in most common use, oleomargarine and butterine, are made by mixing vegetable with animal fats. Colored stearin, cotton-seed oil, and lard are the ma- terials from which oleomargarine is usually made. It has much the same digestibility and food value as butter. When sold under its true name and not as butter, and when made under cleanly conditions and of wholesome DAIRY PRODUCTS 195 material, there is no objection, as it is a val- uable food and supplies heat and energy at less cost than butter. It will probably be- come more frankly recognized as a useful ar- ticle of diet. For cooking purposes cotton-seed oil and other vegetable fats found on the market are superior to lard and similar animal fats. BUTTERMILK The value of buttermilk as a foodstuff is rather out of proportion to its energy-produc- ing value of 165 calories per pound. The ex- treme ease with which it is digested renders it of special value in the case of persons with weak digestion. It is also valuable in cases of catarrh of the stomach, and possesses val- uable diuretic properties. Buttermilk, how- ever, contains lactic acid, to which its sour taste is due, developed during the " ripening " of the cream preparatory to the churning. This lactic acid possesses powerful germ-de- stroying properties, and buttermilk, conse- quently, is valuable in freeing the intestinal canal of the putrefactive germs which thrive there, and which are the chief factor in pro- ducing intestinal autointoxication, with its headaches, biliousness, and constipation. 196 THE FAMILY FOOD CHEESE Because of the large variety of cheeses on the market, and the wide diversity in their nu- tritiveness, due to the character of the milk from which they are made, the following table will best set forth their food value : Pro- Carbo- Calories Kind of cheese teins Fats hydrates per pound Limburger 23.0 29.4 0.4 1,675 Neufchatel 18.7 27.4 1.5 1,530 Full cream 25.9 33.7 2.4 1,950 Pineapple 22.6 29.5 1.8 1,700 Partly skimmed . . . 25.4 29.5 3.6 1,785 Roquefort 22.6 29.5 1.8 i,7oo Skimmed milk 31.5 16.4 2.2 1,320 Swiss 27.6 349 1.3 2,010 The digestibility of cheese depends in some measure upon what we have referred to as the " individual idiosyncrasy." In the case of most people, however, it may be said that about 95 per cent, of the fats and 92 per cent, of the proteins are digested. " Green " cheese is more digestible than a better cured cheese, though so far as regards the total amount digested there is little difference. There is also practically no difference in the digestibility of the various kinds — Roquefort, Camembert, Cheddar, Swiss, etc. Cheese is an exceedingly rich food, how- ever, and should be eaten sparingly, and then DAIRY PRODUCTS 197 in the midst of a meal rather than as a part of the dessert, when a sufficiently heavy meal has been eaten and the capacity of the stom- ach already reached. COTTAGE CHEESE Experiments have shown that cottage cheese, prepared with cream, compares favor- ably with respect to food value and digestibil- ity with beef and other meats. One hundred pounds of skim milk and four pounds of cream, containing 20 per cent, fat, make from fifteen to sixteen pounds or more of moist cottage cheese. At two cents per quart for skim milk and thirty-five cents per quart for cream, cottage cheese would cost about eleven cents a pound, and compares favorably with a cut of meat at the same price, so far as food value is concerned. The addition of cream to cottage cheese favorably influences both its nutritive value and its palatability without in- creasing the cost materially. In addition, cottage cheese contains large numbers of the lactic acid bacilli which in the case of buttermilk we have observed as tend- ing to destroy the putrefactive germs which thrive in the alimentary canal and produce autointoxication. 198 THE FAMILY FOOD A pleasing salad may be made from cottage cheese, as follows : Drain one cup of cheese until dry. Add one-third cup of celery cut fine. Add the salt and sweet cream and serve with mayonnaise dressing. KOUMISS AND KEFIR These are sour milk preparations in which alcoholic fermentation has been begun by the use of yeast. Both have a higher food value than buttermilk, and contain considerably higher proportions of lactic acid, and so have a pronounced medicinal value in disorders of the intestinal canal, such as intestinal autoin- toxication, which is caused by decay of im- partially digested remnants of food in the in- testinal canal, etc. Various sour milk preparations, such as lactobacilline and yogurt, are now on the mar- ket, in which lactic acid has been produced by various species of what are called " lactic acid bacilli," or germs. The advantages of most of these are twofold : first, they contain less alcohol than koumiss and kefir, and second, their germ-destroying properties are more powerful and more lasting. Tablets for modi- fying milk in this way are also sold. CHAPTER XIII CONDIMENTS AND SPICES Spices and condiments contain so little nu- tritive material that they can scarcely be said to rank as a foodstuff at all. Yet they are so extensively used with other articles of diet that no consideration of the subject of dietetics is complete without some reference to their influence on the system. Misapprehension exists in the popular mind as to the value of condiments. They are gen- erally supposed to be beneficial in cases of in- digestion by stimulating the secretion of gas- tric juice to redoubled activity. In lack of appetite, which is usually a symptom of indi- gestion of some kind, they are considered ca- pable of stimulating a desire for food. INFLAMMATION OF THE MUCOUS MEMBRANE What condiments really do in such cases is to inflame the delicate mucous membrane of the stomach and to produce catarrh of the stom- ach, and if their use is persisted in, a diseased 199 200 THE FAMILY POOD condition of the intestines is also likely to re- sult. They at first cause more food to be eaten than the system demands, and finally destroy the appetite, producing chronic dys- pepsia of the severest kind. As Abramowski, an eminent dietitian, has said, " Pepper and mustard, vinegar and pickles, through their irritation, create a state of inflammation along the whole alimentary canal." The only proper stimulation of a weak di- gestion is not a condiment of some kind, but, in the first place, to reduce the work of the stomach to a minimum by chewing the food with absolute thoroughness; and second to eat no more than the system demands of simple, wholesome foods which do not irritate the stomach. No one would suggest adding con- diments to fresh fruits — and yet just as the rich flavors of fruits are themselves sufficient stimulants of the appetite, so careful masti- cation of the commonest foods brings out latent flavors which vie in delicacy with the flavors of the richest fruits; condiments and sauces can add nothing. SALT Even sodium chlorid, or common salt, is not indispensable, there being " some few CONDIMENTS AND SPICES 201 tribes of flesh-eating men who do not add salt to their food, relying for their needs upon what they derive from the food itself. This supply is therefore sufficient to maintain life. In fact, as a rule, man derives enough salts from the composition of his food, to supply the tissues and juices of the body, and the ad- ditional quantity which he takes as table salt is mainly of service as a condiment, to give agreeable flavor to a mixed diet and to sharpen the appetite." Many will think the race hopelessly ad- dicted to the use of salt, yet the testimony of persons who have eliminated salt from their diet, is that they have found their food to pos- sess delicate flavors of which they were una- ware when the presence of salt had deadened them. PEPPER Pepper, one of the most generally used of all the spices, and a native of Malabar, Java, Borneo, Sumatra, and Guiana, is the fruit of the pepper plant. It is the size of a small pea, and contains a grayish white seed. Picked as soon as ripe and dried on canvas, it be- comes, when ground, ordinary gray pepper. When the hull or skin of the pepper is re- 202 THE FAMILY FOOD moved before grinding, the ground product is the white pepper of commerce. Pepper is frequently, one might almost say- always, adulterated, the foreign particles which form the adulterants being hard to de- tect on account of the color and texture of the ground product. Buckwheat middlings, char- coal, corn meal, roasted nut shells and fruit stones and cracker crumbs, are a few of the substances in most common use for the pur- pose of adulteration. CAYENNE PEPPER Cayenne, or red, pepper contains slight nu- tritive properties, but these are not sufficient to offset the effects of the inflammation and the deranged digestion which its continued use produces in the stomach, and it should there- fore be eliminated from the dietary. MUSTARD Mustard, the ground seed of the mustard plant, is used chiefly in salad dressings, and with cold meat, and sometimes stimulates a laggard appetite. It is an irritant of the stomach, however, and its use in any quantity cannot be recommended. Adulteration of CONDIMENTS AND SPICES 203 mustard is very common, wheat, corn and rice flour being the chief adulterants. GINGER Ginger is used chiefly as a condiment, though it has a slight food value, mostly of the starchy element. It lends itself readily to adulteration, and examination with the mi- croscope often reveals rice, wheat, and potato starch, hulls of the mustard seed, exhausted ginger from ginger-ale and extract factories, sawdust, and peanut shells, artificially colored. CINNAMON AND CASSIA These two spices are less injurious to the mucous lining of the stomach than the condi- ments which we have named, and possess, in common with nutmeg and allspice, a pleasing aroma which is made use of in puddings, cakes and other desserts. The nutmeg is the kernel from the fruit of an East Indian tree, while allspice, or pimento, is the fruit of a common West Indian tree. CLOVES Cloves are the buds of a tropical evergreen, picked by hand, and dried in the sun. They 204 THE FAMILY FOOD are wholly innutritious, and are injurious to the mucous membrane which lines the stom- ach. VINEGAR Vinegar is entirely devoid of food proper- ties, its chief value lying in the flavor and palatability which it imparts to other foods. The large amount of acetic acid which it con- tains is decidedly injurious to the lining of the stomach, and produces in the liver a con- dition which resembles what is known as " gin liver." Lemon juice, either pure or dilute, serves practically every purpose of vinegar, and is superior to it as a relish for salads and greens. Vinegar is also used extensively in pre- serving foodstuffs of various kinds, but usu- ally the foodstuffs are indigestible in them- selves, as for instance, green cucumber pickles. HORSE RADISH Horse radish contains 10.5 per cent, of car- bohydrate material, and food value to the ex- tent of 230 calories to the pound, but it is so excessively irritating to the mucous linings of the body as to render it positively injuri- CONDIMENTS AND SPICES 205 ous, in whatever form it is eaten. To a lesser extent the same is true of the various " sauces " — such as Worcestershire, tabasco, catsup, etc. CHAPTER XIV BEVERAGES WATER The processes of metabolism which take place within the cells are dependent upon the presence of water. This is supplied in three ways: (i) as a component part of the food we eat; (2) as tea, coffee, or other beverage, and (3) in its pure form, as it comes from the tap. The total amount of water which these three sources contribute is from five to six pints daily. The natural demand for water expresses itself in thirst, so no positive rule can be laid down, but from one and a half to two pints is the normal amount which the system craves. This will be less, of course, if tea or other beverages are used. The rest of the five or six pints is contained in our food. Water should be used very sparingly, or not at all, preferably not at all, during meal time. The digestive juices which are poured over 206 BEVERAGES 207 the food as it enters the stomach are nicely adjusted in the proportion of pepsin, hydro- chloric acid, etc., which they contain. To drink a pint or two of fluid has the effect of diluting these juices, and retarding, even pre- venting, digestion. ICED WATER Iced water likewise interferes with diges- tion by checking the flow of saliva, and lower- ing the temperature under which the digestive juices of the stomach perform their work. Iced drinks, held in the mouth until they are reduced to the temperature of ordinary drink- ing water, are quite as refreshing as when swallowed hurriedly at a point seventy degrees below body temperature. Large quantities of water taken at a meal are also likely to pass hurriedly from the stom- ach into the intestinal canal, carrying with it partially digested particles of food. Here they ferment and give off poisonous gases which make their way into the system and produce headaches, biliousness, and other symptoms of autointoxication. In order that digestion may not be hindered, therefore, water should be taken when the stomach is empty, which is usually from two 208 THE FAMILY FOOD and a half to three hours, depending upon the kind of food eaten and the vigor of the indi- vidual's digestion. Water passes from the body in four forms — sweat, vapor in the expired breath, urine, and in the stools. These " excreta " are loaded with impurities of various kinds which result from the decomposition of worn-out cells in the processes of metabolism, so that when we facilitate their elimination by drink- ing copiously of water we flush the system and get rid of what we may call " sewage." The best time to drink water for this pur- pose is on retiring at night and on rising in the morning. Constipation, when it is not too far advanced, will be relieved by the same means. Cold water is particularly stimulating to kidney activity and should be used in prefer- ence to warm drinks of any kind. DEBILITATION OF THE STOMACH An unstinted and long-continued use of hot beverages is likely to debilitate the stomach and pave the way for constipation, though their temporary use may be helpful in reliev- ing indigestion. In any case, the beverage should not exceed a temperature of 120 to 160 F. BEVERAGES 209 PURE WATER Absolutely pure water is practically un- known outside laboratories. Well water, un- less brought from a considerable depth, is apt to be contaminated by barnyard or cess-pool filth, which seepage through the soil does not remove from it. Even spring water, which in the popular mind is a type of purity, seldom escapes contamination, coming as it does from recesses hidden somewhere in the earth, but just where, and open to what contamination no one knows. In many regions, also, par- ticularly in mountains, it is apt to contain an excess of salts which derange digestion and tend to the formation of stones in different parts of the body. This is what is known as " hard water." The injurious effects of these salts may be removed to a great extent by boiling the water. PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY A public water supply, unless filtered by the most approved methods, is apt to be un- wholesome, since its source receives more or less impurity from its watershed. There are three methods in use for purifying water, namely, distillation, boiling, and filtration. 210 THE FAMILY FOOD DISTILLED WATER Distillation frees water of both organic and inorganic impurities, so that distilled water is absolutely pure, though it is rather fiat and tasteless on account of its lack of air. This defect may be corrected by shaking air into it or pouring the water back and forth from one vessel to another. Distilled water is now largely used by ships at sea, which are pro- vided with proper apparatus for distilling the salt water. Small stills for family use are now on the market and may be used with as little trouble as are filters. BOILED WATER Boiling renders water pure except for any mineral matters which it may contain, and even these are reduced in quantity. The proc- ess destroys disease germs, removes all or- ganic impurities, and eliminates, when they are present, those gases which cause poison- producing decay. FILTRATION Filtering clears water by removing its coloring matter and foreign substances. The best filters, when new, will even rid water BEVERAGES 211 of germs. After they have been used for a time, however, the filtering material usually becomes permeated with germs which are car- ried through with the water in great numbers. Care should be taken to cleanse the filter fre- quently. Boil the filtering material at least once a week, in order to destroy any germs which it may harbor. Mineral waters, while under the direction of a physician, may have some medicinal value, yet dietetically they are of no value whatever. The mineral salts which they con- tain are obtained in sufficient quantities from food. TEA Aside from the cream and sugar which are usually taken with it, tea is practically with- out nutritive value. Its chief constituents, caffein and tannic acid, on the other hand, are poisons, and these two facts — that it is not a food and that it is a poison — should make one hesitate before admitting it into his dietary. Yet, as an eminent English phy- sician, Dr. John H. Clark, says, " It would al- most seem that the human animal is deter- mined to assert his superiority over all the rest of creation by the ingenuity he shows in 212 THE FAMILY FOOD discovering or manufacturing pleasant poisons for himself. The great majority of mankind are the slaves to one or more poison habits. Of these habits, the tea habit is one of the most subtle, insinuating, and injurious. It is a moot point with me whether tea does not do more harm in this country than alcohol. It does not make its victims ' drunk and in- capable/ but it certainly does make them drunk. To be saturated with tea, to be con- stantly under its influence, to be dependent on it, is to be tea-drunk. The sooner tea ab- stinence societies are organized the better, and ' Tea Bands of Hope ' should be universal ; on no consideration whatever should children be allowed to have tea. They might just as well be encouraged to smoke cigarettes. DELIRIUM TREMENS FROM TEA " Persons addicted to tea do not always drink it; cases occur in which the tea-habitue eats it. In one case of this kind, the victim, a woman, who ate quantities of tea, actually developed delirium tremens. This, though an exceptional occurrence, shows the power of the drug over the nervous system, and, of course, it is this power of exciting the nervous system that gives tea such attraction. BEVERAGES 213 " Many people do not understand how it is to have such an appetite for tea, when they have little or no care for any other meal — if we except the morning cup of tea brought up to the bedroom, without which some would never get up at all. The reason is this : the * sinking, empty feeling,' accompanied often by irritability, low spirits, and shortness of temper, means that the stimulating effects of the last dose of tea are passing off, and the stage of reaction setting in. It is just the same with the tea drinker as it is with the alcohol drinker: when the stimulating effect of the last dram is passing off, another must be taken to keep up the effect. Thus the vi- cious circle is kept up. Tea, like every other stimulant, when it helps at all, helps us at our own expense. It takes energy out of us in one part to put in somewhere else. Hence the necessity of not allowing ourselves to be- come dependent on it either for our work or our comfort. Stimulants of all kinds may be very good servants on occasions, but as masters, they are, as Sir Wilfred Lawson said of alcohol, ' the devil in solution.' Tea be- longs to a group of nerve-stimulants which enable a person to get more out of himself in the shape of body and mental energy than 214 THE FAMILY FOOD he would be able to get without them. This is drawing a bill on the bank of his nervous system, of course, and the bill will have to be met by food and rest, and no great harm will be done. But this is not the case when once a habit is established. An abnormal rate of nerve wear will go on, and this results in a fruitful crop of cases of that latter-day fashionable complaint — neurasthenia. Allied to neurasthenia, and nearly always associated with it, is dyspepsia of the nervous or flatulent type. Tea can produce any one of these, or all combined. ONE CAUSE OF GOUT " One of the reasons why tea enables a per- son to put out more energy than would be pos- sible without it is that it arrests the normal rate of waste of the ordinary tissues. This means that the products of waste which ought to be thrown off are stored up in the organism instead. Hence it is that tea is one of the most prolific sources of gout, with its numer- ous progeny of ills and ailings. " Another effect of tea is to produce anaemia. Servant girls are nearly all great tea drinkers, and drinkers of the strongest kinds of tea. To this habit much of the anaemia and dys- BEVERAGES 215 pepsia from which they suffer is due. It is the tannin which is chiefly accountable for this. " But," continues the doctor, " is not tea an excellent thing for headaches? I am some- times asked. Certainly it is, and very often for the headaches of its own causing. Head- aches which come on for the want of the accustomed cup of tea will pass off when the tea is taken. Tea, in the same way, is an ex- cellent thing for sleeplessness in persons who are under its sway. I know many people who are dependent on a cup of tea to send them to sleep, just as other people are dependent on a cup of tea to keep them awake. But if there had been no tea habit established tea would not send people to sleep. As for keep- ing people awake, it is all very well once in a while to use tea for this purpose ; but if peo- ple habitually keep themselves awake with tea when they ought to be asleep, a nervous break- down is certain to take place sooner or later." TURNS MEAT INTO LEATHER Tea has a disastrous effect upon the diges- tion of flesh foods, for the tannin which it contains has the effect of tanning the albumin of the meat and making it about as hard to 216 THE FAMILY FOOD digest as the heavy sole leather which it closely resembles. Of the further effects upon digestion Dr. Nathan S. Davis has said that tea should not be used by dyspeptics or by persons who are constipated. When taken in excessive quan- tities it produces wakefulness, nervousness, excitability, and even muscular unsteadiness and twitching of the muscles. The digestive disorders due to its tannic acid are much more pronounced when tea is drunk to excess than are its stimulating effects. Flatulence, gas- tric distress, constipation, often irregularity of the heart action, and sleeplessness are the predominant symptoms of tea-drinking. Tea is not disposed of by the stomach so rapidly as water. It is estimated that a pint of the latter is passed on into the intestine within an hour, while half as much tea remains in the stomach for from one to two hours. TEA DRINKERS ARE CONFIRMED DYSPEPTICS An editorial article which appeared in the Lancet (London) a few years since confirms the assertions of Dr. Davis: "As a factor in disease, excessive tea-drinking is very often overlooked, and it does not occur to many persons that tea may be the source of their BEVERAGES 217 trouble. In poor families where the teapot is always on the hob, and the worst qualities of the leaves are thoroughly extracted, the imbibition of the poisonous stew being in- dulged in all day, the effects on the health have many points in common with those arising from the alcohol habit. Such persons are, as a rule, ill-nourished, tea often being taken effectively to stay the pangs of hunger. They are confirmed dyspeptics. Gastric ulcer is common among them, and their nervous sys- tem is seriously affected." Green tea differs from the black merely in the method in curing. " Black tea is made by ' withering ' the freshly picked leaves in the sun. They are then mashed and rolled in order to break the fiber and cells of the leaf and liberate their constituents. After this the leaves are gathered together and fer- mented, during which process a part of the tannic acid in them is made less soluble and the essential oils are modified in character. They are again exposed to the sun, and finally ' fired,' or dried in an oven. Green teas are withered in pans that are at a tem- perature of 160 F. ; in Japan they are steamed. They are then rolled, withered again, sweated in bags, and finally slowly 218 THE FAMILY FOOD roasted. These processes of manufacture modify the composition of the product." COMPOSITION OF BLACK AND GREEN TEAS The two principal elements, tannic acid and caffein, exist in black and green tea respec- tively as follows : Tannic Acid Caffein Black tea 16.40 3.24 Green tea 27.14 2.33 The disparity between the two varieties in the matter of tannin, is great, and vastly in favor of the black. In preparing the beverage attention should be paid to eliminate, so far as possible, tannic acid from the brew. The following method accomplishes this object as effectively as any : pour boiling water over the leaves and allow it to stand from three to five minutes, though its stimulating effects are not sensibly increased, yet it becomes stronger in tannin and darker in color. Another method of making tea is to let it stand for several hours in cold water. A method used in England is to drop the tea gently on hot water and pour off the brew as soon as the leaves have all uncurled and settled to the bottom of the pot. The water used in tea making should be fresh boiled and not too BEVERAGES 219 hard. If stale boiled water is used its air will be driven out completely and the tea rendered less palatable. COFFEE The active chemical constituent in coffee is caffein, identical with the caffein (or theine, as it is sometimes called) of tea, and of de- cided stimulating qualities. It quickens men- tal processes, makes the mind wakeful and restless, and lessens the sense of weariness. It deepens respiration, and increases the force and rapidity of the heart beat. Dr. H. H. Rusby, of the College of Phar- macy of the City of New York, goes farther than this and asserts that " caffein is a genuine poison, both acute and chronic. Taken in the form of a beverage, it tends to the formation of a drug habit, quite as characteristic, though not so effective, as ordinary narcotics. While not cumulative in substance, it is so in effects, permanent disorders of the cardiac function and of the cerebral circulation resulting from its continued use. When the caffein is taken in more concentrated and seductive forms, as in confections and the like, such as the ' stored energy ' cubes sold some years ago, cumulative results become correspondingly greater." 220 THE FAMILY FOOD SYMPTOMS OF COFFEE POISONING A common symptom of coffee poisoning is headache. " Physicians, it has been said, rec- ognize the caffein headache in those who are excessive users of tea and coffee. Cessation of the use of coffee and tea result in the dis- appearance of many of the ailments from which tea and coffee drinkers suffer. Weak tea or coffee, in moderation, may not appear to affect the individuals who use them, but the majority of tea and coffee users use these beverages to the extent of several cups a day, usually at meal time, and always strong. There is a tea and coffee drunkenness just as there is a drunkenness in the use of alcoholic liquors, morphine, cocaine, or opium." It has been said that coffee drunkards in Paris are considered hopeless, whereas those suffering from alcoholic excesses can be patched up. Coffee can in no sense whatever be regarded as a food, and while in certain cases its laxa- tive qualities are valuable in overcoming con- stipation, yet the dangers which attend the introduction into the system of a positive poi- son, and the risk which one runs of establish- ing a baneful habit, should serve to deter one BEVERAGES 221 from resorting to it, except when under med- ical advice, caffein is prescribed. METHODS OF PREPARATION Of the various ways of preparing the bev- erage, the percolator method has a great ad- vantage in point of flavor, while at the same time coffee made in this manner is likely to contain fewer objectionable chemical qualities than when made after the older method of boiling. Reference may be made, in this connection, to cereal coffee substitutes. " A few of these preparations," says a government bulletin, " contain a little true coffee, but for the most part they appear to be made of parched grains of barley, wheat, etc., or of grain mixed with pea hulls, ground corncobs, or wheat mid- dlings. It is said that barley or wheat, parched, with a little molasses, in an ordinary oven makes something indistinguishable in flavor from some of the cereal coffees on the market. If no coffee is used in the cereal preparations, the claim that they are not stim- ulating is probably true. As for the nutritive value, parching the cereals undoubtedly renders some of the carbohydrates soluble, and a part of this soluble matter passes into the decoc- 222 THE FAMILY FOOD tion, but the nutritive value of the infusion is hardly worth considering in the dietary." An objection against drinking at all during the meal may be brought against these prepa- rations, that they dilute the digestive juices and tend to carry particles of undigested food from the stomach into the intestines. COCOA AND CHOCOLATE Cocoa and chocolate are made from the cocoa bean, the seed of the Theobroma cacao, a tree of tropical America. The bean is en- cased in a yellowish pod from which it is re- moved and subjected to fermentation. They are then dried by exposure to air and light, which hardens them and gives them a reddish color. The fermentation lessens the acidity and bitterness which characterize the bean in its unfermented state, and usually develops the flavor peculiar to the ground product. The cocoa bean in its natural state contains from 40 to 50 per cent, fat, part of which is removed in the manufacture of cocoa and sold as " cocoa butter." After the drying process the bean is next ground and sold as " cracked cocoa," or " co- coa nibs." From these nibs the various brands of cocoa and chocolate are made, their BEVERAGES 223 composition varying as more or less fat is re- moved, and according to the nature and quan- tity of ingredients which are added. Chocolate is a preparation of cocoa to which sugar, starch and flavoring materials have been added, usually containing sugar to the extent of 50 per cent, or more. NUTRITIVE VALUE As compared with tea and coffee, cocoa is decidedly nourishing. Its food value is due to the fat that it contains. The starch and protein are too inconsiderable in quantity to be of much account. The beverage usually is made with milk, sugar being added to it in varying amounts, these substances increasing its nutritive properties very much. Ten grams of cocoa, the amount usually used in making a cupful, yields forty calories. When made with milk and sugar, the beverage will yield four hundred calories. The stimulating ef- fect of theobromin is different from that of caffein, to which it is chemically related, in that it does not cause sleeplessness or muscular tremors. Under its influence the mind be- comes less alert, but it relieves a feeling of muscular fatigue in much the same way. The excessive use of cocoa does not produce the 224 THE FAMILY FOOD nervous symptoms characteristic of the use of tea and coffee, though it is likely to cause in- digestion because of the large amount of fat in it and sugar added to it. If in making the beverage not too much cocoa and sugar are used, it is digestible, somewhat nutritious, and mildly stimulating. COCA AND COLA The products, the former made from the cocoanut, the latter from the leaves of a trop- ical plant {Erthroxylon cocoa), enter into the manufacture of several soda-fountain bever- ages. Cola contains a considerable quantity of caffein and theobromin, a slight amount of tannin, and some fat, sugar, starch and albu- minous material. From it a beverage may be prepared by infusion, like coffee, and served with cream and sugar. Sleeplessness and nervousness, however, are likely to result from its continued use. DANGER OF COCA Coca contains as its chief chemical constit- uent cocaine. It deadens the sense of hun- ger, and stimulates the mental faculties, but its use is dangerously apt to develop the cocaine habit. BEVERAGES 225 SODA FOUNTAIN DRINKS Of an examination of soda-fountain prepa- rations made from these two products, the re- port of the Chief Chemist of the Bureau of Chemistry, United States Department of Agri- culture, for 1908, says: "Approximately eighty samples of these products have been ex- amined. The investigation was undertaken for the purpose of ascertaining the nature and character of the beverages sold principally at soda fountains, and special attention was given to the detection and estimation of caffein, co- caine, and coloring matter. A complete analy- sis has been made in every case, not only to determine the composition of the product, but also to ascertain whether the ingredients claimed to be present were actually used in preparing the drinks. With few exceptions, all contain caffein added as sUch. In fact, the caffein is rarely introduced by using an ex- tract of the plant or article containing the caffein in natural combination. Cocaine was also found to be present in a large number, and many were artificially colored with coal- tar, and agents derived from vegetable and animal sources. " The caffein present in an ounce of medi- 226 THE FAMILY FOOD cated soft-drink syrups, the quantity usually entering into a glass of the drink, varied from a trace to 1.2 grains. A considerable number of the medicated soft drinks were free from cocaine, and when its presence was established the amount varied from a trace to 0.05 grains to the ounce, the average amount used in pre- paring a glass of the beverage. Fifty-four cups of tea and coffee, as served at representa- tive hotels, cafes, and restaurants of Washing- ton, were collected and analyzed for the pur- pose of ascertaining the quantity of caffein present and comparing it with the amounts contained in the medicated soft drinks. The average amount of caffein per cup of coffee was 2.2 grains, varying from 1.33 grains to 3.74 grains. The average contents of caffein per cup of tea was 0.98 grain, varying from 0.31 grain to 2.15 grains. An interesting point brought out is that tea and coffee served at the better class hotels as a rule contain a greater per cent, of caffein." ALCOHOL No occasion would be given a book on food to include in its pages a mention of alcohol, except that a mistaken notion is abroad that alcohol has a positive food value. BEVERAGES 227 Alcohol possesses no food value whatever. It at first stimulates a worn-out mind or body- to renewed exertion, but creates no new en- ergy; reserve power is drawn upon, and sooner or later the fund will be exhausted, and collapse will occur. The various alcoholic drinks, notably beer, seem to possess nutritive qualities, inasmuch as an increase of fat often results from their use. This is explained, however, by the fact that alcohol retards the processes of metabo- lism; the cells are not so rapidly broken down by exertion, and part of the food which ordi- narily would supply heat and energy is stored up in the system as reserve fat. The reserve, however, is purchased at a fearful cost. It has been shown that alcohol is ruinous to digestion; it destroys nerve con- trol; it makes its victim susceptible to kidney and liver disorders, arteriosclerosis, tuberculo- sis, diabetes and gout, and destroys that vital resistance which is the body's chief defense against disease. Even if it possessed the slightest amount of nutritive material one would be at a loss to give a reason for drinking alcohol, since it unfits a man for the duties and the pleasures of life. A recent work on sociology puts this 228 THE FAMILY FOOD aspect of the question in a forcible manner, thus : " Other things being equal, the same man will do better work without alcohol than with alcohol ; the same athlete will be stronger and more alert without alcohol than with al- cohol; the clerk or lawyer or teacher will win promotion earlier without alcohol than with alcohol ; a man or woman will grow old quicker with than without alcohol. Other things be- ing equal a man of fifty will have greater con- fidence in a total abstainer than in a man of identical capacity who uses alcohol moder- ately; a mother will give better vitality and better care to her children without than with alcohol; a policeman or fireman or stenog- rapher is more apt to win promotion without than with alcohol. Whatever the physical ail- ment, there is in every instance a better rem- edy for an acute trouble, and infinitely better remedies for deep-seated troubles, than alco- hol." Why, we say, should one drink it? CHAPTER XV CATERING FOR THE SICK Catering for the sick is a subject concern- ing which one cannot lay down hard and fast rules in every case. In acute diseases the pa- tient must to a large extent be fed under the directions of a physician; while in any dis- order an individual case may have peculiarities which require treatment different from that applied to another patient suffering from the same trouble. Each disease, likewise, requires a diet suited in quality and quantity to its symptoms, due to the fact that the body consumes more heat in one disease than another — in fever, for in- stance, the patient burns up, as we say ; metab- olism takes place very rapidly, so much so that the body tissues themselves are consumed. The diet must be of a kind that will check this destruction of body tissue, without at the same time overloading the digestive organs, which are exceedingly weak. In tuberculosis, on the other hand, the consumption of body tissue is 229 230 THE FAMILY FOOD even more rapid, while the digestive organs, at the same time are rapid, often abnormally so. In the one case the object is to keep the ration as low as a weak digestion demands, of a kind that will make good the tissues wasted by disease. APPETITE CAPRICIOUS IN DISEASE Also a patient has a capricious appetite. He easily tires of food; often feels hungry with- out being just certain of what he wants ; while, again, he often cannot tolerate food when as a matter of fact his system demands it. These various factors combine to make invalid feed- ing a difficult problem — too difficult to permit of more than a few general principles being laid down for guidance in milder cases and when it is impossible to reach a physician. Digestive disorders form the largest group of diseases, and of these constipation is the most common. This most often occurs among sedentary workers, hence the first preventive measure is exercise for the purpose of main- taining constant activity of the alimentary canal — ■ and walking is the best of all exer- cises for constipation, a good brisk walk of several miles each day; second, the formation of habits which make evacuation regular and CATERING FOR THE SICK 231 thus prevent the accumulation in the intestine of decaying foodstuffs which produce bilious- ness and autointoxication, which in turn ag- gravate the constipation ; and third, the use of those foods which least tend to the production of indigestion and autointoxication, for so closely associated are these two disorders with constipation that where one or the other is there will constipation be found also. CONSTIPATION Where constipation has once gained a foot- hold, diet becomes of paramount importance. Those foods must be used which will stimulate the intestinal canal into activity. Fruits, al- most without exception, are laxative, fresh ap- ples and oranges being particularly so, as also berries, either fresh or stewed. Prunes, raisins, figs and dates are helpful in cases of constipation, and should be eaten at the be- ginning of the meal. Nuts are also of a laxa- tive nature, but should be carefully masticated. Coarse breads, preferably pumpernickel, gra- ham, rye, and whole wheat, also toasted cereal flakes, should be eaten, together with plenty of butter. Honey may also be eaten freely. Coarse vegetables, such as asparagus, cauli- flower, spinach, lettuce, celery, potatoes, gar- 232 THE FAMILY FOOD den peas, and carrots, should form a part of the dinner, since these afford a bulk to the intestines which assist in stimulating them to activity. With spinach and lettuce olive oil may be used as a dressing, this being a par- ticularly laxative food. Japanese seaweed, or agar-agar, obtainable at any drug store, is also valuable in cases of constipation, owing to the stimulus to peristalsis which its bulk affords. WATER BETWEEN MEALS Water should be taken freely between meals, a glassful being drunk on rising and one on re- tiring. It is better to drink little or not at all during the meal. If a beverage is desired at meal time a glass of unfermented apple juice or orange juice will be found advantageous. In most cases of constipation fresh milk should be omitted from the dietary because of its tendency to form curds in the stomach, but for it may be substituted buttermilk or koumiss. Tea, coffee, meats (on account of their tendency to decompose in the intestines), eggs, and an excess of condiments and spices should be avoided. Indigestion is often present in cases of con- stipation, and may be a cause of it. Among the various causes of indigestion are an ex- CATERING FOR THE SICK 233 cess or a deficiency of hydrochloric acid in the gastric juice, and a deficiency of the gastric juice itself. In the case of hyperpepsia, or an excess of acid, those foods should be eaten which con- tain a minimum of acid. Eat freely of foods rich in fat, such as butter, nuts and olive oil. Egg yolk, the various legumes eaten in the form of purees, honey, prunes, steamed figs, the pulp of stewed raisins, baked potatoes thoroughly masticated, toasted wheat and corn flakes, and whole-wheat bread may also be eaten when this condition is present. Drink as little as possible — not more than a glass- ful — during the meal. A glass of hot water, or two, drunk a half-hour before mealtime is often helpful in these cases. " HYPOPEPSIA " In hypopepsia, on the other hand, indiges- tion is produced by a deficiency of acid in the gastric acid, and on this account an abundance of fruits of all kinds may be eaten, also butter- milk, which is rich in lactic acid, potatoes, those nuts lowest in fats, eggs, purees made from the legumes, and the various cereal flakes. The diet for hypopepsia is not, indeed, a restricted one, beyond the omission of those 234 THE FAMILY FOOD foods which are rich in fats, as butter, certain of the nuts, olives and olive oil, etc. Bulky- foods should also be avoided. Half a glass or so of cold water taken half an hour before mealtime is sometimes helpful in hypopepsia, as it serves to stimulate the stomach to a more active secretion of gastric juice. This measure is also useful in indiges- tion due to a deficient quantity of the gastric juice. Careful mastication cannot be too strongly insisted upon in hypopepsia, for the reason that a greater or smaller amount of food passes unaltered into the intestinal canal to be digested by the intestinal digestants, and com- plete salivary digestion will insure thorough intestinal digestion. Gas on the stomach is very often the result of an excess of acid, and the adoption of the diet suggested for hyperpepsia will usually re- lieve the difficulty. Pain due to distention of the stomach walls may often be lessened by sip- ping hot water. DILATATION OF THE STOMACH Dilatation of the stomach is one of the most serious of gastric disorders, and often presents symptoms which make medical consultation ad- CATERING FOR THE SICK 235 visable. Owing to the difficulty with which fluids pass out of the stomach, liquid foods, such as soups and beverages, should be eaten very sparingly. Bulky foods, which both tend to distend the stomach, and excess in eating, should be avoided, and the amount of fats should be limited. Wheat, corn and rice flakes may be eaten freely, as also purees made from the legumes, boiled or poached eggs, rice well boiled or steamed, sweet fruits, zwieback, and as little butter as possible. Green vegetables may be eaten, but should be finely minced. Owing to the readiness with which they undergo decomposition and pro- duce distending gases, meats should be avoided, likewise cane sugar. Water should be used with moderation, not at all at mealtime, and sparingly — preferably sipped — between meals. Physical exercise is also helpful, particularly those movements which tend to strengthen the muscles which compose the stomach walls, and upon whose activity the peristaltic movements depend. These exercises, together with drink- ing a glass of cold water before mealtime, will also tend to stimulate the secretion of gastric juice, which is usually deficient in quantity in cases of dilation. Lying on the right side for 236 THE FAMILY FOOD two hours after a meal is also useful, since it aids in the expulsion of the chyme from the stomach into the intestines. GASTRITIS Acute gastritic is almost always a result of wrong habits of eating, such as insufficient mastication; as a result the food enters the stomach in chunks, ferments and gives off ir- ritating poisons; over-eating, which fills the stomach with food which the body cannot use, and which ferments, and likewise produces irritating poisons ; a free use of condiments and spices, which act as a decided irritant to the delicate mucous lining of the stomach ; gravies and sauces rich in greases, coat the stomach and food particles with fats, through which the gastric juice cannot pass to attack the food. Rest for the stomach is the best treatment in these cases. If the patient is vigorous, food may be entirely withheld. If nourishment is demanded, however, milk may be given, di- luted with lime water or barley water to pre- vent the formation of curds within the stom- ach. Whey may also be substituted for milk. Albumin water may also be given. Water should be taken cold, but sipped. Return to a normal diet should be very gradual and CATERING FOR THE SICK 237 under the advice of a physician, and the evil habits which produced the disease should be discarded forever. Chronic gastritis is sometimes but by no means always a result of acute gastritis. Habitual over-eating; the constant use of rich sauces, gravies, irritating spices and condi- ments ; alcohol ; heart, liver, and lung diseases ; anaemia and other disorders which withdraw the circulation of blood from the stomach — any of these may cause chronic gastritis. Absolutely thorough mastication is the first essential. Care of the teeth is also important, as is also the reduction of the food ration to just the amount needed to supply the body with heat and energy. Eating between meals should be avoided. Milk, diluted with lime water, a glassful every two and a half or three hours, may sometimes be given, but if curds form in spite of the lime water the milk should be discontinued entirely. Butter- milk, koumiss and similar lactic acid prepara- tions are sometimes tolerated by the patient. Albumin water may also be given. Meats, because of the readiness with which they fer- ment and produce irritating poisons, should be omitted from the dietary. Dry toast or zwie- back, with a little butter, may be given. 238 THE FAMILY FOOD As the patient improves, rice, well boiled, or steamed, baked potato, shredded wheat bis- cuit, flaked cereals, spinach finely minced, baked apple, orange juice, and custard may be given in small quantities. Water should be taken very sparingly, preferably not at all, at mealtime. Fried foods, coarse vegetables, pastries of all kinds, condiments, spices, alco- holic drinks, hard-boiled eggs, the excessive use of fats — all these, with foods which ha- bitually disagree with the patient, should be eliminated. ULCER OF THE STOMACH Ulcer of the stomach presents symptoms more obstinate than any which we have yet observed. The problem before the patient is to allow the ulcers to heal while, at the same time, taking sufficient food to insure the body proper nourishment. The various means which we have mentioned should be adopted for the prevention of irritation of the stomach lining — a minimum allowance of food, thor- ough mastication, and the disuse of irritating spices, condiments and pastries. At first take milk, diluted with equal parts of lime water, or with barley water or oat- meal water, a tablespoon ful every half hour CATERING FOR THE SICK 239 or hour, later on increasing to a half -glass every two hours. It may be necessary to con- tinue this feeding for three weeks or more, when a return to a normal diet may be begun by adding egg albumen, rice, zwieback, butter- milk, koumiss, and full milk if sipped slowly, and for several months avoiding acid fruits, sweets, condiments, spices, and coarse and un- minced vegetables. Rectal feeding is often necessary in severe cases, and should be given under the direction of a physician. Cancer of the stomach presents so many complications, and the treatments must be so varied and so nicely adjusted to the peculiar condition of the patient that all regulation of the dietary should be made under the super- vision of a physician. Diet restriction, how- ever, is much the same as in gastric ulcer, milk diluted with lime water, or buttermilk, forming the basis of the diet, and with coarse vegetables and other irritating foods elim- inated entirely. Soups and purees, soft-boiled or poached eggs, and stewed non-acid fruits may also be given. DYSENTERY One of the most common disorders in sum- mer is dysentery. During the first day or two 240 THE FAMILY FOOD very little food should be eaten, preferably none at all. By this means the irritation of the stomach is reduced and an opportunity is given the bowels to become cleansed. Avoid those foods which we have already named as tending to ferment quickly. Soft-boiled or poached eggs may be eaten, also barley water, rice water or flax-seed tea, flavored with lemon juice. If emaciation is present, olive oil, freely used, will be beneficial. The return to a more substantial diet should be guided by the advice of a physician. Acute diarrhea may be caused by irritation of the mucous membrane which lines the in- testinal canal by undigested foods, by harsh, undigestible residues of foodstuffs, such as un- ripe fruits, some of the coarser vegetables, or by the production of poisonous gases from de- caying food substances. Highly seasoned foods and a too free use of purgatives are also intestinal irritants. In the summer time ex- cessive drinking of water and soda-fountain drinks are prolific sources of diarrhea. The first step toward relief is to abstain from food for twenty-four hours, though water may be taken in small quantities. In eating be careful to choose non-irritating and easily digested foods, and avoid over-eating. CATERING FOR THE SICK 241 Milk, if it agrees with the individual, is one of the best of diets. Any tendency to form curds in the stomach may be overcome by diluting with lime water. Albumin water may be substituted for the milk, if desired. Six ounces once in three hours may be given in most cases, but sometimes it is necessary to restrict this to an ounce or two every hour until relief has set in. Return to a normal diet should be gradual — baked potato, zwie- back, the flaked cereals, followed by the legumes, vegetables, eggs, etc., as the condi- tion permits. Meats, sauces, spiced foods and condiments, cheese, tea and coffee should be very gradually returned to, if at all. Where diarrhea has become chronic the in- testinal digestive juices are constantly alkaline, and as a consequence fats and starches are not easily digested. The aim should be to avoid those foods which increase the catarrh of the intestines, and select those that have an as- tringent effect. In some cases an absolute milk diet gives a cure, but in others milk does not agree with the individual. Milk is best given hot, in small quantities at frequent in- tervals, as it tends to allay peristalsis. Egg albumin is good, whole eggs being cautiously used, since the yolk is liable to undergo fer- 242 THE FAMILY FOOD mentation. Meat and starchy foods should be withheld. When convalescence has set in, zwieback, milk toast, and purees of peas or potatoes, may be gradually added to the diet. Avoid cold drinks and vegetables containing much cellulose, such as cabbage, spinach, beets and other roots, also acids and sugars, sub- stituting malt sugars for sweetening purposes. Infant diarrhea is in most cases the result of germ infection caused by impure milk in the case of bottle-fed infants. A certified public milk supply is the best preventive in the one case, and cleanliness of mother and child and home surroundings in the other. Milk should be withheld for twenty-four hours, though in case nourishment is demanded albu- min water may be given if the stools are not putrid. Milk diluted with lime water may be substituted for milk in cases where acid fer- mentation is present, with sour stools. Kou- miss has also proved valuable in some cases. Cholera infantum and chronic infant diarrhea present serious symptoms which demand the advice of a physician, though where a physi- cian cannot be reached quickly the above sug- gestions may be followed temporarily. In the case of breast-fed children a simple, wholesome diet on the part of the mother will CATERING FOR THE SICK MS do much toward preventing infantile digestive disorders. Spices and condiments, tea and coffee, iced foods and drinks, pastries and sweets, rich gravies and meats, should be eliminated and the diet made to consist of nutritious, easily digested and assimilated foods, carefully masticated, care being taken to avoid an excess. OBESITY In obesity the diet should be so regulated as to facilitate consumption of the body of accumulated fat, and to prevent its reaccu- mulation. This is brought about by a reduc- tion of foods, and particularly of the fats and carbohydrates. In many cases two-thirds the ordinary number of calories will be suf- ficient, the reduction consisting in lowering the carbohydrate intake one-fourth to one-half the ordinary number of calories. The feeling of weakness often experienced when the diet is reduced will be obviated if the daily ration is spread over several light meals. The starches, present in abundance in breads, cereal flakes, mushes, sugars, rice, dried fruits and in some of the nuts, must be greatly reduced, also the fats in the form of butter, fat meats, olives, cream, etc. A sur- 244. THE FAMILY FOOD plus both of fats and carbohydrates is stored up in the body as fat, and will be drawn upon as a source of heat and energy when the diet contains a quantity of these elements insuf- ficient to supply the body with heat and energy for its various activities. The green vege- tables, owing to the fact that their food con- tent is low and that their bulk facilitates per- istalsis, may be eaten freely, the potato, Irish and sweet, however, being used only in moder- ation, as also milk. A small quantity of gra- ham or whole-wheat bread should be eaten in preference to white bread. Avoid a variety in the diet, as this stimu- lates the appetite and makes more food im- perative. Indeed, in cases of a naturally vig- orous appetite it is sometimes advisable pur- posely to make the diet monotonous, so as to lessen the desire for food. Water need be restricted only when its free use increases the desire for food. Physical exercise must supplement dietetic treatment of obesity, but in severe cases this should be prescribed, in kind and quantity j by a physician. Its object is to augment the con- sumption of fat by means of an increase in body energy. It may easily be dangerous in method and amount. CATERING FOR THE SICK 245 GOUT Gout, like appendicitis, is a product of ease and luxury — it is practically unknown among people whose diet is simple and whose per- sonal habits are abstemious. The first reme- dial measure is to reduce the quantity of food to the amount actually needed, in order to eliminate the poisonous substances, or toxins, which result from the decay of excess food. An individual who has reached middle life needs less food than he did in his youth; this is especially true when, as is often the case, he has also retired from business and leads a more or less inactive life. Yet it is a fact that most people eat as heartily, even more so when one has little else to do, at fifty as at twenty, until gout attacks them. The measure of next importance is to select those foods which reduce to a minimum the production of toxins. Meat should be wholly eliminated from the dietary on account of its tendency to make uric acid elimination diffi- cult. Eggs should be avoided, also cheese, spices and condiments, and rich gravies and sauces. The legumes may be eaten in small quantities. All the vegetables may be eaten except cabbage, rhubarb and spinach; toma- 246 THE FAMILY FOOD toes may be used in small quantities. All the cereals may be used, save oatmeal. Fruits are allowable, care being taken to chew ba- nanas with absolute thoroughness. Milk may be freely eaten, except in cases where it nat- urallyi disagrees with the individual, and in these cases buttermilk or koumiss can often be substituted. Water may also be freely taken, but alcoholic drinks of every kind, as well as tea and coffee, should be avoided. APPENDICITIS Appendicitis, like gout, is unknown to peo- ple whose diet is simple, excluding spices, con- diments, and other substances which inflame the stomach, and avoiding those foods which favor the growth of putrefactive germs within that part of the intestine to which the appen- dix is attached. For it has been definitely proved that grape seeds and similar particles within the appendix do not cause appendicitis. Foreign substances are frequently found there in cases of appendicitis, it is true, but that is a mere incident. The disease began when an undigested piece of steak stewed in hot Worcestershire came along, the sauce burning the delicate mucous membrane of the colon, and the steak decaying and producing vast CATERING FOR THE SICK 247 quantities of poisonous germs and toxins. Or it may have been the cabbage which was bolted, at dinner, the harsh cellulose likewise inflaming the colon. Purgatives are known often to cause appendicitis, also alcoholic drinks, hence the prevention of appendicitis is a matter of intestinal hygiene. It must be remembered that the contents of the small in- testines are emptied into the colon just a slight distance above the lower end of the colon, and that this lower end serves as a sort of reservoir in which collects many of the poison- ous and irritating substances which empty into it from the small intestines. It should be re- membered further that intestinal hygiene con- sists in providing one's self with food which contains a minimum of these toxic substances. So far as diet is concerned, the treatment of appendicitis consists in withholding all solid food until the vomiting and pain have ceased. A two or three days' fast may be made with- out injury. As much water as may be nec- essary to relieve thirst may be taken, but meat juices and milk should be withheld, also cane sugar, tea, coffee, coarse vegetables, and all foods which would irritate the mucous mem- brane of the colon. A small quantity of well- cooked rice, together with sweet fruit juice may 248 THE FAMILY FOOD be taken until the patient's condition indicates a return to the normal diet. Just when this is advisable, however, should be determined by the attending physician, as should also the na- ture of the supplementary treatments given in appendicitis, such as hydrotherapy, rest, etc. If prompt attention is given to the diet as soon as the first symptoms appear, and other reme- dial measures instituted by the physician, it is improbable that a surgical operation will be necessary, for it has been observed that proper treatment will cure 95 per cent, of all cases without the removal of the appendix. FEVER DIET The object of a fever diet is to afford the body its nourishment in a form that can be easily digested and that when assimilated will not materially add to the heat of the body, which is already high. Fruit juices — apple, grape, and orange — are best suited for this purpose, owing to the fact that they require no digestion and also allay rather than create heat. Fats should not be given in any form; proteins should be given in very small quan- tities, since the gastric juice is so impaired that protein digestion easily overtaxes the system, and is at the same time so imperfect that the CATERING FOR THE SICK 249 system becomes filled with toxins which im- pose a severe burden upon the weakened kid- neys and other excretory organs in their at- tempt to eliminate them. It is on this account that meat and meat juices are now recognized to be a poor fever diet. Milk is open to the same objections, and has this additional draw- back, that the curds which form in the stom- ach are indigestible and tend to feed the fever rather than assuage it. Buttermilk, malted milk, koumiss and whey may often be substi- tuted for fresh milk in cases where they agree with the individual. After a few days, when in the opinion of the physician they can be taken with safety, gruels and broths may be added to the diet in small quantities. Crisp cereal flakes or bread crumbs, toasted, may be eaten in the broths after having been allowed to become thoroughly softened. The more solid foods, with their increased protein, should be added slowly, and under the direction of the physician in charge of the case. bright's disease Treatment in cases of incipient Bright's dis- ease, so far as diet is concerned, lies in the abstaining from those foods which contain 250 THE FAMILY FOOD uric acid and other substances which were the chief instrument in causing the diseased con- dition of the kidneys. Meat foods of all kinds must be avoided on this account, also tea and coffee on account of the tannic acid, thein and caffein which they contain. An exces- sive use of salt is in the highest degree in- jurious, while alcoholic drinks of every kind, tobacco and spices and condiments, should be wholly discarded. Thorough mastication is important, since it lessens the production of toxins, which in their elimination impose a severe burden upon the kidneys. When the disease reaches a chronic stage dietetic treat- ment must be accurately prescribed to meet the individual case, but the first purpose of all treatment must be to heal the kidneys by re- lieving them of the burden of excreting neces- sary poisons. DIABETES A food ration for diabetics seeks to reduce the carbohydrate element of the diet to the lowest extent possible, especially the sugars, using in their stead the fats, which the sys- tem is able to utilize as carbohydrates. In some cases, however, the fats cannot be greatly increased, owing to their tendency to produce CATERING FOR THE SICK 251 indigestion. The fats also are often less eas- ily assimilated by the system alone than when carbohydrates are present. For this reason the extent to which fats may be substituted for carbohydrates must depend upon the advice of the physician in attendance. Common white or brown bread should be avoided. This works a hardship to most peo- ple, but a not unpleasing substitute may be found in the gluten flours on the market, from which a bread may be made that is low in its proportion of starch and other carbohydrate material. Almond flour answers the same purpose, as also soya-bean flour, though the taste of the latter is objectionable to many persons. Potatoes are fast replacing bread as a food for diabetics, and have many points in their favor over an exclusive diet of fats. The fats, to whatever extent given, should consist chiefly of salad oils, ripe olives, butter, cream, cheese, and buttermilk. The pro- teins need not be restricted beyond the usual ration, so long as the state of the digestion permits of their use. In many cases, how- ever, gastric digestion has also been weakened, and the digestion of protein thus becomes difficult. Eggs, soups, purees, and green vege- tables which have a low percentage of carbo- 252 THE FAMILY FOOD hydrate, such as lettuce, spinach, turnips, as- paragus, celery, cauliflower, tomatoes, etc., may be eaten freely. The fruits which are permitted are those having a low percentage of starch and sugars, such as fresh oranges, lemons, cherries, plums, acid apples, pears, the various berries, and melons. Dried fruits, also bananas, grapes and figs, should be avoided. Excepting the chestnut, the various nuts may also be eaten. TUBERCULOSIS The composition of a tuberculosis diet is a disputed point in scientific circles, but the opin- ion is coming to prevail, first, that the supply of fats and carbohydrates must be sufficient to offset the consumption of the body tissues by disease, and second, that because of their tendency to set up putrefactive processes which poison the tissues and produce autointoxica- tion, proteins should be limited to the natural demands of the body. Since in the latter re- gard they are the greatest offenders, meats should be excluded from the dietary, their place being taken by the legumes, nuts, and other foods which contain enough protein to meet the demands of the system. Eggs, be- ing rich in albuminous matter, should be re- CATERING FOR THE SICK 253 stricted in quantity, though the yolks eaten alone may be used freely. Pure milk, where it agrees with the individual, may be taken without injury, while butter and cream should occupy an important place in the dietary. Ripe olives and olive oil should be depended upon for part of the fats. To supply the carbo- hydrates, eat freely of rice, the various cereal flakes, fruits, fresh and dried, and potatoes. The various garden vegetables may also be eaten freely; spinach and tomatoes being es- pecially valuable on account of the iron which they contain. As in every disease, so in tuberculosis, diet must be determined to a considerable extent by the condition which the physician finds present in the individual case, but any varia- tion of the above ration will be in quantity rather than in the kind suggested, while at the same time absolute rest and an outdoor life are of quite as much importance as the diet itself. Others of " The Family Books " are : The Family Health, by Dr. M. Solis- Cohen. The Care of the Child, by Mrs. Burton Chance. 254 THE FAMILY FOOD The Family House, by C. F. Osborne. Home Decoration, by Dorothy T. Priest- man. INDEX A cause of Children's Diseases 187 Acorn, The 176 Adulteration 41 Advantages of Cook- ing by Electricity. . 81 Age as related to Food 35 Aladdin Lamp, The.. 80 Alcohol 226 Almonds 181 Antiscorbutic proper- ties of Fruits 158 Antiseptic Acids of Fruits 157 Appendicitis 246 Appetite capricious in disease 230 Apples 162 Apricots 171 Artichokes 137 Asparagus 145 Avacado 165 Autointoxication, 16, 44, 83, 96, 117, 141, 170, 171, 19s, 197, 207 231 B Baked Barley 126 Baking tj Balance between Food and Exercise 15 Bananas 166 Barley 125 Barleyade 128 255 Beechnuts 180 Beef 84 Beef, Food Value of various cuts 85 Beef Tea 88 Beets 137 Berries 171 Better food at less cost 7 Beverages 206 Black and Green Teas compared 218 Boiled Rice 122 Boiled Water 210 Boiling Food 71 Braising 76 Brazil Nuts 179 Bread 107 " Graham 109 Breakfast Foods 103 Bright's Disease 249 Brussels Sprouts 143 Buckwheat 131 Bulk goods are nutri- tious 43 Burning the garbage. . 55 Butter 193 Buttermilk 195 Butternuts 178 c Cabbage 140 Cancer of the stomach 239 Canning, What and when to do it 49 Care of the Refrigera- tor 57 ZoQ INDEX Carrots 138 Cassia 203 Catering for the sick. 229 Catsup 205 Cauliflower 141 Cause of Fatigue.... 16 Cayenne pepper 202 Celery 143 Cereals 132 Cheese 196 " Cottage 197 Chemical Effect of Cooking 70 Chestnuts 176 Chocolate 222 Choosing Cuts of meat 44 Cinnamon and Cassia. 203 Cloves 203 Coca, dangerous 224 Cockroaches 65 Cocoa and Chocolate. 222 <« « « Nutritive value of . . 223 Cocoanuts 1S1 Coffee 219 " Methods of preparation . . 221 " Poisoning, Symptoms of. 220 Cola 224 Cold climate, Heavy diet unnecessary for 31 " Dinners cause indigestion 36 Comparative prices of food 47 Composition of Black and Green Teas... 218 Condiments and spices 199 Constipation 231 Cooker, The Fireless. 78 Cooking 69 " an Aid to Di- gestion 69 Cooking by Electricity, Advantages of 81 " Chemical ef- fect of 70 Corn 113 " Bread 116 " Green 117 Corn-meal Mush 116 Cost, Better food at less 7 Cottage Cheese 197 Crackers no Cream 191 Cucumbers 149 D Dairy Products 186 Dandelions 142 Dates and Figs 172 Debilitation of the stomach 208 Delirium Tremens from Tea 212 Destroy the flies 64 Diabetes 250 Diarrhea 240 Diet, Fever 248 " for children 15 " " mental Effi- ciency .... 13 " " Muscular Efficiency . 30 " " Women ... 14 " " sick, 89, 127, 160 229 Digestibility an Eco- n o m i c Factor . . 48 of Le- gumes 151 " Meat . 83 " Nuts . 175 " O a t- meal . 129 INDEX 25T Digestibility of Rice . 120 Digestion and the eight-hour day 37 " difficult dur- ing sleep... 36 Dilation of the stom- ach 234 Diseases of Children, A cause of 187 Dish cloths and dishes 67 Disinfecting fruits and vegetables 63 Distilled Water 21a Drinking Water, How to cool '58 [Dysentery 239 E Eat according to your vocation 18 Eggs 97 Eight-hour Day and Digestion 37 F Family food 7 Fatigue, Cause of 16 Fever Diet 248 Figs 172 Filberts 179 Fill the cellar in au- tumn 49 Filters 60-61 Filtration 210 Fireless cooker 78 Fish 98 Flies, Destroy the 64 Floor and Wall cover- ings 65 Food and Exercise, Balance between 15 " " Health . 9 Food, How to measure your 24 " The Family.... 7 " values of dif- ferent kinds of Fish 99 " values of vari- ous cuts of beef 85 " values, Table of 22-24 Fruits and vegetables, Disinfecting 6^ Fruits — Antiseptic acids 157 — Dried and Green 159 Fruit Extracts 160 " Laxative prop- erties of 157 " stimulates ap- petite 159 " —Table of Nutritive values IS6-I57 Fruits — Tinned 161 Frying 75 Fuel problem, The... 66 G Game Birds 96 Garbage, Burning the 55 Gastritis 236 Ginger 203 Gout 245 " One cause of... 214 Graham Bread 109 Grape fruit. 170 Grapes 167 Green Corn 117 Tea 217 " Vegetables ... 235 Gruel, Oatmeal 130 258 INDEX H Health, Food and.... 9 Heavy diet unneces- sary in Cold Cli- mate I31 Hickory Nuts 177 Hoe-cake 115 Hominy 117 Horse Radish 204 How to cool Drinking Water 58 " " measure your food 24 Hygiene of the Kitch- „ en 54 Hyperpepsia 233 Hypopepsia 233 I Ice Cream 193 Iced Water 207 Ideal Meal Schedule. 26 Indigestion caused by Cold Dinners 36 Influences of season. . 35 Insulated Stove, The. 79 Johnny Cake 114 K Keeping Well, Science of 7 Keep the Sink clean. 56 Keep well and save money 10 Kefir and Koumiss. . 198 Kinds of Work as re- lated to Food 34 Kitchen Hygiene 54 Wastes 54 Koumiss 198 L Laxative properties of fruits 157 Left-over foods 53 Legumes — 'Table of food values 151 Lemons 170 Lettuce 145 M Macaroni 112 Meals, Number of... 25 " Suggestive .27-29 Meat an expensive food 46 " Choosing cuts of 44 " Digestibility of 83 " Foods 82 " Juices 87 " Prices 45 Melons 168 Mental Efficiency, Diet for 13 Menus, Suggestive. .38-39 Metabolism defined. .. 32 Methods of preparing Coffee . . 221 " " Sterilizing Water . . 60 Milk, dangers of.. 62, 186 " Pasteurized ... 189 Muscular Efficiency, Diet for 30 Mush, Corn-meal.... 116 Mushrooms 154 Mustard 202 Mutton 94 N Noodles and Macaroni 112 Number of Meals 25 INDEX 259 Nutritive value of Co- coa and Chocolate. 223 Nuts 174 " Digestibility of. 175 Oatmeal, Digestibility of 129 " Gruel 130 Oats 128 Obesity 243 Oleomargarine 194 Olives 165 Olive Oil 166 One cause of gout... 214 Onions 146 P Parched Corn 118 Parsnips 138 Pasteurized Milk 189 Peaches and Pears... 163 Peanuts 183 Peanut Butter ... 184 Pearl Barley with Raisins 127 Pecan Nuts 178 Pepper 201 Physical Exercise.... 235 Pineapples 168 Pine and Pistachio Nuts 180 Plums 163 Pomegranates 170 Popped Corn 118 Poisons (toxins), 16, 17, 33, 91 162 Pork, Food value of various cuts 90 Potatoes 134 Poultry 95 Prepared Beef 87 " Pork 92 Prices of food com- pared .... 47 " " meat .... 45 Proper diet, Value of 9 Proteins decay readily 17 Prunes 164 Ptomaine poisoning „ •• 42, 87 Public Water Supply. 209 Puddings 155 Puffed and flaked rice 124 Pumpkin and Squash. 148 Pure Food Law 42 " Milk problem.. 62 " Water 209 Purifying the water supply 61 Q Quinces 164 R Radishes 140 Refrigerator, Care of. 57 Relation of Seasons to diet 20 Rhubarb 146 Rice 119 " Boiled 122 " Digestibility of. 120 " Gruel 123 " Puffed and Flaked 124 Roasting 73 Rye 125 S Sago 154 Salsify 139 Salt 200 Sapsage 93 Science of keeping well 7 260 INDEX Seasonal influences. .. 35 Seasons to Diet, Re- lations of 20 Shell-fish 100 Shopping Economies. 40 Shredded Cocoanut. . 183 Sick, Catering for the 229 " diet for, 89, 127, 160 Sink, Keep clean 56 Skim Milk 192 Sleep, Digestion diffi- cult during 36 Soda Fountain Drinks 225 Soups, Vegetable. .152-153 Spices 199 Spinach and Dande- lions 142 Squash 148 Steaming jj Sterilization of Water 60 Stewing 72 Stomach, Dilation of the 234 Ulcer of the 238 Succotash 118 Suggestive Meals. ..27-29 " menus ..38-39 Summer Squash and Vegetable Marrow. 149 Sweet Potato 136 Symptoms of Coffee Poisoning 220 T Tabasco Sauce 205 Table of Food values 22-24 " Wastes 51 Tamarind, The 169 Tapioca and Sago.... 154 Tea 2il " Drinkers are confirmed dys- peptics 216 Tea turns meat into leather 215 Tests of wheat 105 Tinned Fruits 161 Toast and Zwieback, no Toasted Wheat Flakes in Tomato 150 Toxins.. 16, 17, 33, 91, 162 Tuberculosis 252 Tuberculous herds... 187 Turnips 139 U Ulcer of the stomach 238 V. Value of proper diet. 9 Veal 89 Vegetables 133 Vegetable Marrow... 149 " Soups .152-153 Venison 95 Vermin 65 Vinegar 204 w Wall and floor cover- ings 65 Walnuts 177 Wastes, Kitchen 54 Table 51 Water 206 " between meals 232 " Boiled 210 " Distilled 210 " Supply 59, 209 " " Purify " the 6* What and when to can 49 INDEX 261 Wheat 104 Worcestershire Sauce 205 When the cell wears out 32 Z Women, diet for 14 Zwieback no AUG 30 1911 One copy del. to Cat. Div. Mlfi 30