Bertha M. Wood

“ A pleasant pastime for the older women is the dyeing of the yarn from the vegetables gathered, a little of this color and a little of that being mixed to get just the shade desired to harmonize with the one artistic design in the mind of the weaver. It is difficult to distinguish between work and recreation among these people. So much of life is beauty to them.
During the farming season they raise sheep for food and clothing; goats and cows for milk; chickens, ducks, and geese for eggs. They also raise grains, vegetables, fruits, and berries in abundance, and make butter and cheese. ”

“ Thus we see that the people of Northern and Central Italy have a very well-balanced diet in their own country, with protein from milk, cheese, eggs, and meat; carbohydrates from macaroni in various forms and from bread; mineral matter from fruits and vegetables; and fat from olive oil, lard, and pork. From the milk, vegetables, and egg yolks they derive vitamines to promote growth and repair tissue.
It is difficult to measure their daily food in calories, as they generally have a one-dish meal, prepared in a large kettle from which each one helps himself, eating until he is satisfied. ”

“ The natural environment of these island people is a sparkling cluster of white houses, dashed here and there with spots of vermilion, blue, and lavender, and flanked on either side by an ancient fortress, with no sooty railroad yard or fuming factory visible to mar the loveliness. Even their rowboats are artistic. As one approaches the shore one notices the striking beauty, the wonderfully graceful lines, and the charming decorations of the boats dotting the shore line. ”

“ Gallons of American soups and broths were served to these people, only to be untouched and thrown out. This came at a time when diet might have meant much in furnishing resistance to the disease. In our hospitals and dispensaries we usually find only American foods prescribed for diets. Often it has been said, "They should learn to eat American foods if they are to live here." Whether we all agree with this or not, at least we agree that when a person is ill and needs a special diet, it is no time to teach him to eat new foods. It is like hitting a person when he is down. ”

“ Soups are the great standby of the poor. Krupnick is a term used for cereal soups, made of a cereal like oatmeal with potatoes and fat. When the family can afford it, meat or milk is added, as the case may be. This is the staple food of the "Yeshibot" (schools to which Jewish boys are sent to be instructed in rabbinical lore) . When there is neither meat nor milk in the soup, it is called "Soupr mit nisht." ”

“ Tomatoes are not raised, nor are they known to the people outside of Warsaw. They raise stock from which they get milk and meat. In the winter they are fond of hunting, and they know many ways of cooking game. Many spend their summers farming and their winters lumbering. Wood is used almost exclusively for fuel. Great ovens are built out-of-doors, in which quantities of food are prepared to be stored away for winter use.
Meat has a prominent place in the Polish diet, beef, veal, and pork being the kinds most commonly used. ”

“ With regard to their food, Mexicans eat beans, rice, potatoes, peas, and all sorts of vegetables. The chili, or pepper, is often considered a sacred plant which furnishes health to those who eat it. Therefore it is found in many of their dishes. They still prepare their food largely as they did in Mexico. To write fully about it and its preparation would require many pages. In brief, however, they eat less meat than Americans eat, and generally it is mixed with vegetables and well cooked. When not too highly seasoned, Mexican dishes are very tasty. ”

“ It was interesting to find during the war that these people were still able to secure wheat in its different degrees of coarseness. They use a large amount of fat in the preparation of many of their dishes, but as no butter is eaten on bread, they do not have an excess of fat in their diet.
The amount of milk used when there are children is generally insufficient, because of the expense. They rarely if ever buy it in their home countries, and if they do have to, the cost is but a few cents. ”

“ In prescribing diets for the Jewish people, it might be helpful both to the person who prescribes and to the patient for whom the diet is prescribed to remember that all their foods may be classified under three heads: (1) meat or fish; (2) milk and its products; and (3) neutrals. Meat and milk are never mixed. Neutrals may be used with meat or with milk products, but never with both in the same meal.
The Jewish children suffer from too many pickles, too few vegetables, and too little milk. Because of their dietary laws, they cannot drink milk with their meals if they have meat. ”

“ When constipation is found among the Italians, it is usually due to the fact that they have been financially unable to secure vegetables, fruit, and olive oil, and have lived exclusively on macaroni, rice, and lentils.
An Italian patient with nephritis finds it very hard to leave cheese out of his diet. He does not miss the other forms of proteins so much. A very little meat is used at any time; eggs are used as thickening, and would not be missed if another thickening were used, but cheese furnishes flavor for many dishes. ”

“ Here they live at first in crowded districts, and milk is counted as a drink—not something to eat. Therefore, because the family income is small, it is left almost entirely out of the diet. If these children are fortunate enough to belong to Polish families who have saved and bought land in the country, in order that the men might grow tobacco or have onion farms, then the family will keep goats and the children will have fresh air, milk, vegetables, and fruit. Otherwise they eat what the grownups have, and they pay the price. ”

“ A study of "Foreign Foods Which Would Improve the American Dietary" would be an Americanizing agent of practical value for the use of Home Economic sections of Women's Clubs and similar organizations. American diet would be improved and (psychologically speaking) be enriched; and many Americans would be given a sympathetic appreciation and understanding of our foreign-born population through the practical medium of the kitchen and the dinner table. ”

“ He would eat his bread without butter, and would not eat potato and butter with peppers and rice.
As the Mexicans come north or intermarry, it would be better for the children and adults to learn to eat the simpler foods of the American people, boiled or baked, with less spice and fat.
Any nurse or dietitian can persuade them to use cereals or baked or boiled fish and meats and vegetables, if they gradually reduce the amount of tomato or pepper for flavor until it becomes a bland dish, easier to digest and not harmful to the kidneys. ”

“ Onions are always an important ingredient.
Almond pudding is a favorite, because it requires neither meat nor butter, and can therefore be eaten at either type of meal. It is made of almonds, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, and lemon rind, and baked.
The obstacles to the use of meat have developed a taste for fish, as well as for cheese and milk products. Since fish is not a warm-blooded animal, it may be eaten in conjunction with milk and milk products. (This is an added reason for its popularity. The celebration of the Sabbath and the eating of fish have always been associated.) ”

“ During the winter, when vegetables are scarce, their food is limited almost entirely to beans, rice, and potatoes, using a little meat when they can afford it. Such a diet abounds in starch and has too little protein and mineral matters, thereby causing stomach troubles of all kinds. In some ways, however, their foods are superior to ours, and by making adjustments, if they do not acquire some of our bad habits, there ought to come from their dietary a sensible, economical, and nourishing group of foods. ”

“ Among the Syrians, Armenians, Greeks, and Turks we usually find the children well nourished, with plenty of growth-promoting material and mineral matter in their diets. Milk is not given in as large quantities as it should be, and fruit is also found by them to be expensive.
The undernourished children need more milk added to their diet. Wheat is used extensively, either whole or cracked, cooked in water until nearly done; then milk is added for the last few minutes' cooking. The green-leaved vegetables are not used in cream soups, but are cooked in stock. ”

“ Most of our friends from other countries come to America in the very cheapest way, and are unaccustomed to travel. They leave home with many of their cooking utensils in a cloth bag and continue their housekeeping on shipboard in the steerage, feeding their children and themselves from stores brought from home. Almost their first thought on landing is of something to eat, and this fact places food in the first rank of importance in our plans for Americanization. Their first impression of America is often gained in a poorly-housed restaurant, whose proprietor is of their own nationality. ”

“ Fruits and vegetables are produced in quantity, and the poorest people have them in abundance. Very little meat is used; it is served not more than once a week in some families, and in others on festive occasions only. Here again we find the many kinds of pasta, or macaroni, used in combination with different vegetables, garlic, and oil. When bread is eaten with it, no butter accompanies it.
The peasants use very little pastry or cake except on feast days; then they are elaborate—such as Gateau Margherita, made with ten eggs and the whites of five more, butter, flour, and almond flavoring. ”

“ The habitual foods of the nationality or race dealt with must be in the mind of the person who prepares the diet list, if it is to be of much real service. This means that the dietary problems of patients need to be handled by dietitians, visiting nurses, or social workers who have some knowledge of foreign as well as of the characteristic American diet. The average visiting nurse or medical-social service worker cannot become an expert in dietetics, and must depend upon the advisory dietitian or the visiting housekeeper. ”

“ The family diet slowly changes from flour gruel and potatoes with coffee for breakfast to coffee and rolls or coffee, rolls, potatoes, and meat. Wednesdays and Fridays they have always had eggs for dinner. This custom they continue as long as they are able to afford it. In winter, because of the high price of eggs or because the man is out of work, they must hunt a substitute; or, what is more frequently done, eggs are left out and no substitute is provided. ”

“ Part of the flesh of the fish is removed and chopped with onions, bread crumbs, seasonings, and eggs. The mixture is returned to the fish, which is then baked or stewed with more onion and a large amount of pepper at a low temperature for several hours. The long, slow cooking develops the flavor of the fish,, which blends with the other ingredients and forms a most palatable dish. While Jewish fish dishes form excellent appetizers or even entrées, these are not desirable as the main dish of the meal, because of the high seasoning. For this reason they are particularly bad for children. ”

“ Fruit and vegetables are not grown near at hand, and therefore cost more. Fish, too, is three times the price paid in the islands. There are few goats in the city neighborhoods into which they come.
Their cooked foods have much the same flavor as those of the Mexicans. Spices and peppers are freely used, their favorite spices being allspice and mace.
When the income is sufficient, the children's food is easily planned for. They are fond of fruits and vegetables, as well as of cereals. If they were born here, they enjoy milk ”

“ A majority of those who come to America have lived in the open country, among the foothills of the mountains or on the high tablelands. A minority dwelt in the smaller cities.
Early in March, in the home country, the families change their place of living from indoors to the open.That is the season for plowing and planting; meals are prepared and eaten out-of-doors, and the evenings are spent under the great canopy of blue and gold, with all the family and relatives telling the news of the day or exchanging stories. ”

“ Either they leave out both milk and meat and live largely on starches—bread, macaroni, and potatoes—and vegetables, or meat is used at the sacrifice of vegetables and milk. When the health of the family suffers through this great change in diet, one often hears, "My man no like his work; he sick," or "My child, he no good since he came here," always attributing the difficulty to the wrong cause. Eggs are another staple in the diet in Italy which is almost prohibited here because of the high prices, unless the family keep hens. ”

“ To serve, put into plate a tablespoon of sour cream and add cold soup, stirring cream. Add chopped, hard-boiled egg. Favorite dish for summer.
Polish Cookies
One quart of flour, two whole eggs, four more whites, six ounces sugar, one-quarter pound butter, one wine glass cooking brandy (in U. S. A. fruit juice is used) . Beat the whites well; cream butter and sugar together and add whites. Knead well and roll thin. Cut in strips and then cut diagonally. Cook in boiling fat and sprinkle with sugar. ”

“ Our milk soups are nutritious, but so are theirs; why not learn what they are and prescribe them? The same is true of other foods.
It is much easier for the dietitian to learn the foods of the foreign-born than for these people to adjust their finances to a new dietary. ”

“ A slight physical discomfort usually sends them to a doctor, whereas the readjustment of their diet would many times produce a cure.
The dietary restrictions of the use of butter and meat at the same time limit the use of vegetables. Jewish people are therefore not as fond of them as they ought to be for their own physical well-being. One must not forget that the Jewish housewife utilizes a small amount of fresh meat in dozens of ways. Rich foods are customary in Jewish families, and it is with difficulty that a taste for the simpler foods is cultivated. ”

“ Mexicans put their fat into the food, while the American puts his on the food. Therefore if he eats bread and butter, or potatoes with butter and green peppers fried in oil and rice, he is getting more fat than a Mexican would get. ”

“ That a family coming to this country from a wholly different environment is under an enormous handicap in attaining a satisfactory diet, particularly when the income is small.
That doctors, nurses, social workers, and even dietitians generally lack knowledge of the native diets and usual food habits of the foreign-born.
That a large number of the foods of foreign-bom peoples are well adapted to their physical needs. That most of these foods can be obtained in this country. ”

“ This to us is a thick corn meal mush, to which is added tomato paste or ripe tomatoes. Sometimes they change it by adding grated cheese, or bits of pork and garlic. It is eaten hot; or, if allowed to cool, is then sliced and fried in olive oil. This is eaten with bread and butter.
Proceeding south in Italy, one finds the use of alcohol decreasing and more wine used at meals and on social occasions, accompanied by cakes.
The food produced in Central Italy is not very different from that of the north. It is raised more abundantly, however, as the farming season is longer. ”

“ Because of the large amount of rice and wheat used in the preparation of the Near East foods, it is difficult to give a diet list for a diabetic patient. In prescribing low carbohydrate vegetables cooked in olive oil, and lamb and chicken cooked on skewers, one is able to feel sure no rice or wheat is used. It is frequently found that the amount of fat must be reduced. ”

“ Horse Radish Sauce
Cream together one tablespoon butter and one tablespoon flour; add two cups warm soup, mix until smooth, and boil a while; then add grated horse radish and a pinch of salt, and one of grated mace.
Pickled beets are often used as a relish with meat.
Both Croatians and Slovenians have spoken of their taste for this dish of boiled meat from the soup stock, served with a variety of such sauces and relishes, as one of the main features of their diet. They believe it to be much better than the fried meats so commonly substituted for it by their people in America. ”