Anna M. Cooley

“ How shall we decide what is best for us in our buying? We must not condemn entirely the buying of cooked food without a careful study of the situation. The custom has grown with changes in our mode of living, especially in cities, where the small apartment is common, and where gas is the fuel. Under these conditions it is difficult to prepare foods that need long and slow cooking, and these processes are more expensive when gas is used. The long slow cooking of soup and beans, the even baking of bread, are difficult to accomplish. ”

“ The nitrogen that we draw in from the air with every breath, we breathe out again without being able to use it. This element is necessary to every living cell, but we can make it ours only through our protein food. Nitrogen is cheapest when obtained from the grains, from dried beans and peas. We pay a higher price for it in milk, eggs, fish, meat, and nuts. Carbon, which is found in all foodstuffs except water and some kinds of mineral matter, costs much less, especially when we take it in the form of carbohydrates such as starches and sugars. ”

“ Table equipment and service.—This is a place where beauty is a large element, and most people understand the charm of a daintily laid table, as the family gathers for a meal. But many factors must be taken into account, for it is an easy matter to pass from the simple and beautiful to an extravagant display, to spend more on the dining-room equipment than the income warrants, and to waste much energy in unnecessary work. Our great need here is to learn to see beauty in simplicity. ”

“ Fruit is the food material now most commonly preserved in the home kitchen. Vegetables need to be subjected to heat for a much longer time than fruit, and many people prefer to buy canned vegetables rather than to go to the trouble and expense of canning them at home. Where there is an oversupply of vegetables in the home garden, it is sometimes economy to can them, and this may be done if care is exercised. The cost of fuel and labor must be counted in, when studying the question of home preserving versus buying the canned product. ”

“ The processes of food preparation.—With kitchen in order, tools ready, and food materials at hand, we are ready for the actual food preparation. A distinction is to be made between cookery and cooking. Cookery includes all the steps necessary to produce the finished product, while cooking is the actual application of heat, only one step of the whole process, though, indeed, one of the most important and difficult. ”

“ If the contributions of chemical science to modern civilization were suddenly swept away, what a blank there would be! If, on the other hand, every person were acquainted with the elements of chemistry and its bearing upon our daily life, what an uplift human efficiency would receive! ”

“ The foods good for children are also good for adults, but the latter can keep their bodies in good repair with less protein and ash in proportion to body weight than are required during growth, and many kinds of protein serve for repair. If there are not enough milk and eggs to go around, adults can take meat, nuts, peas, beans and bread for protein, and trust to these and fruit and vegetables for ash. When the body has been wasted by sickness, however, a return to the foods of growth, especially a diet of milk and eggs, is best for building it up again. ”

“ Labor is an important item in the running of the house. The close connection of selecting and operating a home will be seen. Should the administrator divide the family income in such a way that little is left for operating, the little things of everyday life become a constant source of worry.
The questions of the number of rooms, and their care,326 relative expense of heating by furnace, steam, or hot water, the cost of regular service in wages per week in order to attain one’s ideals, the cost of extra service, the lighting by gas, oil, or electricity are all problems of operating. ”

“ Fat pork is lower in price than bacon, and can be assimilated by vigorous people, especially those living out of doors.
Cream is one of the most delicious fatty food materials, and is digestible, but ranks with butter and bacon as to cost. While it is not a cheap food, it is not such an extravagance when moderately used as some people suppose, who have not worked out the problem. Usually the most economical source of cream is to take it from the top of the bottle of milk. The remaining partially skimmed milk may be used at table or in cooking or for making cottage cheese. ”

“ A knowledge of textiles and of purchasing is necessary in order to do this wisely and economically. Clothing is as necessary an expense as food, for it conserves the heat which the food furnishes and thus maintains body temperature. Health is the main factor in efficiency, and health is preserved by clothing which protects the body from sudden changes in temperatures, and conserves the energy for other purposes. Money should be spent on clothing to secure health, but too often more than the right percentage of income is expended because of love of display. ”

“ The woman at home will devise many ways of easing and shortening the labor just before the meal is served, avoiding haste and anxiety in this way. With the fireless cooker and other slow-cooking apparatus, the heavy work may sometimes be done far ahead of mealtime. A dessert can be prepared and be cooking as breakfast dishes are washed, and at the time left overs are put away they can be arranged ready for serving, as in the case of poultry or meat to be served cold. While the preparation of the midday meal is in progress, something can sometimes be done for the last meal, too. ”

“ When we speak of the digestibility of food we may mean the ease and comfort of digestion, or the length of time taken by the process, or the completeness of the process. If we take the third of these meanings, hard-cooked egg is as digestible as the soft-cooked or the raw egg, because it is completely dissolved in digestion in the course of time. If the second meaning of digestion is taken, the hard-cooked egg may be slightly less digestible, for a slightly longer time is consumed in the process. ”

“ Energy takes different forms. Our supply comes from the sun in the forms of heat and light, and plants store it up in the form of chemical energy when they build carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. This may be changed into the forms of work or of heat when we eat the food. Whenever an attempt is made to change chemical energy to work, some of it will10 change to heat. So in our bodies, the fuel foods, which enable us to do both involuntary and voluntary work, furnish heat at the same time, to keep our bodies warm. ”

“ Digestion is likely to be more complete on a mixed diet. A meal of carbohydrate alone leaves the stomach more quickly than any other kind, and one would feel hungry before the next meal, though one might have had plenty of fuel; a meal of fat alone would leave the stomach very slowly, and one would not have so good an appetite for the next meal; a meal of pure protein would stimulate heat production without any particular advantages, except possibly in very cold weather: it would be decidedly undesirable in hot weather. ”

“ Good briquets yield a large amount of heat in proportion to bulk and weight. The problem here, as with all waste, is to find a manufacturing process that will make the product cheap enough to be practical for common use.
It is a natural impulse to use lavishly whatever is at hand in abundance, and it is only a highly civilized community that takes thought for the economy of the future. Considered only from a selfish point of view, however, with coal and petroleum at the high prices that are likely to prevail, the saving of fuel is one of our most important economies. ”

“ It should be realized that in none of the European countries is meat used so liberally as in the United States, and that there are reasons to believe that we might be better off if we could satisfy ourselves with a meat consumption nearer the average of other civilized peoples—say half as much meat per person per year as we are now accustomed to use. The fuel value of meat depends largely upon the amount of fat which is eaten. If a pound of steak contains 2 ounces of fat and 14 ounces of clear lean, the rejection of the fat means a loss of fully one half of the fuel value. ”

“ Soup making is an art that is well worth cultivating. The expert soup maker will obtain delicious flavors by adding bits of many kinds of left overs—almost anything that is found in the refrigerator in the way of fruit, vegetables, and pieces of meat. With the coming of the gas stove, many people have given up soup making. These various left overs add much to the flavor of the soup and can be used in a thickened soup which is like the bouillon strained and thickened. The thickening may be flour, arrowroot, cold cereal, sago, tapioca, or rice. ”

“ The fuels most widely used in this country are coal, gas, and kerosene. Wood is still used for cooking by those who own wood lots, or who live in a district where wood is abundant, but in a sense it is the fuel of the past. Electricity is generated from coal except in the few communities where the electric current is derived through machinery from the energy of falling water but electricity is not in common household use, and is still the method of the future for the average family. ”

“ It is not essential nor desirable that everybody should become a botanist but it is inevitable that people shall be interested in the more human side of plant and animal life. We are interested in the evident things of natural history, and the greater our interest in such things, the wider is our horizon and the deeper our hold on life. ”

“ Application of heat is the most difficult stage of the whole process of cookery. It is so easy to have the heat too intense, or too low, to expose the food for too long or too short a time to its action. Most of our apparatus fails to give us a uniform heat, the tendency being to an increase or decrease of temperature. Since the boiling temperature of water remains at 212° F., boiling is an easy process to manage, provided the water does not boil out. The presence of water insures a low or moderate temperature always. ”

“ Training for the digestive tract is just as important as training the eye or the hand or the brain. We cannot expect good digestions if we have a hearty luncheon to-day, none at all to-morrow, and perhaps a scanty and hasty late one the next day. To take food into the stomach between meals is to demoralize the digestive system. Foods that are excellent as part of a meal provoke headaches and bad complexions, and many symptoms of a protesting stomach, when taken between meals. The younger the person, the more important is regularity. ”

“ Considering what milk may save in the way of more expensive protein foods, such as eggs and meat, and of ash-supplying foods like fruits and vegetables, it is to be regarded as a cheap food. It is possible to get the proper amounts of fuel and protein from white bread and meat, but such a diet is poorly balanced as to ash constituents and especially lacks calcium. It would need to be balanced by adding some fruit or vegetable and even then would not contain as much calcium as is best for growing people. ”

“ We can endure lack of food for weeks, but can exist only a few days without water.
A drink of water taken the first thing in the morning tends to clean out the digestive tract and put one in good condition for breakfast. Water with meals aids digestion, provided it is not used to wash down food but is taken when the mouth is empty. It should not be extremely cold nor hot. Two glasses at a single meal are usually all that are desirable. When there is much water in the food, as in soups, milk, fruits, and some vegetables, or when other beverages are taken, less will be taken as plain water. ”

“ The making of a perfect loaf of bread is the goal of all those who aspire to excel in cookery; and the art of bread making requires not only a clear understanding of the underlying principles, but patience and persistence in experimentation and practice until a uniformly perfect product is achieved. The fact that in yeast we have a living organism with which to deal makes the whole process a delicate one, in which every detail is of importance, whether it be a matter of ingredients, proportions, methods of mixing, or temperature. ”

“ Some bacteria are reproduced by means of spores which form within the cell. Bacteria, as they develop in some material, produce substances from the material that may or may not be injurious to us. One important truth about the bacteria is this: that many of them are harmless, and may even be made useful, as in the manufacture of fruit vinegar. The pleasant acid of buttermilk and of sour milk is due also to bacteria which are not harmful to us. However, there may be disease producing bacteria present in milk that is not clean, and their presence must not be tolerated. ”

“ Salads and desserts are sometimes looked upon as luxuries, and something to be omitted where people must exercise strict economy, and as more or less indigestible forms of food to be avoided. As a matter of fact both of these types of dishes are extremely valuable in giving variety to the diet. They may be very inexpensive, and when they have the right relation to the rest of the meal, are not more indigestible than many other forms of food. A heavy salad or rich dessert eaten after a sufficient amount of other food will naturally cause digestive disturbance. ”

“ Fat is available in various forms, with differing flavors and a wide range of prices. To many people it is unpalatable in some of its cheapest forms; yet its use is important, and some kind should be included in the diet. Fluid and emulsified fats are the most easily digested, hence olive oil, cream, and egg yolk are highly desirable. Bacon and butter belong nearly in the same class. A vigorous man at hard labor can digest fat of any kind without difficulty, and needs it because it gives so much fuel in proportion to its bulk. ”

“ By the substitution of a little cheese and an orange for the oatmeal, a meal containing about the same fuel value and proportion of protein could be arranged, and it would certainly appeal more to the appetite, and furnish better proportions of ash constituents.
In the construction of the menu for the day or meal, we must consider not only food values and time of day and combinations which shall be digestible, but flavor, color, texture, and temperature of our foods. The study of digestible combinations belongs to the science of nutrition. ”