Bertha M. Wood

“ 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. ”

“ Often their income is insufficient to buy their own foods, which they know they like. Can we wonder that they hesitate to invest in food about which they are uncertain? There are certain diseases prevalent among the foreign-born people which are due largely to their change of diet. ”

“ 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. ”

“ To meet the foreign-born taste, the principal requirement is to give the flavor; any nurse or dietitian can measure the amount in calories or grams when she once knows the materials and how to combine them. ”

“ These recipes are made from our American raw materials, and many of them resemble our dishes so closely that only slight changes are necessary in our recipes to produce a welcome diet for these people. In printing these recipes no attempt has been made to force them into cook book English. Many carry their national atmosphere in the expressions used.
A dietitian has never been so honored, in college or out, as she will be by these foreign-born people when once she talks to them of their familiar foods. ”

“ Usually they establish their homes in neighborhoods or colonies of their own nationality. Here there is no opportunity to know about American foods, raw or in combination, or the kind and amount of foods needed in a day's dietary under the new living conditions. If they have come from countries in which the climate is very different from this, they make no change in diet; or if their occupation here is more strenuous or less taxing, they do not take this into consideration. They have always eaten certain kinds of foods, prepared in certain ways. ”

“ They are probably more willing on their arrival than they will be at any later time to accept American help and suggestions.
Their housing conditions are changed—their style of clothing must be changed; many of their social customs, as well as some of their religious ideals, must be given up; the only habit and custom which can be preserved in its entirety is their diet. This is made possible because they find in America, as in no other country, all their native raw food materials. ”