Everyday Foods in War Time   By: Mary Swartz Rose (1874-1941)

by

MARY SWARTZ ROSE

Assistant Professor, Department of Nutrition, Teachers College, Columbia University

New York

1918

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

Journal of Home Economics , November, 1917.

PREFACE

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

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

Thanks are due to the Webb Publishing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota, for permission to reprint three of the chapters, which appeared originally in The Farmer's Wife .

TEACHERS COLLEGE, Columbia University, New York City.

December 1, 1917.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. THE MILK PITCHER IN THE HOME

II. CEREALS WE OUGHT TO EAT

III. THE MEAT WE OUGHT TO SAVE

IV. THE POTATO AND ITS SUBSTITUTES

V. ARE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES LUXURIES?

VI. FAT AND VITAMINES

VII. "SUGAR AND SPICE AND EVERYTHING NICE"

VIII. ON BEING ECONOMICAL AND PATRIOTIC AT THE SAME TIME

APPENDIX SOME WAR TIME RECIPES

EVERYDAY FOODS IN WAR TIME

CHAPTER I

THE MILK PITCHER IN THE HOME

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

There is a quaint old fairy tale of a friendly pitcher that came and took up its abode in the home of an aged couple, supplying them from its magic depths with food and drink and many other comforts. Of this tale one is reminded in considering the place of the milk pitcher in the home. How many housewives recognize the bit of crockery sitting quietly on the shelf as one of their very best friends? How many know that it will cover many of their mistakes in the choice of food for their families? That it contains mysterious substances upon which growth depends? That it stands ready to save them both work and worry in regard to food? That it is really the only indispensable article on the bill of fare?

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