Nuts and fruits are delicious and abundant, and as we
walk among them, gathering here and there, we never
think of seasoning them ; even the dry kernels of grain
are sweet. But when they become a part of our house-
hold supplies, foreign additions are deemed essential to
their perfection in cooking. The universal use of condi-
ments is no argument for their essential importance.
Vegetables of good quality properly served retain their
peculiar juices and flavors, and an un vitiated taste will
enjoy these delicate individual flavors with keener relish
than the more pungent qualities of the various condi-
ments which appeal to the partially paralyzed organs of
taste.
Salt — chloride of sodium — is a constituent of the
human body and is also found in wheat and other grains
and vegetables, properly combined with other salts, such
as sulphur, iron, potassium, etc. Why not season our
food with these as well as salt ; or did the original chem-
ist forget to mix the proper quantity of chloride of sodium
with the other food ingredients, and thus compel the use
of this mineral to make our food complete ? Salt destroys
natural flavor and gives its own flavor to all food, but if
the salt eater abstains from it a few weeks, hitherto un-
known flavors will be discovered in food. Salt also
induces unnatural thirst, and an extra amount of liquid is
consumed to assist nature in diluting and washing out
from the stomach and blood an abnormal substance.
Competent medical authority asserts that salt is an irritant
12
lyo THE FAT OF THE LAND.
mineral poison and cannot be appropriated or used in the
vital domain, but is eliminated like other poisons, or, if
retained in the system becomes a source of disease.
It is a well established fact that the more injurious and
unwholesome the things we use as food, drink or stimu-
lants, the more difficulty we have in giving them up and
the greater the disturbance in the system while we accus-
tom ourselves to the change. The tobacco user, the
liquor drinker, the tea and coffee devotees are not unfre-
quently made very ill upon suddenly or even gradually
lessening the use of those luxuries, thus proving the
extent of the injury to the system and also the fact that
they are dependent slaves to injurious habits. And so
with excessive salt eaters ; upon gradually lessening the
quantity used, or entirely abstaining, they are often afflicted
with salt salivation, showing that somewhere in the system
an excessive amount of salt exists, and nature gets rid of
the surplus in that way.
In a similar manner tobacco, liquor and poisonous
drugs, calomel, etc., are eliminated from the body while
the sick are persuing a course of hygienic treatment.
It is popularly said that men and animals need salt as
a means of health, yet there are herds of animals, wild
and domesticated, that never eat it. The fine cattle of
Scotland refuse salt, and it is only forced upon such as
are intended for sale, when it is done to induce an abnor-
mal desire for water to bloat them into an appearance of
fat before market day.
Entire races of men are unacquainted with salt, and
thousands of hygienists and vegetarians abstain from its
use. Their families will not suffer in comparison with
salt eaters, either in point of health, strength or endurance.
J
CONDIMENTS AND SEASONINGS. 171
The above evidence is not obscure, neither are living
illustrations difficult to obtain, as they were fifty years or
more ago, and we only ask people to experiment and
adopt the better way so far as intelligence and good sense
permit. Having lessened the quantity of salt, the appe-
tite for pungent spices and condiments will decrease and
later the desire for drinking at meals will cease and the
path to the saloon will be less frequently traversed.
Page 68
Presented as published in 1896. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Nuts and fruits are delicious and abundant, and as we walk among them, gathering here and there, we never think of seasoning them ; even the dry kernels of grain are sweet. But when they become a part of our household supplies, foreign additions are deemed essential to their perfection in cooking. The universal use of condiments is no argument for their essential importance.
Vegetables of good quality properly served retain their peculiar juices and flavors, and an unvitiated taste will enjoy these delicate individual flavors with keener relish than the more pungent qualities of the various condiments which appeal to the partially paralyzed organs of taste.
Salt — chloride of sodium — is a constituent of the human body and is also found in wheat and other grains and vegetables, properly combined with other salts, such as sulphur, iron, potassium, etc. Why not season our food with these as well as salt ; or did the original chemist forget to mix the proper quantity of chloride of sodium with the other food ingredients, and thus compel the use of this mineral to make our food complete ? Salt destroys natural flavor and gives its own flavor to all food, but if the salt eater abstains from it a few weeks, hitherto unknown flavors will be discovered in food. Salt also induces unnatural thirst, and an extra amount of liquid is consumed to assist nature in diluting and washing out from the stomach and blood an abnormal substance. Competent medical authority asserts that salt is an irritant
mineral poison and cannot be appropriated or used in the vital domain, but is eliminated like other poisons, or, if retained in the system becomes a source of disease.
It is a well established fact that the more injurious and unwholesome the things we use as food, drink or stimulants, the more difficulty we have in giving them up and the greater the disturbance in the system while we accustom ourselves to the change. The tobacco user, the liquor drinker, the tea and coffee devotees are not unfrequently made very ill upon suddenly or even gradually lessening the use of those luxuries, thus proving the extent of the injury to the system and also the fact that they are dependent slaves to injurious habits. And so with excessive salt eaters ; upon gradually lessening the quantity used, or entirely abstaining, they are often afflicted with salt salivation, showing that somewhere in the system an excessive amount of salt exists, and nature gets rid of the surplus in that way.
In a similar manner tobacco, liquor and poisonous drugs, calomel, etc., are eliminated from the body while the sick are persuing a course of hygienic treatment.
It is popularly said that men and animals need salt as a means of health, yet there are herds of animals, wild and domesticated, that never eat it. The fine cattle of Scotland refuse salt, and it is only forced upon such as are intended for sale, when it is done to induce an abnormal desire for water to bloat them into an appearance of fat before market day.
Entire races of men are unacquainted with salt, and thousands of hygienists and vegetarians abstain from its use. Their families will not suffer in comparison with salt eaters, either in point of health, strength or endurance.
J
The above evidence is not obscure, neither are living illustrations difficult to obtain, as they were fifty years or more ago, and we only ask people to experiment and adopt the better way so far as intelligence and good sense permit. Having lessened the quantity of salt, the appetite for pungent spices and condiments will decrease and later the desire for drinking at meals will cease and the path to the saloon will be less frequently traversed.