Taking the one article of bread ; thousands of men are
employed during the night in making yeast bread that the
public may be daily supplied with fresh rolls, biscuit and
loaves. We are told that in many bakeries these men
sleep on the tables where the dough is made into loaves
for the oven, and indulge in baking tins for pillows.
When we take into consideration the dark, damp, unventi-
lated bakeries in basements and cellars, perchance under
sidewalks and streets in large cities, where they are
constantly filled with noxious poisons from sewerage and
other filth, the marvel is that men continue to exist in
such places any great length of time. Uncanny as these
features are, the sickly men, often saturated with tobacco,
opium or liquor, the emmanations from their bodies
and breath mingling with the food prepared, we wonder
the partakers thereof are not poisoned more often than
they are.
Dr. Guy of London, whose name is made famous by
Guy's Hospital as well as his own benevolence, has an-
nounced in his admirable and painstaking research on
this subject, that he " discovered among one hundred and
eleven journeymen bakers one hundred and twenty-five
diseases, or more than one disease for each of the men
employed in mixing and kneading the dough, and sleep-
ing in the troughs from which bread is made for the
greatest city in the world."
In view of such facts, it will not require a wide range
of imagination to invest the public bakery with "all
manner of uncleanness."
Investigation has led the writer into small bakeries
where cleanliness prevailed, but a woman was in each
case the presiding genius. But even in some of these, the
BAKERIES. 211
odors arising from over-fermented bread were oppressive, .
and the bread when cut emitted a decayed and sickening
smell that revealed the presence of thousands of uncooked^
** germs" that would soon destroy the loaf if enclosed in
a warm place, or create fermentation in the digestive
organs of those unfortunate enough to partake of it.
A visit through the various departments of the most
extensive city bakeries, where so-called first-class food
is cooked, reveals untidiness at almost every turn.
There are large machines for mixing bread, not over-clean, .
long tables of wood for kneading dough into loaves, men
in much soiled clothing handling and tossing the loaves
like so many playthings, an occasional fall on the much
begrimed floor not consigning it to the refuse. These
tables are scraped and rarely washed ; men not busy sit .
and recline upon them with an abandon of ease and
content, doubtless for lack of chairs. Thousands of pies
are made in one day in large bakeries. Boston is said to
furnish over thirty thousand pies a day, and in " Greater
New York" one "pie foundry" turns out twenty thousand
pies a day, and it is estimated that a million pies are daily
consumed in that city. But as you pass along do not
inspect too closely some of those who prepare material for
these pies, nor be too fastidious as you glance at the
mixtures in general use. The crust — composed of a little
flour and much lard, more than three thousand pounds
being daily used in one establishment for pies. Bayard
Taylor said, "I believe that fat pork and pies have killed
more people in the United States than dram drinking
has." Perhaps he did not realize that the pork and pies
created a demjand for dram drinking, as well as other
injurious articles.
'212 THE FAT OF THE LAND.
Page 84
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
Taking the one article of bread ; thousands of men are employed during the night in making yeast bread that the public may be daily supplied with fresh rolls, biscuit and loaves. We are told that in many bakeries these men sleep on the tables where the dough is made into loaves for the oven, and indulge in baking tins for pillows. When we take into consideration the dark, damp, unventilated bakeries in basements and cellars, perchance under sidewalks and streets in large cities, where they are constantly filled with noxious poisons from sewerage and other filth, the marvel is that men continue to exist in such places any great length of time. Uncanny as these features are, the sickly men, often saturated with tobacco, opium or liquor, the emmanations from their bodies and breath mingling with the food prepared, we wonder the partakers thereof are not poisoned more often than they are.
Dr. Guy of London, whose name is made famous by Guy's Hospital as well as his own benevolence, has announced in his admirable and painstaking research on this subject, that he " discovered among one hundred and eleven journeymen bakers one hundred and twenty-five diseases, or more than one disease for each of the men employed in mixing and kneading the dough, and sleeping in the troughs from which bread is made for the greatest city in the world."
In view of such facts, it will not require a wide range of imagination to invest the public bakery with "all manner of uncleanness."
Investigation has led the writer into small bakeries where cleanliness prevailed, but a woman was in each case the presiding genius. But even in some of these, the
odors arising from over-fermented bread were oppressive, . and the bread when cut emitted a decayed and sickening smell that revealed the presence of thousands of uncooked **germs" that would soon destroy the loaf if enclosed in a warm place, or create fermentation in the digestive organs of those unfortunate enough to partake of it.
A visit through the various departments of the most extensive city bakeries, where so-called first-class food is cooked, reveals untidiness at almost every turn. There are large machines for mixing bread, not over-clean, . long tables of wood for kneading dough into loaves, men in much soiled clothing handling and tossing the loaves like so many playthings, an occasional fall on the much begrimed floor not consigning it to the refuse. These tables are scraped and rarely washed ; men not busy sit . and recline upon them with an abandon of ease and content, doubtless for lack of chairs. Thousands of pies are made in one day in large bakeries. Boston is said to furnish over thirty thousand pies a day, and in " Greater New York" one "pie foundry" turns out twenty thousand pies a day, and it is estimated that a million pies are daily consumed in that city. But as you pass along do not inspect too closely some of those who prepare material for these pies, nor be too fastidious as you glance at the mixtures in general use. The crust — composed of a little flour and much lard, more than three thousand pounds being daily used in one establishment for pies. Bayard Taylor said, "I believe that fat pork and pies have killed more people in the United States than dram drinking has." Perhaps he did not realize that the pork and pies created a demand for dram drinking, as well as other injurious articles.