Food and health

A cook who can do all this, have everything on the table that needs to be there, all the hot dishes hot, and all the cold dishes cold, is really a very " smart '* person. Here is an exercise for you : Write out the way that you think MoUie and Marjorie planned this dinner. 1. Consider the dinner that Mollie and Marjorie planned. Which food needs the longest cooking ? Which the shortest f Which can be kept hot the most easily ? Study the recipes. Each pupil should make a plan, and then compare notes in class. 2. Make several simple menus for dinner, and plan the cooking. 3. What are some of the most important things to remember in planning a dinner i Lesson 23 meat as food What shall we do about meat ? The price of meat has risen so much in the last few years that this is an important question for everybody, both in the city and country. Mr. Allen decided to study very carefully the raising of meat. He sent to the Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, for Bulletin No. /F 183, which gives very care- 11 ful directions about butchering the different animals, curing and storing meat for winter, and making products like sausages and headcheese. When the U.S. Department of Agriculture. .1 -ni ^ \T \y Farmers' BuUettn, No. 183. Other rleasant Valley ^ ^^ *» ^ t^ t^ - 1111 1 F^°' 9°' — ^^- Allen bought these tools farmers talked about the for cutting meat. matter at the Grange, they decided to follow Mr. Allen's example, and sent for this very valuable pamphlet. Do we need meat asf a food ? When we can use milk, cheese, eggs, vegetables, fruit, and bread plentifully, there is much less need of meat than many people think. If it is our habit to eat it freely, we should not make a sudden change and leave it off immediately ; but most people are much better in health when they eat meat but once a day. Meat gives us protein, fat, and mineral matter. Gelatin, which comes from the bones and tissue, is a protein, which is of use in the body. The juices of the meat which give it flavor have no food value. Some people seem to be able to digest meat more easily than the other protein foods, — fish, eggs, milk, and so on, — but this is not always the case. 2o6 When a great deal of meat is eaten, say three times a day, intestinal trouble may result, and too much acid is formed in the body. People who think that they Fig. 91. — Cuts of pork. must eat meat should drink water in large quantities and eat fruit and green vegetables. Little children should not be given meat ; for milk, eggs, and grain foods are better for growth, and the meat may take away their liking for these foods. Most people do enjoy the taste of meat, but we can learn to be moderate in its use. There are many human beings who never touch it, and who are well nourished, with bodies strong for work. The cost of meat. Only when our meat comes from wild animals, who find their own food, is meat an in- expensive food. Even when we kill and use our own animals, we pay for the meat in the food we give to them. The interest on the pasture land which cannot be used for other purposes, and our own labor in caring for animals. =^DD LE UACK B -B-^: ^,':;^ Courtesjf ofE. C. Bridgman, New York. Fig. 92. — Cuts of veal. housing them, and raising food for them, taken all together make it expensive to eat them. On the other hand, the milk, cream, butter, and cheese that they give us is a less costly food than their own flesh. This is true of beef at least. You can see that it is different with the hog, whose flesh is the only product. From the sheep we have wool as well as meat, but no other product that we can use as food. All these animals