Food and health

How shall we keep food clean } Let us begin with ourselves, the cooks. MoUie and Marjorie were pleasant to look at ; they were so shining with cleanliness themselves. Marjorie had washed her hair the day before when she came from school ; but before l)eginning work she brushed it tightly back, braided it, and tied a clean ribbon around her front hair to keep back stray locks. Both of the girls, of course, had clean faces, their dresses and aprons were spotless, and each clean apron had a pocket in it, with a clean handkerchief in the pocket. They scrubbed their hands, used toothpicks for their fingernails, and pinned on fresh hand towels at one side of the apron. MoUie said when she washed her hands before she sat down at the dinner table that she believed it was the twelfth time at least. A safe rule is this: whenever you are to touch food with the fingers, wash them. It is not considered good manners when in company to touch one's hair or face, and one should never handle food after touching one's person in any way. Of course, Mrs. Allen's kitchen and pantry were spotlessly clean after the breakfast ; so there was no cleaning to do after the last fly had been banished. Just as this had been accomplished, Frank Allen came in with the sweet corn and potatoes, and in came a fly, too ! So Frank killed the fly on the kitchen table, and then washed off the table at his sister's request. There was a pan in the sink to hold clean soapsuds for washing off whatever needed the washing. A place for washing hands and face. Just outside the Aliens' kitchen is an entry where washing of hands Courtesy of Mrs. Hetty S. Broume. Fig. 113. — Neatly dressed for cooking. and face, and brushing hair can be done, because it is not a cleanly habit to do this in the kitchen. Before the Aliens had running water, there was a stand in this entry, with a basin for the hands and face, and a pump outside ; but, when the water was put in, a basin with running water was placed in this entry, too. There is a looking-glass, and in a basket hanging on the wall below are some small towels made of the toweling used for roller towels, as Mrs. Allen does not believe in having different people use one towel. Each towel is large enough for wiping face and hands, and is used only once and thrown into another basket. Mrs. Allen has a washing machine, and puts these towels through a wringer to smooth them, and does not iron them. Muddy shoes must be wiped off outside, or, when they are very dirty, they are changed for comfortable dry shoes that hang in a shoe bag on the wall of the entry, and the muddy rubbers and boots are left in the shed. The boys thought this very fussy at first ; but boys do not really dislike being clean, when it is not too much trouble, and besides they found the dry shoes very comfortable. To keep all dirt out of the kitchen is one way to keep food clean. Washing oflf food. Even when we gather our own fruit and vegetables with clean hands, there needs to be a careful washing in clean water to free the food from grit and small insects. A small quantity of salt or vinegar in the water helps to remove any tiny insect. When Marjorie began to prepare the piece of meat nLT-yk for the pot roast, she held it under the faucet and thoroughly washed off the surface of the meat. If there had not been running water, she would have washed it off in a pan of water, with a little salt added. Mollie remarked that the butcher was very particular himself about the meat, but Marjorie said that one could not be over-clean with meat.