Food and freedom

task of changing the food habits of a nation. She must be trained to meet new needs and new conditions in order to do her share in this great upheaval. ' ' Twentieth-century ideals ' ' and * ' mod- ern possibilities" are no less important in en- abling her to face the hard facts of to-day than are the older-fashioned household achievements. This book will help her to organize her duties and to bring freedom into work that has often been a symbol of bondage. United States Food Administration. March 7, igi8. INTRODUCTION fN Spite of its cruelty, largely because of that, the Great War has taught us many useful lessons. Perhaps the greatest of these is the importance of food education and the general need of food knowl- edge in the homes of America. Since 19 14 these homes have received a great jolt and an awaken- ing; instead of the former common, indifferent ignorance on all matters dealing with food and diet, we now find the new why and how of scien- tific feeding rapidly becoming a vital factor in the daily calculations of all who are trying to wrest the best kind of a living from their par- ticular world. The purpose of this book is to present, in com- pact form, to the housekeeper who may need the special, organized food and household knowledge now demanded of her as a patriotic duty such simple, prime facts as can give her immediate assistance with definite, practical results. At the same time it is also the purpose of the book, through the credit notes and references pains- INTRODUCTION takingly assembled, to serve as a guide in acquir- ing further detailed knowledge from that great wealth of material to be found in the perfect food and home-making literature already published. There is no ambition represented in the pages that follow other than the one hope of possibly making housekeeping as a whole, with emphasis on wise family feeding, easier and happier for a few women, with better national results, at a time when the giving of any help in this line is also a patriotic duty. The material covered includes those important facts in the science of nutrition a clear under- standing of which is now required as a necessary background for proper feeding in normal, every- day living, followed by practical suggestions for planning, cooking, and serving meals in the sim- plest, happiest way, and supplemented by a chapter of selected and tested recipes. The changed con- ditions of living naturally brought about by prog- ress, with new ideals, new needs, new responsibili- ties, new benefits — all emphasized by the Great War — are touched on, and a special appeal made for household system, thrift, and food conservation as a basis of national strength and prosperity. This material is built up on years of scientific study, teaching, and practical experience, including par- ticular research work in the recent advances made in scientific feeding and organized living. INTRODUCTION It has all, moreover, been carefully checked with the latest scientific conclusions of those accepted authorities in the food and household world whose records have earned for them the right to really know.