Food and freedom

36 FOOD AND FREEDOM knowledge of food values to take its place. We ate what we wanted rather than what the body needed. We spent a dollar to satisfy a craving that was not normal, when a penny might have bought the honest nourishment required. We ate more food, and had more meals than we needed. More money was spent on food than any real need could fairly justify. And so we were living when the Great War came and stopped us. We have, suddenly and almost without warning, been forced to think, and must now change our ways. The world must go on a diet, and unless this diet is observed the strength and freedom of the world are at stake. Briefly reviewed, conditions are as follows: With the exception of the United States, the world is short of food. Even the United States is short of some foods, although it has its normal supply, even an abundance of other foods. Out of this supply the United States must feed not only its own people, but those in other parts of the world who have given their aU for liberty and our protection, and are now dependent upon us. Conditions require that all foodstuffs exported shall be of the most concentrated kind. This includes wheat, beef, mutton, pork products, fat, dairy foods, sugar. But these important staples ^re the very foods gf which the United States THE WORLD ON A DIET 37 is also short. Moreover, these are the very- foods which have for years formed the founda- tion of our daily meals. To spare these foods, to make them meet our own needs as well as the needs of those who are dependent upon us, we must eat less than our normal supply, waste not one particle, and make up what may be lacking in these staples by sub- stituting other foods which we have in greater abundance, and which are not desirable for ship- ping. And, last but not least, this stretching and divi- sion of our staple food -supply must be done without injuring the health or reducing the strength or vitality of the American people. And here is where we, the housekeepers of America, must make our final great effort. We have been asked to make this great obligation, on the part of our country, possible and practical. It can and must be made possible and practical by : 1. Eliminating all food waste; this means: Careful planning of daily menus. Calculated buying of all food. Proper care of food in the home. Food preparation without waste. Good cooking without spoiling food, or loss of food value. Attractive service without unnecessary abun- dance. Use of all left-over foods- 38 FOOD AND FREEDOM "Food waste is the greatest of all wastes, be- cause it occurs three times a day, year in and year out." 1 "It is the multiplication of minute quantities — teaspoonfuls, slices, scraps — by 100,000,000, and by 365 days that will save the world." 2 It is the housekeeper who largely controls these minute quantities, and can save them for that multiplication which can do so much. One slice of bread wasted every day in every home in the United States equals over 7,000,000 bushels of wheat in a year, or 365,000,000 loaves of bread. One half -cupful of milk wasted every day in every home in the United States equals 912,500,000 quarts in a year. One small butter-ball wasted every day in every home in the United States equals over 114,- 000,000 pounds in a year.