One small left-over scrap of meat wasted every
day in every home of the United States equals
450,000,000 pounds of valuable animal food in
a year — the edible portion of a combined herd
of 538,000 beef animals, 291,000 calves, 625,000
sheep and lambs, and over 2,132,000 hogs.^
Why not change this waste into production?
1 Arthur Train, in "The Earthquake."
2 Herbert Hoover, in "Food Armies of Liberty."
^ United States Department of Agriculture, Reports,
May, 1 9 17.
THE WORLD ON A DIET 39
2. Substituting foods which we may have in abundance
for staple foods needed and fitted for export; this
means:
Sparing wheat: By substituting corn, rye, oats,
barley, rice, buckwheat — even potatoes, bananas,
peanuts, chestnuts.
Sparing beef, mutton, pork: By substituting poultry,
game, fish, eggs, beans, cheese, nuts.
Sparing sugar: By substituting syrups, honey,
dried fruits, sweet fruits, by providing less cake
and pastry, fewer confections and sweet drinks.
Sparing fats: By using less fat in cooking, and not
serving fried foods, rich cakes, or pastry.
Sparing dairy products: By buying milk with
judgment, using it with care, and recognizing its
full food value; by using all sour and skim milk;
by using less cream and none as a luxury; by
using no butter in cooking, and substituting
vegetable fats.
Sparing all needed staple foods: By using fresh
fruits, vegetables, and all perishable and local
foods to the best possible advantage.*
Wheat is one of the most important of all the foods
to spare. If we are fortunate enough to have a
barrel or bag of wheat flour in the house, it should
be made to last as long as possible by using it in
combination with a definite proportion of other
cereal, meal, or flour. Without privation or hurt of
any kind, we can substitute in this way when baking
any of our necessary bread foods, or when serving
cereals in any form. Only a cupful saved here and
* See "Fresh Fruits and Vegetables as Conservers of
Other Food," Farmers' Bulletin 817, United States De-
partment of Agriculture.
40 FOOD AND FREEDOM
there, in each one of our twenty-two million homes,
providing the practice becomes a habit, soon meas-
ures many million bushels.
3, Preserving all surplus perishable food against future
need; this means:
Canning.
Drying.
Storing.
Much food waste can be prevented by preparing
ourselves to be "ready to can, preserve, dry, pickle,
salt, or store" all surplus fruits and vegetables, or
other perishable food that might otherwise go to
waste.
When the Food Administration made its first
great appeal in the fall of 19 17, twelve million
housekeepers signed the food pledge cards and
entered volunteer food service. With an average
of three to five persons to a family, this means
that in a few months* time forty-eight million of
our population had very decidedly changed
their food habits of a lifetime. As time passes,
this number will, without a doubt, be greatly
increased, for it is now estimated that it may
be many years before the ruin in Europe can be
repaired and order and normal living once again
restored. During these years thrift, conservation,
and the **wise and careful" use of wheat, meat,
butter, milk, sugar must continue to be the con-
sistent refrain of our food creed,
THE WORLD ON A DIET 41
Food and freedom
1918Page 18
Presented as published in 1918. 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
A modernized reading is not available for this page yet. You are seeing the original text.
One small left-over scrap of meat wasted every
day in every home of the United States equals
450,000,000 pounds of valuable animal food in
a year — the edible portion of a combined herd
of 538,000 beef animals, 291,000 calves, 625,000
sheep and lambs, and over 2,132,000 hogs.^
Why not change this waste into production?
1 Arthur Train, in "The Earthquake."
2 Herbert Hoover, in "Food Armies of Liberty."
^ United States Department of Agriculture, Reports,
May, 1 9 17.
THE WORLD ON A DIET 39
2. Substituting foods which we may have in abundance
for staple foods needed and fitted for export; this
means:
Sparing wheat: By substituting corn, rye, oats,
barley, rice, buckwheat — even potatoes, bananas,
peanuts, chestnuts.
Sparing beef, mutton, pork: By substituting poultry,
game, fish, eggs, beans, cheese, nuts.
Sparing sugar: By substituting syrups, honey,
dried fruits, sweet fruits, by providing less cake
and pastry, fewer confections and sweet drinks.
Sparing fats: By using less fat in cooking, and not
serving fried foods, rich cakes, or pastry.
Sparing dairy products: By buying milk with
judgment, using it with care, and recognizing its
full food value; by using all sour and skim milk;
by using less cream and none as a luxury; by
using no butter in cooking, and substituting
vegetable fats.
Sparing all needed staple foods: By using fresh
fruits, vegetables, and all perishable and local
foods to the best possible advantage.*
Wheat is one of the most important of all the foods
to spare. If we are fortunate enough to have a
barrel or bag of wheat flour in the house, it should
be made to last as long as possible by using it in
combination with a definite proportion of other
cereal, meal, or flour. Without privation or hurt of
any kind, we can substitute in this way when baking
any of our necessary bread foods, or when serving
cereals in any form. Only a cupful saved here and
* See "Fresh Fruits and Vegetables as Conservers of
Other Food," Farmers' Bulletin 817, United States De-
partment of Agriculture.
40 FOOD AND FREEDOM
there, in each one of our twenty-two million homes,
providing the practice becomes a habit, soon meas-
ures many million bushels.
3, Preserving all surplus perishable food against future
need; this means:
Canning.
Drying.
Storing.
Much food waste can be prevented by preparing
ourselves to be "ready to can, preserve, dry, pickle,
salt, or store" all surplus fruits and vegetables, or
other perishable food that might otherwise go to
waste.
When the Food Administration made its first
great appeal in the fall of 19 17, twelve million
housekeepers signed the food pledge cards and
entered volunteer food service. With an average
of three to five persons to a family, this means
that in a few months* time forty-eight million of
our population had very decidedly changed
their food habits of a lifetime. As time passes,
this number will, without a doubt, be greatly
increased, for it is now estimated that it may
be many years before the ruin in Europe can be
repaired and order and normal living once again
restored. During these years thrift, conservation,
and the **wise and careful" use of wheat, meat,
butter, milk, sugar must continue to be the con-
sistent refrain of our food creed,
THE WORLD ON A DIET 41