Menus. — Food taken at a stated time constitutes a meal. It may consist of a single food material, as bread, or a single dish, as soup; or it may contain many kinds of food and many dishes. When the day's ration consists of a single food, there is no trouble in arranging the bill of fare, for all meals are alike. But as soon as we have two foods, we may con- sider whether they will digest better if eaten together or separately, and which way they will please the palate better. Balanced diets do not necessarily afford attractive menus. Macaroni and oatmeal would make a fairly well balanced meal except as regards ash constituents, but no one would call such a combination pleasing. By the substitution of a little chees3 and an orange for the oatmeal, a meal containing about the same fuel value and proportion of protein could be arranged, and it would certainly appeal more to the appetite, and furnish better proportions of ash constituents. In the construction of the menu for the day or meal, we must consider not only food values and time of day and com- binations which shall be digestible, but flavor, color, texture, and temperature of our foods. The study of digestible com- binations belongs to the science of nutrition. The harmoni- ous blending of tastes, odors, colors^ and the like is an art. Just as there are pleasing combinations of sound, so there are harmonies of flavor; certain dishes seem naturally to '' go together." Habit has a great deal to do with food combinations. A Chinaman would not eat sugar on rice; a Japanese would not cook beans with molasses as the Bos- tonian does. It is interesting to experiment with new com- binations, and study to find out why old ones are pleasing. Why do we like crackers with soup? Butter on bread? Toast with eggs? Peas with lamb chops? Digestible menus. — Some of our eating habits are worth preserving and cultivating. Fresh fruit for breakfast stimu- MENUS 4.ND DIETARIES 309 lates the appetite and helps to prevent or overcome constipa- tion. A mild-flavored food like cereal is better relished be- fore we have had meats or other highly flavored food. Soup at the beginning of a meal puts the stomach in better condi- tion to digest the food that follows. Ice cream at the end of a meal is less likely to chill the stomach than at the be- ginning. Bread and butter afford a good combination of fat and carbohydrate. Crackers help in the breaking up of cheese into particles easy to digest. Not all of our eating habits are good, however. Griddle- cakes, melted butter, and maple sirup taste good, but the cakes make a pasty mass difficult for digestive juices to pene- trate. The sirup is likely to ferment, and the butter coating the whole delays digestion greatly. Chicken salad is popu- lar, but combinations of protein with much fat (as in the mayonnaise dressing) always digest very slowly. Simple dishes, without rich sauces or gravies, and not excessively high in fat, are easiest of digestion. Pastries, fried foods, meats with much fat, like pork and sausage, are always more or less difficult and should be attempted only by the strong, or when the body is free from physical or nervous weariness, and not about to mndertake mental work.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Menus. — Food taken at a stated time constitutes a meal. It may consist of a single food material, as bread, or a single dish, as soup; or it may contain many kinds of food and many dishes. When the day's ration consists of a single food, there is no trouble in arranging the bill of fare, for all meals are alike. But as soon as we have two foods, we may consider whether they will digest better if eaten together or separately, and which way they will please the palate better. Balanced diets do not necessarily afford attractive menus. Macaroni and oatmeal would make a fairly well balanced meal except as regards ash constituents, but no one would call such a combination pleasing. By the substitution of a little cheese and an orange for the oatmeal, a meal containing about the same fuel value and proportion of protein could be arranged, and it would certainly appeal more to the appetite, and furnish better proportions of ash constituents. In the construction of the menu for the day or meal, we must consider not only food values and time of day and combinations which shall be digestible, but flavor, color, texture, and temperature of our foods. The study of digestible combinations belongs to the science of nutrition. The harmonious blending of tastes, odors, colors^ and the like is an art. Just as there are pleasing combinations of sound, so there are harmonies of flavor; certain dishes seem naturally to '' go together." Habit has a great deal to do with food combinations. A Chinaman would not eat sugar on rice; a Japanese would not cook beans with molasses as the Bostonian does. It is interesting to experiment with new combinations, and study to find out why old ones are pleasing. Why do we like crackers with soup? Butter on bread? Toast with eggs? Peas with lamb chops? Digestible menus. — Some of our eating habits are worth preserving and cultivating. Fresh fruit for breakfast stimu- lates the appetite and helps to prevent or overcome constipation. A mild-flavored food like cereal is better relished before we have had meats or other highly flavored food. Soup at the beginning of a meal puts the stomach in better condition to digest the food that follows. Ice cream at the end of a meal is less likely to chill the stomach than at the beginning. Bread and butter afford a good combination of fat and carbohydrate. Crackers help in the breaking up of cheese into particles easy to digest. Not all of our eating habits are good, however. Griddlecakes, melted butter, and maple sirup taste good, but the cakes make a pasty mass difficult for digestive juices to penetrate. The sirup is likely to ferment, and the butter coating the whole delays digestion greatly. Chicken salad is popular, but combinations of protein with much fat (as in the mayonnaise dressing) always digest very slowly. Simple dishes, without rich sauces or gravies, and not excessively high in fat, are easiest of digestion. Pastries, fried foods, meats with much fat, like pork and sausage, are always more or less difficult and should be attempted only by the strong, or when the body is free from physical or nervous weariness, and not about to undertake mental work.

Foods and household management