Foods of the foreign-born in relation to health

The obstacles to the use of meat have developed a taste for fish, as well as for cheese and milk products. Since fish is not a warm-blooded animal, it may be eaten in conjunction with milk and milk products. (This is an added reason for its popularity. The celebration of the Sabbath and the eating of fish have always been associated.) Mrs. Schapiro says that "from no orthodox table is fish entirely absent from the Sabbath meals, however difficult it may be to procure. In inland countries, like Poland, the Jews are limited to fresh-water fish. I have known people who could barely afford bread during the week to pay as much as forty or even fifty cents per pound for their Sabbath fish." Salmon is a favorite kind of fish. This is fried, white stewed, or brown stewed. Smoked salmon, pickled herring, and pickled pickerel are served as appetizers by the Russian Jews. Most characteristic of all fish dishes, perhaps, is the "gefillte fisch," for which carp, whitefish, and pike are most generally used. Part of the flesh of the fish is removed and chopped with onions, bread crumbs, seasonings, and eggs. The mixture is returned to the fish, which is then baked or stewed with more onion and a large amount of pepper at a low temperature for several hours. The long, slow cooking develops the flavor of the fish, which blends with the other ingredients and forms a most palatable dish. While Jewish fish dishes form excellent appetizers or even entrees, these are not desirable as the main dish of the meal, because of the high seasoning. For this reason they are particularly bad for children. LIMITATIONS OF THE JEWISH DIET IN THE UNITED STATES When the Jew arrives in this country, some of the limitations of his diet, if unchanged by instruction, are evident. Many of the Jewish people who come to America have lived much of the time out-of-doors, worked out-of-doors, and played out-of-doors. Here many thousands of them are tailors, sitting all day indoors at their work, and having little exercise or fresh air. Many of them pay little attention to their diet during the week, until their Sabbath. Then on Friday night, Saturday, and on our Sunday, which to most of them is a holiday, they have a feast time. On Friday all the cooking is done for the next two days. Chickens are cooked, soup made, and kuchen (cakes) and mehlspeise (flour mixtures) prepared. The result of these weekly feasts is that many of the Jews eat too much or have not a well-balanced ration. By nature the Jews are an emotional people. A slight physical discomfort usually sends them to a doctor, whereas the readjustment of their diet would many times produce a cure. The dietary restrictions of the use of butter and meat at the same time limit the use of vegetables. Jewish people are therefore not as fond of them as they ought to be for their own physical well-being. One must not forget that the Jewish housewife utilizes a small amount of fresh meat in dozens of ways. Rich foods are cus- tomary in Jewish families, and it is with difficulty that a taste for the simpler foods is cultivated. Jewish women have long known how to use honey, molasses, and syrup in place of sugar. Sugar has often been a luxury in the countries from which they come. They have also been fond of rye, barley, oats, and buckwheat. These cereals have been used both in puddings and soups. Probably no other people have so many kinds of "sours" as the Jews. On the other hand, they have little knowledge of stewed fruits but have many kinds, of rich, preserved fruits. All these highly-seasoned foods they have in abundance.