Foods of the foreign-born in relation to health

In the Jewish sections of our large cities there are j storekeepers whose only goods are pickles. They have ! cabbages pickled whole, shredded, or chopped and rolled : in leaves ; peppers pickled ; also string beans ; cucumbers, 'sour, half sour, and salted; beets; and many kinds of meat and fish. This excessive use of pickled foods destroys the taste for milder flavors, causes irritation, and renders assimilation more difficult. In prescribing diets for the Jewish people, it might be helpful both to the person who prescribes and to the patient for whom the diet is prescribed to remember that all their foods may be classified under three heads: (i) meat or fish; (2) milk and its products; and (3) neutrals. Meat and milk are never mixed. Neutrals may be used with meat or with milk products, but never with both in the same meal. The Jewish children suffer from too many pickles, too few vegetables, and too little milk. Because of their dietary laws, they cannot drink milk with their meals if they have meat. Therefore mid-morning and mid-after- noon meals of milk have to be introduced. This is impossible if the children are in school unless there is a school lunch. Enuresis is quite common among these children, as they are accustomed to having highly-spiced foods in their diet, with pickles at and between meals. For undernourished .children among the Jews, it is necessary not only to urge the use of milk, but to plan when it may be taken, as it cannot be taken at the same meal with meat. Vegetables are usually needed in greater abundance. These may be eaten in borsht, a favorite soup corresponding somewhat with our vegetable soup, but this does not give them in very large portions. Therefore a menu should be given to show how they may be combined with other foods. If served with a white sauce or butter, vegetables must be eaten without meat, but can be eaten at the noon meal or lunch with bread. Creamed vegetable soups may also be given in this same way, but never with meat at the same meal. Poached or "dropped" eggs are not often used. The process is unknown. A "dropped" egg was prescribed for a patient who did not know what it meant. When it was explained that an egg was broken and its contents dropped into hot water, he shook his head and said, "Oh, not I lose my egg; he get all mixed up with the water." When he was taken to the stove and saw an egg poached, he stood in wonder and admiration. He said, "I go home and tell my wife; she never knowed that." Since then many mothers and even children themselves have been shown in this same Food Clinic how to poach eggs. Cereals, if used as a breakfast food, are usually tested as follows: "Place them on a hot plate. If no worms or other insects appear, they are fit to be eaten ; if not fit, they must be thrown away." The cereals used by the Jewish people are barley, oats, buckwheat, and rice. These are baked in a pudding and eaten with meat. Children soon learn to eat cereals boiled with milk, and will learn more easily if raisins are added. With Jewish constipation patients the most satisfactory results are secured by removing all meat until the patient appreciates the value and learns the preparation oi many vegetables. In the treatment of constipation, which is very frequent, cereal pudding or krupnick is given, which is prepared as follows : Krupnick I cup rolled oats i tablespoon goose or 3 cups milk chicken fat 6 potatoes, cut up Boil all together three hours Six glasses of water a day are prescribed "to kosher the intestines," also rye bread or "Jewish Black Bread," and borsht once a day. Borsht (Jewish Beet Soup)