Since the publication of Dr. Smith's report similar inquiries
have been instituted by the scientists of other countries, and
many analyses have been made of the exact amount and kinds
of food eaten by various classes of labourers under the most
varied conditions. Two noted professors of the old world
have even accounted for every particle of food that passed
through the body of a man, both while he was at work and while
he was idle. They have also noted how much of his own body
was consumed when he ate nothing. Finally, a great number
of averages have been taken and so called "standard dietaries"
constructed, by which is meant the average amount of each of
the chief food principles that keep an average muscle-worker in
good condition, when doing average work.
Every one will admit that it is of great importance for the
farmer to know in what proportion he shall lay in hay and other
food for the winter feeding of his stock; the animals must thrive,
but there must be no waste by furnishing food in the wrong
quantities or proportions.
For the housewife, the food question in its relation to her
family can be stated in the very same words. It is important
that she should economize, but her path will be full of pitfalls
if she does not understand in what true economy consists.
Most people with a real interest in this subject have had at some
period of their lives certain pet theories as to food. Perhaps
they have been at one time convinced that most people ate too
much, at another, that meat was the all strengthened or they
may have been afflicted with the vegetarian fad, and whatever
their special views have been they have thought that they rested
them upon facts. But surely they would never have pinned
their faith to one-sided diets if they had rightly comprehended
the main facts of nutrition. We believe that if these facts as
Introductory
7
at present interpreted, and the world's experience in applying
them, can be put at the command of the housewife, she can use
them to great profit.
We have employed the term "food principles"; what do we
mean by it ? Everyone knows what is meant by a food, as meat
or bread, and everyone knows that the food offered us by our
butchers and grocers comes from the animal and vegetable
kingdoms. The oxygen we breathe and the water we drink
nature furnishes for us directly, so to speak, though unfortunately
for many of us, and especially for young children, the former
is not thought of as a food. Oxygen aside, it has been found
by those who have studied the matter, that all foods contain one
or more of five classes of constituents, called "nutritive ingredi-
ents" or "food principles." These five principles are:
(1) Water. (2) Protejds. (3) Fats. (4) Carbonhydrates.
(5) Salts or mineral constituents.
A VISIT WITH THE HOUSEWIFE
By Mrs. H. C. Tomlin
The up-to-date home of this day contains numberless time
and labour saving devices which tend to minimize the demand
on the time and effort of the housewife, but even with all
the modern aids to housekeeping, there is the same necessity for
efficiency that there was in the time of our mothers.
Page 1
Presented as published in 1915. 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
Since the publication of Dr. Smith's report similar inquiries have been instituted by the scientists of other countries, and many analyses have been made of the exact amount and kinds of food eaten by various classes of labourers under the most varied conditions. Two noted professors of the old world have even accounted for every particle of food that passed through the body of a man, both while he was at work and while he was idle. They have also noted how much of his own body was consumed when he ate nothing. Finally, a great number of averages have been taken and so called "standard dietaries" constructed, by which is meant the average amount of each of the chief food principles that keep an average muscle-worker in good condition, when doing average work.
Every one will admit that it is of great importance for the farmer to know in what proportion he shall lay in hay and other food for the winter feeding of his stock; the animals must thrive, but there must be no waste by furnishing food in the wrong quantities or proportions.
For the housewife, the food question in its relation to her family can be stated in the very same words. It is important that she should economize, but her path will be full of pitfalls if she does not understand in what true economy consists. Most people with a real interest in this subject have had at some period of their lives certain pet theories as to food. Perhaps they have been at one time convinced that most people ate too much, at another, that meat was the all strengthened or they may have been afflicted with the vegetarian fad, and whatever their special views have been they have thought that they rested them upon facts. But surely they would never have pinned their faith to one-sided diets if they had rightly comprehended the main facts of nutrition. We believe that if these facts as
Introductory
at present interpreted, and the world's experience in applying them, can be put at the command of the housewife, she can use them to great profit.
We have employed the term "food principles"; what do we mean by it ? Everyone knows what is meant by a food, as meat or bread, and everyone knows that the food offered us by our butchers and grocers comes from the animal and vegetable kingdoms. The oxygen we breathe and the water we drink nature furnishes for us directly, so to speak, though unfortunately for many of us, and especially for young children, the former is not thought of as a food. Oxygen aside, it has been found by those who have studied the matter, that all foods contain one or more of five classes of constituents, called "nutritive ingredients" or "food principles." These five principles are:
(1) Water. (2) Proteids. (3) Fats. (4) Carbohydrates. (5) Salts or mineral constituents.
A VISIT WITH THE HOUSEWIFE By Mrs. H. C. Tomlin
The up-to-date home of this day contains numberless time and labour saving devices which tend to minimize the demand on the time and effort of the housewife, but even with all the modern aids to housekeeping, there is the same necessity for efficiency that there was in the time of our mothers.