FoodNet

True food values and their low costs

1916

Page 3

Presented as published in 1916. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
10 PER CENT. 5 PER CENT. CENTS Bread and ^ lb. salt cod 47 Bread and 'A il>. smoked ham 48 Bread and ■^ lb. cheese 51 Bread and 2i4 lbs. milk 53 Bread and VA lbs. loin pork 56 Bread and IVz lbs. leg of mutton 56 Bread and 1!< lbs. cod steak, fresh 58 Bread and X'A lbs. sirloin beef 66 Bread and VA R-J. turkey 78 In considering the cost, which has become a necessity to the person of hmited income, in rela- tion to the nutritive value of food, the question of waste is an important factor. The Depart- ment of Agriculture has estimated the food waste as high as twenty per cent, in most Ameri- can homes. The causes are : The purchase of expensive material providing little nutrition, the amount of food thrown away or poorly prepared, the selecting of food out of season, and poorly constructed ovens. By checking this waste, the purchasing power of a person's income would be increased, and a corresponding degree of efficiency obtained. CHAPTER II The Proper Proportion of Food The different kinds of food — water, salts, sugar, starch, fat, and albumen — must be com- bined in our diet to form a nutritious whole. A substance which fulfills but one of the purposes required in our food will not support life. A man cannot live on water or salt, yet he would soon die without them. A diet composed exclu- sively of fats, starch, or sugar is equally incap- able of supporting life. The albuminous foods, although they are considered the most nutritious, must be combined with the others to produce the desired result. The only substance prepared by nature ex- pressly as an article of food is milk. This when analyzed is found to contain water, salt, fat, sugar, and casein — the five elements of food. It has enough of the flesh-producing elements to restore the daily waste, and enough heat-giving elements to feed the oxygen in breathing. Eggs also contain all the necessary elements. A diet of seven eggs a day will furnish all the 8 TRUE FOOD VALVES nutrition a person needs ; but the elements in eggs are too highly condensed, and consequently are not properly proportioned for a continuous diet. It is very important to proportion our food so that one kind will supply what another lacks, A certain bulk is also necessary in our food to produce a thorough action of the digestive fluids. If the quantity of food taken is not sufficient to distend the stomach, the churning motion of the muscular coats cannot affect every part of the food. Indigestion is often caused by lack of sufficient quantity of food, and by weakness of the muscles of the stomach. A certain quantity of innutritious food may be required to furnish the necessary bulk and in this way give all parts of the digestive apparatus their proper work to perform. Many persons argue in favor of a strictly vege- table diet, as we can obtain all the necessary elements in vegetables; others claim to thrive best on a diet almost wholly of animal food. As a rule we find the highest degree of bodily and mental vigor among those who make use of a mixed diet. Nature seems to have arranged this to her own satisfaction, as shown in the physiological arrangement of the teeth and the alimentary canal. Part of the teeth are of the AND THEIR LOW COSTS carnivorous, or flesh-eating, kind, and part of the herbivorous, or vegetable-eating, kind. The alimentary canal is likewise equally well adapted to the digestion of both animal and vegetable foods, or of an admixture of both. The proper proportion, by weight, may be estimated as one- third animal and two-thirds vegetable food. Nature has furnished us with an unerring guide in the form of an unperverted appetite, to aid us in the proper selection of our diet, and it may generally be trusted to indicate the proper food necessary to the preservation of health.