The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1888-09-05
Waste.

What is waste? 1t is the misuse of
available material, or the vain expendi-
ture of time and energy upon unsuita-
BILE elements, or the non-utilization of
good material this non-use including
the throwing away of something which
might be made valuable 10y utilization.
Webster says that =" it is loss without
equivalent gain"
We are taught that there is no waste
in nature. Then waste must be an
artificial condition, brought about by
mans wrong conception of the nature
of economy, or by lack of manage
ment in certain circumstances. 1t has
been said that Socrates brought phi
losophy from the clouds, but English
men have dragged her into the kitch-
en-" There is, necessarily, in the phi
losophy of living, philosophy of econ
omy or of waste, and nothing can more
directly affect our lives than this phi
losophy of the kitchen" carried out
practically either for profit or for house
hold and health loss. "The blood is
the life" and what therefore affects the
health of the blood must affect the life
TO greater or less extent. Poor food
makes poor blood. Is not, then, the
knowledge of the elements of food and
of the foods adaptability to the needs
of the system of prime Importance?
And yet how few housekeepers have
attained to that knowledge!
Household economy includes not only
the utilization of possible fragments
but the management of food material
so that there shall be found only the
minimum of fragments. 1t also in
cludes the selection of the best foods,
not necessarily the highest priced, but
those which contain the most nutrim tent
for the system, nutrition for muscle
and bone, for the strength and health
of the body. All that does not furnish
nutrition in some form is waste. If the
cook does not understand her science
she must of course create greater or less
waste in her culinary operations and in
their effect upon the household. Energy
misapplied is energy wasted, and so is
it with food which, by an improper cook
ing or from an unfit selection is un-
suited to the needs of the individual
system.
The commonly accepted meaning of
the tern waste is the throwing away of
those materials or fragments which
might have been used, or it is the loss
of something valuable, but there is an
other form of wastefulness which is
perhaps more serious in its effects, and
that is the use of tainted food, or food
which is unrelishable by the palate
simply for the sake of Saving it." Thus
some would-be economical persons in
sist upon the individuals plate at the
table being cleared even if the appetite
reject the food; that is, they insist upon
crowding the stomach at the risk Of the
health, rather than throw away few
bites. This is mistaken economy. The
true economist sees to it that the plate
is not overcrowded at the first and that
the food is wholesome and palatable,
and then there is no opportunity for
waste. Ignorance and lack of manage
ment form the basis of wastefulness.
Waste sometimes consists in saving
things rather than throwing them away,
although this may seem like a contra
riety of terms. Eating food which is
injurious to one is waste of force and
health, but many eat what is set before
them for the sake of a certain principle
which they have developed.