San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-02-25
UNLOCKED FOOD.
The Strange Fare of Three Hearty
California Women.
Every Article of Food Consumed IL
in the Natural State - Why
This Odd Regime Is
Preferred.

There are three charming women in
Berkeley who constitute the exception
necessary to prove the rule that man
is a cooking animal. They regard cook
ing as barbarity. Their dainty palates
rebel at the suggestion of any food that
has had its crude nature modified by
fire. To them the chef and all his works
are anathema maranatha. They eat
three hearty uncooked meals every day,
and are as plump as cartridges, as rosy
as pippins and as happy as sandboys
withal.
This gastronomical eccentric trio con-
SiSts of Mrs. L. Beal and her two daugh-
ters, Alice and Mary Beal. The Beals
are a cultured English family. Their
wealth and intelligence preclude the
idea that their extraordinary diet
should have been adopted through
either economy or imperfect investiga-
ton into matters of science. They
moved from England TO the South Sea
Islands, where Mr.. Beal was repre-
sentative of her majesty's royal govern
ment. When Mr.. Beal died they came
to California, and have been living in
very pretty little place which nestles
among the Berkeley hills.
1t was during their residence in the
islands of the South sea that the Beals
acquired their taste for uncooked food.
The Beals are in no sense simple
eaters of fruit. Their regimen includes
all kinds of vegetables, cereals, fruit,
berries-every thing, in fact, except
meat. But nothing is permitted to APP
proach the oven or the pot, the frying
pan or the griddle.
The first article on the Beal break
fast menu is mush. That is, they call it
.mush, but no one would recognize it
as the time-honored article. The raw
material is taken from the original
package and deposited in the dish of
each breakfaster. To this is added milk
TO suit. The Beals do not confine them
selves to one kind of mush, but devour
by turns oats in different forms, corn
meal and wheats, but always raw as
the article comes from the grocery. To
this are added fruits, nuts and one veg
etable, all in a state of nature.
At luncheon uncooked bread takes
the place of the knocked mush. Wheat.
corn or barley coarsely ground and
mixed with milk is the substitute for
bread upon the Beal table. Luncheon
is completed much like the breakfast.
Dinner is completed by adding two
vegetables to the luncheon menu and
by varying the uncooked dread" Any
vegetable that may be in season is al
iowed-string beans, cabbage, turnips,
carrots, artchokes or asparagus, as the
case may be. Green corn eaten from
the cob uncooked is said to be a great
luxury, and raw green peas are de-
Scribed as delicious. When fresh fruits
are out of season the dried fruits are
accepted as q substitute. Canned fruits
are never served, because they are
cooked before canning. Among the
dried fruits prunes find the greatest IA
vOr with the Beal family Tea and cof-
fee are never used, because the Beals
regard the brewing thereof as form of
cookery.
I'VE live upon uncooked food simply
because we believe that it is the best"
said Mrs. Beal. ct is not a religious
mania, but it is done because we are
satisfied that it is proper from a scien'
tific point of view. Our dietary habits
are the result of our experience while
living in the islands, and, now that We
are in the heart of civilization, we dc
not see any reason to change it."
The simplicity chat is exhibited il
eating is carried through the remainde,
of the house. The furnishing of tn,
place is very simple, but of the fines
that can be purchased. The floors o
the house are uncarpeted. but are o
hardwood, highly polished, with rug
made from the pelts of wild animal
found IN the islands. The raiment o
Mrs Beal and her daughters is as sim
pie and yet as expensive as the rest O
their environments.-San Francisco Z,