The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1898-03-26
COOKING AND rInP1RAucR.


CVUA100 AND T&0IE&ABC&.
Kitnhsn Caa Mako Either Sobrioty
or OrunkenneA /.
We are sincerely glad that . Wash
ington minister has discovered that
good cooking is a valuable aid to
temperance, and that bad cooking
will drive . man to drink. There 10
no doubt, however, that he IL speak
ing the truth. IF We are not now
given over entirely to inebriety it is
not because some cooks of our &C.
quaintance have failed to supply
all the necessary reasons.
The argument of the clergyman
alluded to 10 practical. Food unat-
tractivsly presented fails to stimu-
late the appetite, and if, also, badly
cooked, does not afford the requisite
amount of nutrition. The stomach,
craving sustenance of q nature
most easily assimilated, seeks to
supply by liquor the lack Of support
for which the improperly cooked
food is responsible. This is sound
reasoning, and 10 much more to the
point than blaming the drink habit
upon the theory of original sin.
Hygiene is closely associated with
morals. It is just 40 important
that good cooking be taught in the
schools as that the Bible be read in
daily exercise. Now that the pulpit
is beginning to realize this fact, and
is disposed to lend its powerful aid
to subject unfortunately consid-
cred gross and sensual, there is q
possibility that the day of general
appreciation is not long to be post
poned.
A woman who can cook, who is
not Indifferent to the appearance of
her table, and who does not trust
anything and everything to the wom-
an who happens to be employed in
the kitchen, is, indeed, rare treas
ure. 1t is said that a good chef never
lets dish pass out of his domain
until he has approved it through
the senses of taste and sight. If the
same care were only exercised by
the housewife, there would be a hap.
pier condition of affairs. As it is,
the slave of the kitchen, ignorant
generally of hygiene and sometimes
lacking even in common sense, is
satisfied with greasy steak, with
half-raw potatoes and with the
meally yam~burned to a cinder. A
new sin isnow upon her head. Who
can tell how many drunkards she
has forced upon the world
The trouble is that most people
believe that good cooking and ex-
travagance are synonymous. They
accept az . truism the old sarcasm
about "a Gods head for i'd and 81
for condiments to serve it WITH"
Nothing, as matter of fact, could
be further from the idea We are in
tending to convey. 1t costs no
more to prepare a well.cooked meal
than one which is beyond the power
of the human stomach to digest.
Nor is there anything degrading or
trivial in the matter of gastronomic
study. When Richeliu could invent
the mayonnaise; when Talleyrand
could spend an hour daily with his
cook, and when Lord Bacon did
not consider it beneath his dignity
and intellect to grapple with the
intricacies of the kitchen, We of
lesser genius can most certainly not
hesitate. We may be happy, too,
in the knowledge that while hitherto
we applauded the tasteful delicacy
because it pleased our palates, we
are now contributing to the cause
of temperance. The highest motives
may hereafter accompany the stir
ring of the spoon, and when We
roast our beef or stew our cabbage
we may be elevated by the thought
that We are contributing to the
moral progress of the human race.
Washington Post.