The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-10-08
Deterioration in Our Daily Food.

There can be no doubt that during the
past decade food has undergone a steady
degrade ton. and this cannot be without
demoralizng influence upon the hui
man race. 1t will be noticed that by far
the majority of cases of tampering with
food relate to the substitution of
cheaper article rather than to the addl-
ton of an injurious substance. The COM
mon defence is that modern conditions
of life make substitution necessity.
1t is difficult to see the logic of such
defence-at least, in number OF IN
stances.
1t is urged for instance that jam or
marmalade cannot be made without the
addition of glucose which prevents the
preserves from crystalizing. Now long
before glucose was a household word
jams and marmalade We're made
very good they were. too, consisting en-
trely of sugar and fruit. In the same
way we are told that beer must be
brewed from sugar and that brewing
exclusively from malt presents untold
difficulties. Again, golden syrup, which
used formerly to be the refined syrup OF
molasse consists largely now of artt-
fetal sugar. which is doubtless more
marketa BILE product. but is not the same
thing as cane sugar. Yet, again. we are
told that the public demand a perfectly
white loaf of bread. the truth in reality
being that machinery has produced
roller -four which is an inferior thing to
the now. we suppose, extinct stonn-milled
-four Instances of this sort could be
multiplied.
We could wish that all those keeping
house would make up their minds serl-
ously to return to the excellent custom
- ,i,,cr oil ~
themselves at home. Who does not ad.
nit the charm of home made bread
home brewed beer, or homemade jam,
and simply because they are known to
be made from an honest formula which
has stood the test of time and from good
materials which yield a palatable pro-
duct? Even in the country good old
fashioned wheaton bread with that fas-
cinating brown color of rich wheaton
flour, containing the entire nutritious
portions of the berry and possessing
that delightful wheaton flavor, now sell
dom, if ever. characteristic of bread. is
difficult to obtain. The bakers loaf is.
as rule, tasteless. insipid article
which requires considerably appetite
before the idea of eating it can be enter
tanned. No wonder that the taste for
bread is steadily diminishing, and UNI
used to be the case. AS is we'll known,
bread contains almost every element Of
food necessary for existence, but we
should be sorry for the person who tried
to subsist entirely upon the modern UNI
interesting loaf made from blanched
roller mill flour.
1t has recently been stated that the
degra da ton of the teeth so noticeable
among us now is due to roller milling
having largely supplanted stone milling.
We should not be surprised The degra-
| dation of food is a very serious matter
and is bound to lead sooner or later to
the degradation of the eater. No move
! ment could confer greater blessing upon
the people than that which aimed at
bringing about return to the older and
more rational methods Of preparing
food Let us see more of the homemade
article than we now see: let us return to
more paltable food and to food that will
do more good than the machine
| made stuffs and the endless series of
substitutes. In all the schools through
| out the land we would have the chill