New-York tribune., 1911-10-30

Nav they never existed-like the roses
which one paints into pictures OF chlld-
hood he never knew Dr. Wiley, ana sure
IL he knows more than all these dreamerS
being Or. Harvey ". Wiley tho pure
food man" he SAYS that I'm no country III
tho world is food so badly cooked as I'm the
United States.
Re it noted in the preface that he did
say, too In no country in the world
food so plentiful as here. That Is some
comfort 10 the loyal soul who sees Spr'ao
proudly before his minds eye the sturdy
man of the states. covered with corn'lel"s
and whole counties Of wheat. with apple
orchards and potato patches with sea
coasts full Of fishes. lakes and rivers Ju'n"-
ing with trout. harbors sleepy With oysters
and clans mountains teemlnS with deer
rabbits and partridges, prairies covered
with cattle and the heavens fun OF VIA
duck.
Yot the cooking is bad. There Is no
doubt about II. The last lingering vision
of a Thanksgiving dinner at grandmoth'r
vanished when fhe Tribune reporter sa"
the expression on the face of Mrs. Mary
F.. williams as the situation was lald ne
fore her.
American cooking" she snoried. ~
awful" Now. Mrs. Williams Is head OF 'hP
domestic science courses in the Ne" o'h
/ CIV nubIic schools. She knows all th're
is ~ know, about cooking and she has
tried living all over this country ana hu-
rome. When she speaks il is as woman
who has both theory and practice at her
I tongues end.
American cooking l. the worst In the
world" she said. The common people
don't ,,now what good cooking IS. NO
thar is not New York alone. II Is every
where Yes in the country. Why | spent
tbree weeks at a good boarding house IN
the Adirondacks, and in all that time l did
not see one good piece Of bread The
farmers don't know how to live. They
spend thousands of dollars to start COW
right in life and the government nelps
them. but not one cent do they use 10 IN
sure health for their children. Is calf
more than a child? Yet they feed the one
scientifically and give the other ;ied
meats and hot bread. sausages and wet
potatoes / have lived i'm Texas they can I
cook meat down there Their steak ana
chops are thin as shoe leather, and wien
they are put into fat 10 be fried they curl
all up. the good juices are lost and the
good fibre becomes tough and iaStelSSs.
They had great prohibition war down
there but / told them: My friends, II you
would learn TO cook you would not haze to
fight drunkenness The average man is
forced To drink because he f. starved for
nourishment' Yes. and We hear so much
about the good Southern hot breads and
corn pone They do taste good, but what
OF their food value? Did you ever see any
left over the next day? 1t is sunken and
raw in the middle. Did you ever hear of
stalwart. athletic Southern girl? Aren't
they always Hlylike or frail as roses
dipped In dews? When that rose color OF
youth fades these Southern beauties are
salow. AT middle age they die of hot
bread. =.
"The wonderful cooks Of the good cid
davs were few and far between. It our
grandparents had real turkey on Thanks
giving, they had 70 live on salt codtish ana
laked beans the rest OF the winter yo"
know. with no fruit but apples and no
vegetables but turuips and potatoes Nh'ch
they did not know how 10 cook. nose
were the common people.
Now compare them with the peasants
of Europe. Everywhere in Europe one can
get the most delicious things 10 eat in the
humblest little roadside tavern Think oil
our American roadside taycrns The sight
of the flies makes one sick and the food Is
impossible Let me tell YOU, once I trav-
elled for twelve days through the Alps.
Every meal we had at "A different inn. and
every one was perfect remember one
dinner Of steak II was thick and tender.
with wonderful French friend potatoes ana
carrots That was all There was no half
moon of birds bathtubs filed with vege-
tables around tn plates, the way we get
them here. one kind is enough when II IS
good Think how simply the peasants live
NAPOLEON said La sorpe fait le soldat
OF course. i'm the oil countries they have
not the variety Of foods We have They
have To make something out of nothing.
THAT Is the great problem confronting
MS about the immigrant The peasant won.
an used TO having to COOK with few
| cheap foods. is given the freedom of our
market places and our pushcarts. crammed
! with the foods of all the earth She Is like
"A child IN a toy shop. OF course She
buys these delightful novelties but she does
not know how 70 cook them. We talk
about Americanzng the immigrant
| through the schools. Wen, the only course
in the schools that Amerlcanizes is the
cooking class that teaches the foreign child
TO so home and teach her mother bow to
| cook American food and how not TO feed
tn baby American pickles and raw ba-
| nanaa