The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1916-05-24
PURPOSE OF COOKING
AND WHAT 1T EMBRACES
Essay by Miss Martha Kate Rentz at
Closing Exercises of the Ocala
High School

Closing Exercises of the 0cala
High School
But for life the universe would be |
nothing; and all that has life requires
nourishment"
The word cookery is the art of pre-
pairing food for the table by the use
of heat. Cooking makes food more pal
atable and aids in digestion.
Probably the first method of cook
ing used by the savage or unciViliZed
tribe was drying the food in hot sun.
This was also method of preserva-
ton, SO that the food might be stored
away for use in times of scarcity. The
next method, doubtless, was that of
roasting before the open fire or bak
ing in hot ashes. Then came the con-
struction of some crude vessels, the
dropping of hot stones into the yes
sells which contained the water in
which the food was to be cooked. By
this method meats were simmered
and boiled. Later came the construc-
ton of some vessels which could
stand the heat of the open fire. Late
| ly primitive oven was made, and
from these methods of roasting, boil
ing and stewing were evolved and de-
veloped those in use at the present
time
4 ErFyV @
great bread eaters. We read CT them
roasting and boiling the flesh of the
OK. After the Homeric age of sim
plicity, i'm which roasts and boiled
meats seem to have sufficed the king
lily table, a diversity of preparation
was attained in cooking, and great
skill was displayed in seasoning and
dressing foods. In the Greek house
there was no regular cook. In the
learly days of Rome a Cruel made of
tlentils or peas, was the principal food
lof the people, meats being used very
little. By degrees, however, taste
for better eating was acquired. The
Romans used oil in preparing and
fcooking their food, to a great extent.
The early Greeks and Romans used
honey for the same purposes that we
now use sugar. OF ancient British
COOKERY nothing is known, and it was
probably of a very rude description.
We do not find any mention of cook
ling in the Anglo Saxon chronicles.
Water was used to a great extent in
early English cookery. The cookery
lof France was probably of a rude and
imperfect kind until the introduction
of Italian tastes. Now it is uniVer-
sally admitted that the French cook
is true artist. In the point of econ.
omy the French are far superior to
, the Anglo-Saxon. In America schools
are established for girls in order that
they may learn the arts and methods
, Iof cooking.
We speak of the principles OF
cookery" sometimes, however, in a
: broader and somewhat less exact
sense to indicate the general purpos
es of cooking operations, as when we
say that the most important principle
in vegetable cookery is to soften the
fiber without destroying the flavor, OF
dissolving the ash constituents of the
vegetable.
Again, let us look upon the appli
cation of heat, ia process of natures
slow ripening, softening of tough fl
I bers, and a development of pleasing
!, favors. Why do we cook at all ex
! cept for these reasons? Primitive
!. man thought that cooking gave tt
= food better taste. He may have de
cided, too, that it was easier to masti
cate; but we have learned that il
: many cases we may, by the prope
methods of cooking, make it easier tt
digest farther on in the alimentar,
canal. Modern science also teaches
us that cooking destroys lower organ
isms, such as harmful bacteria which
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