New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-14

most important food element
WA& found in meat"
kkH&JI So saith the Weekly Bull
letin of the New York City
Department Of Health, November rs, 1916.
Scientific treatises are valuable because they
are likely to be true, but their value is limited
by their lack of Imagination. Cheese, beans
and peas suggest the rigors of the Pilgrims
pre- Thanksgiving famine.
Yet in the city in which the bulletin is is
sued immigrant families are feeding as hap
PLY on those articles as ever we fed on roast
beef and turnip or leg of lamb and green peas.
IL we can rid ourselves of the delusion that
mince pie Is the foundation Of our government
we can learn about eating from other peoples
We can consider the foreigner to our advan-
tage.
Let me translate the bulletins bleak state
ments by means of gustatory experiences In
Europe and among the foreign population of
our large cities For cheese" read, first
toasted cheese"
TOASTED CHEESE, BUBBLING HOT
Toasted cheese and l became acquainted in
the "Old Cheshire Cheese" 16 Wine Office
Court, Fleet Street, London, the tavern made
immortal by DR.. Johnson's bad table manners
A brass plate on the wall marks the corner
where he-however, see Boswell for details /
think it was twenty cups. The management
now charges triple prices for the very foods
which the great eater and photographer chose
for cheapness and bukng qualities. The bills
of the establishment convince the debtor that
Americans are not the only fnanciers in the
world.
4 A parrot in cage furnishes local color
along with the worn tables, sawdust floor and
benches on which ten generations have sat I'M
comfortably.
Toasted cheese?" smrked the waiter. Gone
shilling extra"
"Ha, hap gibed the parrot
"Shut up" said the waiter.
A shilling was not too much to pay for
learning how. The secret lies in having the
individual patty-pans well buttered, half filled
with plain "rat cheese" heated in a piping
oven till the cheese is hubby and "gooey," and
then serving it on the run-a pstty-pan to a
person, with piles of toasted bread. Hot it
must be. l consider that Sunday night sup
per failure where one guest at least does
not burn his tongue.
And the cost-about three cents apiece
Don't tell the wicked middleman how good it is,
or he'll lock up all the cheese in his cold stor-
age castle and charge us ransom!
A MEMORY OF PEA SOUP
Dried peas and ] became sympathetic in
Germany before the war. You heard in the
nursery, did you not, that pea soup is the rea-
son German turns up the corners Of his mus
tache? The reason is adequate.
| was travelling the upper Rhine with the
Frau Doktor, who was the first woman TO re-
ceive the degree of Pm. D. from a German uni
versity. Thanks to her, the common vulgar
dried pea is inextricably associated in my mind
with the blue stretches of the Unter-See, the
soft contours of the Schwartzwald, and the
cries on the symbolic value Of folklore. Each
time we left the river steamer to explore
gabled, frescoed villages on the German shore
we were confronted by capped and sworded
German soldier pacing the pier. Each time
we opened our rucksacks for his high-tarff
inspection.
"Only food for our luncheon" we told him.
When / ate that luncheon | wondered how
any human being had had sufficient self-control
to refrain from confscating it and ramming it
down his throat. Out of her knapsack Phi. d.
the first took graham bread, cucumber and
an envelope Of yellow dust. The graham bread
and cucumber became sandwiches. The mys-
FERROUS yellow dust was shaken into a camp
kettle Of boiling water. It became thick pea
soup. A chopped hard boiled egg was added.
The mixture was poured into aluminium dishes
On the village green of Mitchell, in the
Island of Reichenau. beside the Abbey Church
which contains the remains of Charles the Fat,
great grandson of Charlemagne, there ate my
first PEA SOUP!
ONIONS INSTEAD OF EGGS
Many changes have taken place since that
happy day. Among them the price Of the egg
that went into the soup. have Joined the egg
less class. "Egg-aires" and ''bloated egg stuff
ers" | dub those who taste eggs at breakfast.
wait for the humpty -dumpties TO fall. About
the time the egg ceased to drop upon my break
fast toast guest gave me substitute. She
was from Munich, the city Of Dalcroze, art,
ant-alcohol agitation and-onion toast!
~ little dropped onion, yes?" she suggested.
She thereupon fried some shredded onion in
butter and spread it in its own grease upon
the barren toast.
or course, if you on't-eat-onions-thank-
this will not interest you. In that case try
Aavoring your milk toast with cheese. Or
-;,Llo ,o;xed smear and cinnamon on YOUR