French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1916-1919, 1917-10-25
HOUSEKEEPING In FRANCE.

As / have kept house in Paris dur
ing the war, 1 can speak from expert
ence on the food situation. in France
as 1t effects the individual. And let
me tell you now that one. learns a
great deal when keeping house. of
which one gets NJ inkling when living
in a hotel and eating in restaurants.
One can always go to a restaurant and
order a meal and get it. I have
heard many visiting Americans, who
lived IN France in that way, pooh
pooh the idea that there was a food
shortage in the. country. If those
same persons had had to search the
markets before they had their meals,
they would have gained a very differ
ent idea of the food situation.
Sugar offers an excellent example.
In a restaurant one is fairly certain
Of sugar for ones coffee. Three
Jumps to a person is the rule. For
merly, the sugar was put on the table
in a bowl and one helped ones self.
Now, the ration is served to each
person separately.
But if IN is keeping house, one
finds that n must have a sugar
card" permitting him to buy a stipu-
lated amount of sugar in month, The
allowance is one and one-half pounds
of sugar a month, if three meals a day
are taken at home, n pound if two
meals Are taken at home and one-hali
pound if only one meal is taken al
home. This ear for the person
who takes three meals a day at home
1S pounds of sugar a year. The an.
nual sugar consumption per person il
America is 85 pounds.
One soon learns too that the "suga
| CARD does not mean that a pound AM
t a half of sugar can be demanded eacl
month, but only that it is. permitteO
| to- buy that much, provided a deale
t can be found who has it to sell.
l dealers who has suger will not sell j
to anyone who comes in, though. H
2 sells only to his own regular custo
: mers.
Last winter, In Paris, we paid 1
cents each for eggs and 81 a poun
for butter. Frequently there wa
: neither butter o eggs nor milk t
be had. Private families were allow
ed to buy one-eighth of a pound @
flour at a time. The grocers coul
not sell flour, only the bakers. TIL
flour mills could not choose their ow,
customers, nor could the bakers an
restaurants choose the mills the
. would buy from. Lists were mad
out, telling each miller to whom h
could sell. This was in order tina
one section should not eat UP tn
stock of flour belonging to anothe
3 section, or one baker deprive the Gus
: toners Of another, when all wer
: short.
Let us try to see what this scarcit,
of flour means to France In tn,
trst place, it must be realized tina
E bread there is the staple article o
food. It is the base of all meals, es
pecially among the working popula
ton. Breakfast consists of coffee Of
chocolate and bread. Luncheon il
bread, soup. coffee and often, though
not always, some meat or fish and
vegetable. The big dish is bread
Bread is again the base of dinner O.
supper. however the meal may be call
ed. Bread and cheese will make al
entire meal for a French peasant, will
a glass of wine to wash it down.
As a result another thing that has
happened is dread cards" in some
localities. There are no nationa
bread cards." in France as there arr
sugar cards." but in some parts O
the country it has been necessary t.
restrict the use of bread by local reg
ulations. I have in mind several let
tiers from my friends among the peas
ants at Brittany, telling of the priva
tions they yer enduring becaus,
their bread vas cut down so much
? Remember that bread is the chic
Iarticla Of diet among those neonIe
But with all these hardships tn
French people will suffer in silence
There is no finer souled, stronger O
greater people in the world than tn
French peasants. They are heroe
among a nation of heroes. They will
never complain.-Fred B. Pitney, U. S
Food Administration, in The Nationa
lStockman and Farmer.