The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-10-29
THE TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORMATIDN BUREAU
By FREDERIC j. HAsKLN. Director.
Washington, ID. C.
TEACHING THE PEOPLE TO EAT.


TEACHING THE PEOPLE TO EAT.
Washington, Oct 29.-The biggest
mark of patriotism these days, next
to owning a liberty bond, is to eat
correctly. Not that the government
is concerned with your table man
ners, but it is concerned with your
food. Eating has recently been the
subject of more government PAM
phlets, tracts and bulletins than the
war itself.
So rapidly have they been flung at
the heretofore hearty appetite of the
average American that he has some
times experienced considerable diff
Guilty in keeping UP with them. One
week, for example, he is told to drink
the next week comes the word that
milk is scarce and to use as little OF
it as possible Then he is told to eat
but few potatoes-they are needed to
win the war. But just as he has ac-
customed himself to rice as a SUBJ
potatoes he must economic on, but
bread. Has he ever heard of using
potato flour instead of wheat flour to
make delicious a--d nourishing bread?
Staples That Are Under Ban.
Now, all the usual staples of the
American diet, with the exception of
potatoes, are under a partial ban by
the food censor. We are told that
we ought to limit ourselves to two
level tablespoonfuls of sugar, two level
teaspoonfuls of butter and one-fourth
of a cup of flour a day Already
Europe is keeping alive on like
meager rations. This year British
housewives are making no plum pud-
dings for their boys in the trenches
they haven't sugar enough. French
children of the present generation
never spend their odd pennies for
mitted to do business only three times
week.
Then, there is the question of meat.
This also is needed to wage the war
and patriots will eat less than usual
of it during the coming months The
high cost of living makes patriotism
in this regard a comparatively easy
matter.
If. however, people cut down on
their consumption of meat, flour, but
ter, milk and sugar, they must make
it up in some other way. True, such
economy will give a large number of
fat people good opportunity to get
thin, but what about the people who
are already thin? In the absence of
any reserve fuel, how are they going
to keep their bodies running along on
two tablespoOnfuls of sugar, for in
stance? 1t is not as simple as it looks.
and the housewife who would keep
the various war embargoes has got to
study the problem thoroly.
Problems in Body Requirements.
In this respect the government Of
fers the best assistance. Problems in
body requirements and how they are
met by different foods have been
worked out in the laboratory kitchens
of the department of agriculture. One
of these studies, made by Miss Caro-
line Hunt, scientific assistant of the
office of home economics, states rela-
lions service, shows how fresh fruits
and vegetab les may be used to save
other staple foods. Miss Hunt points
out, for example, that green peas and
lima and kidney beans form an excel
lent substitute for meat. She does
not advocate their use in the menu
every night but she holds, with many
other eminent dieticians, that Ameri-
cans in general eat entirely too much
meat and can easily afford to dis
pense with some of 1t. "a large dish
of green peas" says Miss Hunt, sup
plies as much protein as one-fourth
of a pound of beef, and cooked with
mint, or mint sauce, constitutes a very
acceptable change from the monot-
onous round of meats"
AS cereal savers, she suggests the
use of potatoes. sweet potatoes and
partially ripe bananas, cooked. A
small potato, weighing from three to
four ounces. supplies as much starch
as large slice of bread, but less pro-
TEN. 1t is not, therefore, an absolute
substitute. but it comes pretty near it.
Mashed potatoes may be used in the
place of biscuit crust in making meat
pies. Also, a good way to utilize left
over mashed potatoes is to slice and
fry them, for breakfast, when they
may be used in the place of bread and
Narrower o a n
excellent basis fer a number of at
tractive salads. Combined with peas,
beans. beets, cucumbeEs. radishes.
onions and asparagus. they may be
served in many different forms with
mayonnaise.
Fruit Substitute for Sugar.
Fruits of all kinds offer a substi-
tute for sugar, since every ripe fruit
contains large quantity of it. Fresh
figs and plums contain about one
fifth of a cup to the pound, while wa
termelon contains only a small per-
centage. When dried, fruits are even
sweeter than in their fresh state and re-
quire no additional sweetening. Stewed
prunes, apricots. peaches and apples,
therefore, make economical desserts
during the winter when fresh fruits
are somewhat scarce. They save the
butter milk and sugar used in maxi
ing rich custards and buildings, and
are also much more digestible than
the latter. 'Ice-cold junket served
with fruit says Miss Hunt "consti-
tutes a delicious dessert and is mex
pensive, since the juEket may be made
from skinned milk" She also sug-
gests that occasionally the dessert
course be omitted entirely and a fruit
salad with cottage cheese be used in
its place.
The best way to serve vegetables is
the simplest-namely, boiled, baked
milk or cream. But, if they are to
be introduced to any great extent into
the diet, it is well to know many ways
of serving them. For many years
authors of cook books have given
scant attention to the preparation of
vegetables. 1t Jas taken for granted
that they would naturally be prepared
as they had been prenared for the