Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1919-03-30

ness in this country
And what MASTERS American
women have been, The war has
shown us this. The big leak is in
our kitchens. and some of us have
not yet learned to stop it, How many
women, for instance. bake their own
bread? Yet 40 per cent Of the daily
amount OF food that we eat is bread.
In how many homes is pot of beans
baked?
There arc more lunch rooms and
dclicatcSsen stores in this country
than in any other. and American
housewives are entirely to blame for
their prevalence. There stores are
monuments to the cooking ignorance
and the kitchen laziness OF our
women. They are signboards reveal
ing the American housewives neglect
Of her husband
in Europe does the housewife al
low her husband to become the prey
of bought food? No. She puts up u
good. nutritious lunch for him so
that he can eat good food in the
middle Of the day. Some of our
women do put up lunches for their
men, but such lunches that he throws
them away after he gets out Of sight
Of the house and hustlcs into quick
lunch at noon time.
Sixty per cent of the intestinal
troubles of the men Of this country
arc due to the bad cookery Of their
wives. 1t is record that should
convince housewives that it is high
time that they should learn food
values. 1t is their duty to roll up
their sleeves and go to work in the
kitchen.
The foreign housekecper is the
most frugal and careful housewife
in the world. In Belgium before the
war the average man owned a plot
of ground 100 feet square. On this
plot he raised enough to support his
family and to lay aside little for
his old age. His wife. under these
circumstances, had to practice
economy.
European Women
All Can Cook
European girls, fourteen and fiji
teen years old, can make fine bread
cheese and butter And when it
comes time for one to marry she has
usually her entire dot from the sale
OF the jams she has made.
Daughters Of royal households in
Europe can cook as we'll as the
daughters of the plain folk. Queen
Victoria, for instance, could cook
when she was mere girl. And
when she became Queen she made it
her business to see that her daugh-
ters and Sranddaughters learned to
cook | often saw the Queen herself
giving her daughters instruction in
baking. They would come to the
kitchen two or three DAYS a week.
wearing neat aprons and eager to
learn.
The Queen was exceedingly proud
or her kitchen. 1t was equipped with
the most modern facilities. and about
lo0 servants were employed there.
1t was thoroughly English kitchen;
meats were broiled over charcoal
and all OF the dishes prepared we're
typically English
When state dinners were to be
served the Queen always came into
inc kitchen to personally supervise
the preparation of the foods. She
generally wore a black taffeta morn
ing dress. never saw her wear
any jewelry except her plain gold
wedding ring. There was a rule
that while the Queen was in the
Kitchen we could not turn our backs
to her. Often it was difficult TO
keep this rule.
Had instruction
From the Queen
The Queens hands were the most
beautiful | have ever seen contin-
ued Mrs. Wilson. They were small
and very white and tapered at the
fingers very elegantly used TO be
Fascinated as ] watched her beauti-
full hands mix the various ingre-
dlents for cakes and buildings. |
remember quite we'll my first day in
the kitchen at Buckingham Palace
when the Queen taught me TO make
the royal sponge cake from Il recipe
that had been in the Queens family
for six centuries.
In America today cakes OF this
caliber can be bought in our best
catering places for sl1 apiece. But
II you will follow the Queens recipe
you will be able to make the same