Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1923-06-01
INDUSTRIAL
WORKERS AND
THEIR FOOD
by United States Public Health
Spryical

by United States Public Health
Service).
Food, so far as the vast majority
of women industrial workers are con-
cerned, means "lunch," says the u.
S. Public Health Service. What they
eat in the morning and in the even
ing depends very largely on conditions
over which some other woman has
control. Taken as a whole they have
very little choice.
About the only rule that can be laid
down is to eat something and not to
rush to work without eating anything.
Hundreds of working women, mostly
young girls, do this nearly every day.
No boy would do 1t twice; he would
have his breakfast or move. And in
this particular, at least, girls would
do well to initiate him.
AT lunch, however, they may bring
cold lunch with them, have a luke
warm lunch brought to them, go home
Tor a lunch or dinner, or eat in the
cafeteria.
A brought" lunch must be eaten
somewhere. In some places and under
some circumstances it can be eaten out
of doors comfortably, without being
contaminated by flies or dust. Gener-
ally, however, ii must be eaten in
doors, either in room set aside for
this and other purposes (such as
recreation) or in the work-orom. To
eat in the recreation room interferes
with its use by those for whose bene-
TIT it was set aside. To eat in the
work room prevents the complete air
that IG 60 INN - II
hours of occupation; it interferes with
the sweeping of the dust that has ac-
cumulated in the morning hours and
That unless removed, will continue
twit REORGANIZATION to be breathed
all afternoon; it exnoses the food to
dust that settles fast when the air is
comparatively quiet and is always I'M
wholesome and often dangerous, to
the disease germs with which the air
is laden, and to flies, which stay after
the lunch is cleared away. These
dangers are not imaginary. The
weight of evidence now seems to indi-
cate that tuberculosis (for instance)
is often a "hand to mouth" disease
and Is carried to the lungs by way of
the stomach as well as by the breath.
TINS Is particularly true of forms of
tuberculosis other than that affecting
the lungs but may also be true of
pulmonary tuberculosis.
Eating in a modern factory cafe
terra or in a clean restaurant is usu-
ally much the most wholesome way
of getting lunch, though of course
much of its advantage may be lost by
unwise choice of food. A plant cafe
terra is usually we'll ventilated Cat
the beginning of the meal, anyway
Is Tree from dust, and is screened
more or less effectively against flies.
The food is commonly clean and we'll
cooked. Finally, to go to cafeteria
INDUCES most people TO wash their
hands; 1t promotes fellowship; il gives
valuable recreation; and il tends to
make one cheerful.
As for food---well, one important
thing is to avoid the things one gets
at home. Home cooking tends to
sameness and nearly always lacks
some element that it ought to have.
Buy something different. As a gen.
eral thing hot food Is best.
Meat for sedentary workers Is in
advisable at lunch, unless lunch l.
really dinner; meat once a day is
usually enough for most people. Fruit,
vegetables, and salads are excellent.
fles,. cream pulls, cellars, ETC., are
all right in their place but should
never be allowed to take the place of
better foods. Sweets drug the appe-
tte Tor time but leave one hungry
and often feeling faint before the day
Is over: A bowl of soup with crack
ers or bread costs about what a piece