Chapter 22—Healthful Cookery
Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 48-49
There is a class who seem to think that whatever is eaten is lost,
that anything tossed into the stomach to fill it, will do as well as food
prepared with intelligence and care. But it is important that we relish
the food we eat. If we can not, and have to eat mechanically, we fail
to receive the proper nourishment. Our bodies are constructed from
what we eat; and in order to make tissues of good quality, we must
have the right kind of food, and it must be prepared with such skill as
will best adapt it to the wants of the system. It is a religious duty for
those who cook, to learn how to prepare healthful food in a variety of
ways, so that it may be both palatable and healthful. Poor cookery is
wearing away the life energies of thousands. More souls are lost from
this cause than many realize. It deranges the system and produces
disease. In the condition thus induced, heavenly things cannot be
readily discerned.
Some do not feel that it is a religious duty to prepare food properly;
hence they do not try to learn how. They let the bread sour before
baking, and the saleratus added to remedy the cook’s carelessness,
makes it totally unfit for the human stomach. It requires thought and
care to make good bread. But there is more religion in a good loaf of
bread than many think. Food can be prepared simply and healthfully,
but it requires skill to make it both palatable and nourishing. In order
to learn how to cook, women should study, and then patiently reduce
what they learn to practice. People are suffering because they will
not take the trouble to do this. I say to such, It is time for you to
rouse your dormant energies, and inform yourselves. Do not think the
time wasted which is devoted to obtaining a thorough knowledge and
experience in the preparation of healthful, palatable food. No matter
how long an experience you have had in cooking, if you still have the
responsibilities of a family, it is your duty to learn how to care for
them properly. If necessary, go to some good cook, and put yourself
under her instruction until you are mistress of the art.
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