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Diet and Health
207
If milk is used, it should be thoroughly sterilized. With this
precaution, there is less danger of contracting disease from its use.
Butter is less harmful when eaten on cold bread than when used
in cooking, but as a rule it is better to dispense with it altogether.
Cheese is still more objectionable; it is wholly unfit for food
Scanty, poorly cooked food depraves the blood by weakening the
blood-making organs. It deranges the system and brings on disease,
with its accompaniment of irritable nerves and bad tempers. The
victims of poor cookery are numbered by thousands and tens of
thousands. Over many graves might be written: “Died because of
poor cooking,” or “Died of an abused stomach.”
It is a sacred duty for those who cook to learn how to prepare
healthful food. Many souls are lost as the result of poor cookery. It
takes thought and care to make good bread, but there is more religion
in a loaf of good bread than many think. There are few really good
cooks. Young women think that it is menial to cook and do other
kinds of housework. For this reason many girls who marry and have
the care of families have little idea of the duties devolving upon a
wife and mother.
Cooking is no mean science, and it is one of the most essential
in practical life. It is a science that both men and women might well
learn, and it should be taught in a way to benefit the poorer classes.
To make food simple and nourishing and at the same time appetizing
requires skill, but it can be done. Cooks should know how to prepare
food not only in a simple and healthful manner, but so that it will
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be found more palatable as well as more wholesome because of its
simplicity.
Every woman who is at the head of a family and yet does not
understand the art of healthful cookery should determine to learn
that which is so essential to the well-being of her household. In
many places cooking schools afford opportunity for instruction in
this line. She who has not the help of such facilities should put
herself under the instruction of some good cook and persevere in her
efforts for improvement until she masters the culinary art.
Regularity in eating is of vital importance. There should be a
specified time for each meal. At this time let everyone eat what
This is understood to mean ripened cheese.—Publisher
.
