Healthful Cookery
213
Testimonies for the Church 3:156-158
There are very many girls who have married and have families,
who have but little practical knowledge of the duties devolving upon a
wife and mother. They can read, and play upon an instrument of music;
but they can not cook. They can not make good bread, which is very
essential to the health of the family To cook well, to present healthful
food upon the table in an inviting manner, requires intelligence and
experience. The one who prepares the food that is to be placed in our
stomachs, to be converted into blood to nourish the system, occupies a
most important and elevated position. The position of copyist, dress-
maker, or music teacher can not equal in importance that of the cook.
Testimonies for the Church 2:537-539
Do not neglect to teach your children how to cook. In so doing,
you impart to them principles which they must have in their religious
education. In giving your children lessons in physiology, and teaching
them how to cook with simplicity and yet with skill, you are laying the
foundation for the most useful branches of education. Skill is required
to make good light bread. There is religion in good cooking, and I
question the religion of that class who are too ignorant and too careless
to learn to cook.
We see sallow complexions and groaning dyspeptics wherever we
go. When we sit at the tables, and eat the food cooked in the same
manner as it has been for months, and perhaps years, I wonder that
these persons are alive. Bread and biscuits are yellow with saleratus.
This resort to saleratus was to save a little care; in consequence of
forgetfulness, the bread is often allowed to become sour before baking,
and to remedy the evil a large portion of saleratus is added, which only
makes it totally unfit for the human stomach. Saleratus in any form
should not be introduced into the stomach, for the effect is fearful. It
eats the coatings of the stomach, causes inflammation, and frequently
poisons the entire system. Some plead, “I can not make good bread or
gems unless I use soda or saleratus.” You surely can if you become a
scholar, and will learn. Is not the health of your family of sufficient
value to inspire you with ambition to learn how to cook, and how to
eat?