Healthful Cookery
221
sisters to make such great preparations for visitors and wrong their
own families by a spare diet which will fail to nourish the system.
Manuscript 3, 1897
Every housekeeper should feel it her duty to educate herself to
make good sweet bread, and in the most inexpensive manner; and the
family should refuse to have upon the table bread that is heavy and
sour; for it is injurious. There are a large number of poor families
who buy the common baker’s bread which is often sour, and is not
healthful for the stomach. In every line of cooking the question that
should be considered is, “How shall the food be prepared in the most
natural and inexpensive manner?” And there should be careful study
that the fragments of food left over from the table be not wasted. Study
how, that in some way these fragments of food shall not be lost. This
skill, economy, and tact is a fortune. In the warmer parts of the season,
prepare less food. Use more dry substance. There are many poor
families, who, although they have scarcely enough to eat, can often be
enlightened as to why they are poor; there are so many jots and tittles
wasted.
Manuscript 95, 1901
Some are called to what are looked upon as humble duties—it may
be, to cook. But the science of cooking is not a small matter. The
skillful preparation of food is one of the most essential arts, standing
above music-teaching or dress-making. By this I do not mean to
discount music-teaching or dress-making, for they are essential. But
more important still is the art of preparing food so that it is both
healthful and appetizing. This art should be regarded as the most
valuable of all the arts, because it is so closely connected with life. It
should receive more attention; for in order to make good blood, the
system requires good food. The foundation of that which keeps people
in health is the medical missionary work of good cooking.
Often health-reform is made health-deform by the unpalatable
preparation of food. The lack of knowledge regarding healthful cook-
ery must be remedied before health-reform is a success.