1698 The Cornell Reading Courses 



Primitive woman's reasons for cooking food have been in the main to 

 make it more palatable, to improve its appearance, and to give variety. 

 She has known nothing of the chemical changes that heat produces in 

 foods, though she has learned by experience that cooking removes certain 

 disagreeable poisons or acid substances, since they dissolve in the hot 

 water and are rendered harmless. She also has known that starchy vege- 

 tables are better cooked than raw, but she has not been aware of the 

 fact that heat renders starchy substances more available for use by the 

 body than they would otherwise be. 



One of the most remarkable discoveries of primitive woman is the 

 use of yeast in bread making. She has chewed grain for a long time, 

 then removed it from her mouth and left it exposed to the air for some 

 time before adding it to the dough. What happened to this grain while 

 it was exposed to the air, primitive woman has not understood as we do 

 now; but that some change took place in the portion of grain thus treated, 

 and that this change made a difference in the dough to which such material 

 was added, she has been certain, for the dough was made lighter, of better 

 flavor, and, in general, more palatable. 



The pit oven so often used by primitive woman was a very near ap- 

 proach to our modem tireless cooker, which we consider such a wonderful 

 invention. In it hot stones were used to furnish the necessary heat, 

 and these were kept excluded from air as much as possible by packing 

 earth around them and the food during the cooking process. Other 

 methods of cooking, such as boiling, roasting, and broiling, have had 

 exactly the same principles involved as ours to-day, though they were then 

 unrecognized. Only by studying the experiences of primitive woman in 

 food selection and preparation do we come to realize how great is the 

 debt of modem woman to her. Science has done much to give us a 

 better understanding of food combinations and cooking processes, yet 

 we cannot but accept with much gratitude the remarkable discoveries 

 and achievements that primitive woman, with nature as her onl}^ guide, 

 has made in this respect. 



THE CAYUGA INDIAN FESTIVAL 



The story of the Cayuga Strawberry Festival, which was given by some 

 of the students in the College of Agriculture on the shores of Lake Beebe 

 in May, 19 14, is reprinted here from the program that was distributed to 

 the guests at the first performance. It will be a guide for entertainments 

 in rural communities where the mothers and the older daughters of the 

 family have been making a winter's study of the subject of primitive 

 woman. The illustrations will give an idea of details and suggestions 

 for costuming. It would make a good program for the Fourth of July 

 celebration of any community. 



