REVIEWS i6i 



Food, its Composition and Preparation. A Textbook for Classes in House- 

 hold Science. By Mary T. Dowd and Jean D. Jameson, Teachers 

 of Household Science, Washington Irving High School, New York City. 

 [Pp. viii+ 173.] (New York : John Wiley & Sons ; London : Chap- 

 man & Hall, 1918. Price 65. net.) 



It is stated by the authors in the preface to this book that it is designed to 

 supplement laboratory work and to give students a clearer conception of 

 the relation between the cost of foods and their nutritive value. It is, 

 however, rather difficult to find evidence in the text of the second of these 

 stated aims of the authors, for what is said on the question of cost of foods 

 does not account for i per cent, of the book. 



The title of the book would indicate that two subjects are dealt with : 

 the composition of food and the preparation of food. As regards com- 

 position of food there is a fair amount of information of the sort exemplified 

 by the following quotation (p. 85) : " Butter contains 84 per cent, of 

 fat, about 12 per cent, to 13 per cent, of water, a little curd, and nearly 2 

 per cent, of salt." The following quotation is still more typical (p. 124) : 

 " Lobster is highly prized for its sweet flavor which is due to the large 

 amount of glycogen that it contains. It is very expensive, as about 50 per 

 cent, of it is refuse, and is considered indigestible mainly on account of the 

 coarseness and density of its fibres." 



As regards preparation of food, it is definitely stated in the preface that 

 no recipes are given, which means that details in reference to the prepara- 

 tion of food for the table are purposely omitted. This is to be regretted, 

 as the information that is given on the preparation of food is rather general 

 in character, as, for example (p. 95) : " Cheese is made from the curd of 

 milk which undergoes processes of ' ripening,' coagulating, removing whey, , 

 salting and pressing." 



The accuracy and depth of some of the pieces of scientific information 

 presented in this work may be judged from the following citations. " There 

 is very little difference chemically between sugar made from the sugar cane 

 and that made from the sugar beet " (p. 15) ; " Starch is formed in all 

 plants " (p. 18) ; " Hot water at first merely causes the starch grains to 

 swell, thereby stretching the cellulose covering until so thin that the water 

 will pass through " (p. 20) ; " It is desirable that the cell walls of the starch 

 grains be softened . . ." (p. 29). 



The two following statements do not appear completely consistent with 

 one another : "In the light of the latest scientific investigations there is no 

 difference in the nutritive value of boiled and unboiled milk " (p. 93) ; " Such 

 processes as canning, drying, boiling (in some cases, as for example milk), 

 as well as long keeping and too great refining diminish the vitamines " (p. 

 128). And again compare : " Egg yolk also contains a number of different 

 proteins, including a large percentage of vitellin and lecithin . . ." (p. 97) 

 with " In the roe is found lecithin which is a phosphorized fat " (p. 122). 



It is difficult to understand why the authors presume a difference be- 

 tween refrigeration and freezing. Apparently by the former they mean 

 coohng to a temperature just above the freezing-point, the process known 

 in the meat industry as " chilling." In another place a distinction is 

 drawn between cold storage and freezing as methods of food preservation. 

 Presumably frozen mutton is not to be regarded as held in cold 

 storage. 



In many places the language might be improved. " It may be soaked 

 over night and baked the same as the navy bean " would stand some modi- 

 fication, nor can one approve of " what is commonly known as vegetables 

 are the plant products that have a very high water content." On p. 150 

 we have the inevitable " back of " ; " Back of each of these natural food 

 choices is a principle." 



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