October, 1918 



GLEANINGS IN B E K C r I. T U R E 



C 



ur 



CONDITIONS 

 brought 

 about by tlio 

 war have so 

 greatly inereas- 

 eil the ])robleni 

 of feeding one's 

 family wisely 

 that we house- 

 k e o ]i e r s nee d 



every bit of help we can find. What 

 makes our problem doubly hard is 

 the fact that it is our duty not only 

 to feed our families a balanced ra- 

 tion but to try to feed them no moro 

 than is needed to keep health and 

 strength at the maximum. We arc 

 all rejoicing that the food crisis of 

 last spring, when it looked as if 

 Germany might actually succeed in starving 

 England and France into submission, is 

 over. But altho our bountiful wheat har- 

 vest and the wonderful increase in ship- 

 building have made food conditions so much 

 easier for our allies for the present, we must 

 remember that the constantly increasing 

 drain on our man-power is going to cut 

 down on food production more and more as 

 long as the war lasts. Those who are in a 

 position to know tell us that we cannot ex- 

 pect future harvests, while the war lasts, 

 to equal that of this year for lack of farm 

 labor. 



The Food Administration tells us that we 

 must build up a reserve for the ' ' lean 

 years" that will surely come, if the war 

 goes on. That is the reason we must still 

 buy 20 per cent substitutes with our wheat 

 flour and why we must persist in not allow- 

 ing an ounce of any kind of food to be 

 wasted. 



OUR FOOD PAGE 



Stancy Puerden 



3 



lU 



The table given 

 below of the five 

 food groups 

 seems to me the 

 best and most 

 sensible that I 

 Vhave ever come 

 ' across. If a copy 

 L'.^of it were pinned 

 . up in every kit- 

 chen in the country, it woubl lieli) 

 us feed our families well and wisely 

 ill sjiite of high prices. 



Notice that the first two groups 

 are made up of foods which are 

 mainly for the purpose of body- 

 building, while the fourth and fifth 

 groups are fuel- or energy -yielding 

 foods. Between the first two groups 

 and the last two comes group three, the cer- 

 eal foods and their products. This is truly a 

 "middle" group in that it shares the prop- 

 erties of the groups which precede and those 

 which follow. In other words, the cereals 

 are valuable sources of body -building foods 

 and are sources of energy as well. Do you 

 wonder that bread has been known as the 

 staff of life? 



Now most of us know that a balanced ra- 

 tion should contain foods from all the above 

 five groups. And yet, now that prices of 

 foods have mounted to such extreme 

 heights, we are apt to feel that we must 

 spend our food allowance for the cheapest 

 sources of body -building and energy foods, 

 the cereals and their products, and the 

 legume seeds, peas and beans. For this 

 reason many housekeepers do not provide 

 enough of foods from group one, especially 

 city housekeepers. Another food which is 

 too apt to be neglected in these times of 



The Five Food Groups. 



