KKASOX (4). FOOD is COOKED TO ECONOMIZE HEAT AND ENERGY TO THE BODY. 



The temperature of the human body in health Is 98.5 Fahr. This 

 temperature is maintained by the food eaten and the clothing worn. Now, 

 all food must be raised to the temperature of the body before the process of 

 digestion can begin. If cold food be eaten, the warmth necessary to raise it 

 to 100 Fahr. must be furnished by the body itself. If hot food be eaten, 

 that amount of heat is saved. Consequently, in cold weather, great bodily 

 comfort and a decided gain of energy results from a hot meal. Indeed, the 

 virtue as a body-warmer, ascribed to a glass of steaming, hot grog, exists 

 chiefly in the rapidity with which the hot water is absorbed into the blood 

 and carried all over the body. Alcohol, by the way. is a body-cooler; the 

 reason for this will be explained in another bulletin. 



There is reason in eating cold meals in very warm weather, for in the 

 process of their digestion the considerable amount of bodily heat utilized 

 constitutes a relief and not a tax to the system. 



As previously stated, the process of applying heat renders some kinds of 

 food more digestible. Energy otherwise used in dissolving it is thus saved 

 for other purposes. All kinds of fruit and vegetables are rendered more easy 

 of digestion by cooking. Compare a raw with a baked apple, or a cooked with 

 an uncooked carrot. Well-cooked food also, such as a savoury roast or well- 

 fried fish, stimulates the flow of the digestive juices; the food is better digested 

 and the body is better nourished. 



llEASON (5). FOOD IS COOKED TO POSTPONE PUTREFACTION AND TO DESTROY 



PARASITES. 



Every housewife knows the importance of cooking meat or milk with as 

 little delay as possible, especially in hot or damp weather. In one way the 

 explanation is quite simple. All decay is the result of germ-activity, whether 

 it take the form of the souring of milk, the tainting of meat, or the 

 spoiling of fruit. These low forms of vegetable life thrive only when they 

 have warmth, moisture, and suited food. 



Meat, fish, fruit, poultry, or game provide their favourite foods; conse- 

 quently, given a hot day. they start work, for sufficient moisture is present 

 in these substances to meet their need. If the air be damp, so much the 

 better for their mischievous activities. Most of these micro-organisms, as 

 they are called, thrive best at a temperature between 70 and 100 Fahr. 

 They are killed by very high temperatures, such as that of boiling water. 

 So we boil milk to preserve it. and so we cook meat also. But. unfortunately, 

 so far as is at present known, it is only the surface of joints which is 

 protected by cooking. The interior of a ."- or 0-m. roast, for instance, never 

 reaches the temperature necessary to the destruction of these germs of decay, 

 if they are present. 



This fact explains why. in hot. damp weather, joints "turn off" quickly. 

 even when cooked. On the other hand, no animal parasite found in meat can 

 withstand a temperature of 1!0 Fahr.; consequently, all meat and pork in 

 particular should be "well done." 



Salt, sugar, spices, and herbs are all used to i>ostpone decay in foodstuffs, 

 because they withdraw water and render the substance too dry for germ life, 

 or they make the flavour nniKilatahle. to these food-spoilers. 



