1918 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



237 



Women's Clubs and the War 

 Foods 



By Mary G. Phillips 



IT used to be that mention of 

 Women's Clubs made men, and 

 many women, smile, and some 

 supposedly intelligent women even 

 prided themselves upon the fact that 

 they did not belong to a club ! But 

 that day is past, thank goodness! 

 and the way in which groups of 

 women are begged to help, or to use 

 their influence in all sorts of civic 

 and national problems, is sufficient 

 evidence that clubs justify their ex- 

 istence. Just as important as the 

 aid they render a community, how- 

 ever, is the inspiration and stimulus 

 they give to the individual member, 

 and it is this which we miss if we 

 drop out of our neighborhood clubs 

 in order to give more time to war 

 work. I believe that it is far better 

 to keep your club, but turn it into an 

 instrument for helping win the war. 

 Of course there are clubs, and 

 clubs. In one small community of 

 my acquaintance, composed of about 

 thirty-five families, there were three 

 flourishing clubs several years ago. 

 One was a sewing club which met at 

 noon, ate a sumptuous lunch, and 

 spent the afternoon either mending 

 or embroidering, according to_ the 

 size of the family of the individual 

 member, and talking, the discussion 

 ranging not far from kitchen and 

 children. The second club was 

 frankly a card club, composed of 

 women who felt the need of relaxa- 

 tion from the cares and responsi- 

 bilities of housekeeping These two 

 clubs flourished side by side for 

 many years, and it was not until 

 three vears ago that the growing 

 need for something different crystal- 

 lized into a new club. The women 

 who formed this last one felt that 

 they did want the stimulus that 

 comes from rubbing up against other 

 minds, and they did want their 

 thoughts turned occasionally into 

 channels other than those which had 

 to do with their everyday tasks, but 

 thev wanted the new channels to 

 lead somewhere. So the new club, 

 scoffed at as "high-brow," affiliated 

 immediately with the County Fed- 

 eration, in order to know what lines 

 of helpful work were being carried 

 on and to become a part of the large 

 movement for better schools, better 

 care for sick and needy children, 

 etc. 



Now, what has happened to these 

 three clubs since the war changed 

 our whole fabric of daily life? At 

 first, the more thoughtful and ear- 

 nest workers dropped their club 

 membership to enable them to give 

 the time to Red Cross work in the 

 city. This made the clubs sit up, and 

 it was not long before each made its 

 decision as to its future character. 

 The sewing club dropped its lunch- 

 eon, each member bringing two sand- 

 wiches for herself, and the sewing 

 became Red Cross work. This club 

 is now an active Red Cross Unit, and 

 every woman in the town works 

 there instead of taking the long trip 



to the city. I regret that the second 

 club remains a card club, for these 

 poor, overtaxed members, carrying 

 so great a part of the burden of war, 

 feel more than ever the need of re- 

 laxation. The third club, after much 

 deliberation, decided to keep 'its 

 identity and to help the war work 

 in avenues other than the Red Cross. 

 With the insistent needs of the Red 

 Cross ever- before us, it is hard to re- 

 member that we must not relax our 

 efforts one iota in helping on the 

 usual work which falls to women's 

 lot in a community. So this club is 

 continuing the encouragement of 

 gardening and canning in the colored 

 settlements nearby, is still carrying 

 on the work of the visiting nurse in 

 the county, and other such work. 

 Naturally, the character of its meet- 

 ings has changed materially since 

 the war began, and that brings me to 

 the point of my story — the connec- 

 tion between clubs and food. Every 

 club should be a center of food con- 

 servation today. Is your club doing 

 it? If not, cannot you see that every 

 meeting includes a discussion of the 

 latest news from the Food Adminis- 

 tration? 



For the June meeting, the Friday 

 Club had a Hoover Day, when each 

 member pledged herself and her 

 family to wheatless meals until har- 

 vest. The wheat substitutes, rice and 

 rice flour, cornmeal and corn flour, 

 barley, oatmeal, potato flour and pea- 

 nut meal formed the basis for the 

 program. Each talk on a substitute 

 was only five minutes long, but in 

 that time much was learned concern- 

 ing the production and use of each 

 one. Food Administration posters 

 and Hoover costumes added a touch 

 of color to the room, and on the ta- 

 ble were all sorts of delicious foods, 

 breads, muffins, cakes and puddings, 

 made entirely from substitutes. Each 

 member had contributed her best re- 

 cipe and a sample. As these were 

 tasted and discussed, two things be- 

 came clear— that better results are 

 obtained generally if you mix two 

 substitutes instead of using just one. 

 and that you can use your old fa vor " 

 ite recipes if you follow the Food 

 Administration table of substitutions. 

 This table is invaluable if hung on 

 the kitchen wall where it may be 

 consulted conveniently 



Measurements of Substitutes Equal 

 to One Cup of White Wheat Flour 



Barley — 151? cups. 



Buckwheat — % cup. 



Corn flour — 1 cup (scant. - ) 



Corn meal (coarse) — 7/& cup. 



Corn meal (fine)— 1 cup (scant.) 



Corn starch— 54 cup. 



Peanut flour — 1 cup (scant.) 



Potato flour— 54 cup. 



Rice flour— Ji cup. 



Rolled oats — \y 2 cups. 



Rolled oats (ground in meat chop- 

 per)— 1^6 cups. 



Soy bean flour — y% cup. 



Sweet potato flour — \% cups. 



You see from this that you can use 

 any recipe that you like, the only dif- 

 ference being that instead of using 

 wheat flour you substitute the 

 amount of some other grain or a 

 mixture of two, according to this ta- 



ble. The batter often looks too thin 

 or too thick, but you will find that if 

 you have measured accurately (all 

 measurements being level), the result 

 will be good after baking. All sub- 

 stitute mixtures should be baked 

 more slowly and longer. 



The best cakes made from substi- 

 tutes at the meeting were the three 

 for which I give recipes below. The 

 sponge cake was especially light and 

 tender, and as corn flour is not very 

 expensive, it does not make an ex- 

 pensive cake, particularly if you 

 have your own eggs: 



Corn Flour Sponge Cake 



4 eggs. 



2 tablespoons lemon juice. 

 Y% teaspoon salt. 



1 cup sugar 



1 cup corn flour 



Separate the whites and yolks of 

 eggs ; beat yolks until thick and 

 lemon colored, then add the lemon 

 juice and salt. Add sugar and beat 

 until light. Fold in the well-beaten 

 whites of eggs and the sifted flour 

 and bake in a moderate oven. 



Spice Cake — Using Barley Flour 



54cup fat. 



V% cup sugar. 



1 cup syrup or honey. 



3 eggs. 



54 cup milk. 



1 teaspoon vanilla. 



y 2 teaspoon ginger. 



6 teaspoons baking powder. 



% teaspoon salt. 



1 teaspoon cinnamon. 



54 teaspoon cloves. 



1 teaspoon allspice. 



3$i cups barley flour. 



1 cup raisins. 



Cream the fat, sugar and egg yolk. 

 Add the syrup and mix well. Mix or 

 sift the dry ingredients and add al- 

 ternately with the liquid. Add the 

 flavoring and fold in the well-beaten 

 egg whites. Bake for one hour in a 

 moderate oven, increasing the heat 

 slightly after the first twenty min- 

 utes. 



Chocolate Cake, Using Buckwheat 

 Flour and Ground Rolled Oats 



y cup fat. 



54 cup sugar. 



1 cup honey or syrup. 



3 eggs. 



54 cup milk. 



1 teaspoon salt. 



1 2-3 cups buckwheat flour. 



y cup ground rolled oats. 



6 teaspoons baking powder. 



1 teaspoon cinnamon. 



2 squares chocolate. 

 1 teaspoon vanilla. 



Cream the fat, sugar and egg yolks. 

 Add the horiey and mix well. Add 

 the dry and liquid ingredients alter- 

 nately. Add flavoring and melted 

 chocolate. Fold in well-beaten egg 

 whites. Bake about one hour in a 

 moderate oven, raising the tempera- 

 ture a little after the first twenty 

 minutes. 



Going without wheat seems like a 

 little thing to do when we read of 

 the ration our American prisoners 

 are living on in the prison camps of 

 Germany. Here is a sample: 



Breakfast — Acorn coffee, two slices 

 of bread made of rye, sawdust and 

 potato flour. 



