FOODS AND HOUSEHOLD
MANAGEMENT

A TEXTBOOK
OF THE
HOUSEHOLD ARTS

PREFACE

This volume, like its companion, Shelter and Clothing, is intended for use in the course in household arts in the high school and normal school, whether the work be vocational or general in its aim. It is hoped that both volumes will prove useful in the home as well, including as they do a treatment of the homecrafts, and the related topics now so significant to the home maker,—the cost and purchasing of foods and clothing, the cost of operating, the management of the home, and questions of state and city sanitation vital to the health of the individual family.

The volume treats specifically of foods, their production, sanitation, cost, nutritive value, preparation, and serving, these topics being closely interwoven with the practical aspects of household management, and they are followed by a study of the household budget and accounts, methods of buying, housewifery, and laundering. It includes about 160 carefully selected and tested recipes, together with a large number of cooking exercises of a more experimental nature designed to develop initiative and resourcefulness. Shelter and Clothing deals with the organization and ideals of the home, house sanitation, decoration, and furnishing; and treats in full, textiles, sewing, costume design, and dressmaking.

Some of the recipes here given are adapted from those of such authorities as Mrs. Lincoln, Miss Farmer, and Miss Barrows, and others are original and from private sources.

The authors are glad to acknowledge their indebtedness to those who have read and criticized the manuscript: Professor

Mary Swartz Rose of Teachers College, for her criticism and contributions to the book; Miss L. Ray Balderston, of Teachers College, for reading the chapters on Housewifery and Laundering; Professor May B. Van Arsdale, of Teachers College, for reading the chapters on Food; Professor Van Arsdale, Miss Bertha E. Shapleigh, and Miss Mary H. Peacock for their assistance in arranging for photographs; Miss Laura B. Whittemore, formerly of Teachers College, and Miss Amy L. Logan of the Horace Mann School for criticizing the manuscript from the point of view of the high school teacher; and also Professor Hermann Vulté for his kind assistance.

SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS

The topics in this volume are so arranged that they can be followed in sequence as the course of study develops through the year, with such modifications as seem necessary to the teacher in order that the work may best meet the needs of the pupils. The practice has become quite general of beginning the practical work in the autumn with the preparation and preservation of fruit, especially for those pupils who have had previous work in foods; and this plan commends itself as being seasonable and as making an appeal to the interest of the pupils. The opening chapters furnish material that is in part preliminary and that may also be studied as the practical work progresses from Chapter V onward. The preparation of a meal need not be deferred until all types of dishes have been cooked singly, as it is possible to prepare a luncheon box, to set an invalid tray, or to serve a simple breakfast quite early in the course, provided the equipment permits. If the school program allows, it is well to give a period to recitation at stated intervals, which would include a discussion of the text and of problems that arise from the laboratory work. The cost of food is a topic to be borne in mind throughout the year. It is an excellent plan for the pupils to record the current prices of each food material as it is used, and the cost of a given dish for a given number of people, the topic culminating in a detailed discussion when the chapter on the cost of food is read. A similar method may be pursued in connection with the nutritive values of food, the theme developing from lesson to lesson, until the pupils are ready for the chapter on

menus and dietaries. An occasional lesson on housewifery or laundering may be introduced from time to time, if a complete sequence of lessons on these topics does not seem practicable; and through the year the pupils may be encouraged to keep simple accounts for themselves and in connection with the supplies of the school kitchen. Those teachers are fortunate who may coöperate with a school lunch room, thus affording their pupils opportunity for dealing with practical administrative and economic problems. The way in which the topics are used must of necessity vary with the previous experience of the pupils, whether or not they have had cookery, chemistry, and physiology, and the teacher will use the exercises at the end of the chapters with freedom, omitting some questions, and adding others as the need arises.

The following references will prove useful to teachers in developing the different topics of the volume:—

Laboratory Handbook for Dietetics—Mary S. Rose.

Chemistry of Food and Nutrition—Sherman.

Food Products—Sherman.

Science of Nutrition—Lusk.

The World’s Commercial Products—Freeman and Chandler.

Elementary Household Chemistry—Snell.

Nutritional Physiology—Stiles.

Household Bacteriology—Buchanan.

Bacteria, Yeasts, and Molds in the Home—Conn.

Microbiology—Marshall.

Household Physics—Lynde.

Selection and Preparation of Food—Bevier and Van Meter.

Principles of Cookery—Anna M. Barrows.

Technique of Cookery—M. B. Van Arsdale.

Cost of Living—Ellen H. Richards.

Cost of Food—Ellen H. Richards.

Cost of Shelter—Ellen H. Richards.

Cost of Cleanness—Ellen H. Richards.

Standards of Living—Chapin.

The New Housekeeping—Frederick.

Increasing Home Efficiency—Martha B. and Robert W. Bruere.

Household Hygiene—S. Maria Elliott.

Household Management—Bertha E. Terrill.

The New Hostess of Today—Larned.

Laundry Manual—Balderston and Limerick.

Bulletins of the U. S. Department of Agriculture.

CONTENTS