VEGETABLES AND FRUITS
Vegetables and fruits represent a different and happier phase of
the food situation than our short supplies of wheat and meat. The
vegetables especially are a great potential reserve of food, for they
can be produced in quantity in three or four months on unused land by
labor that otherwise might not be used.
Abroad every resource for vegetable-raising is being utilized to the
utmost. France and Belgium have long made the most of all their land.
Now England has made it compulsory to leave no ground uncultivated.
Golf-courses are now potato-patches. Parks and every bit of back yard
all grow their quota of vegetables. The boys in the old English public
schools work with the hoe where before they played football.
We in America have no more than touched our capacity for raising
gardens. What we have done is merely a beginning. As the war goes
on we shall realize more and more the necessity for seizing every
opportunity for active service. The accomplishments of the summer of
1917 showed the possibilities of the work, and placed it beyond the
purely experimental stage. They have given experience and emphasized
the value of expert advice and the economy of community efforts.
Not only is the "plant a garden" a civilian movement, but it has
taken hold in the armies as well. The American Army Garden service
is planning truck-gardens in France to supply our troops. The Woman's
Auxiliary Army Corps of England plants gardens back of the British
lines. Last summer the French fed 20,000 of their men from similar
gardens.
EVERY POUND OF FOOD GROWN IN THESE HOME AND COMMUNITY GARDENS
RELIEVES THE RAILROAD CONGESTION AND GIVES MORE SPACE FOR TRANSPORTING
MUNITIONS AND COAL. EVERY POUND OF FOOD GROWN RELEASES STAPLES FOR
EUROPE. Extra production of food of any kind, anywhere, takes on a
new significance in the presence of half a world hungry.
IF YOU CANNOT GROW VEGETABLES, USE THEM IN ABUNDANCE ANYWAY. They
are too perishable to ship abroad and too bulky, containing so much
water that it would be an uneconomical use of shipping to export them.
But the more America eats of almost any kind of vegetable or fruit,
the less of the more durable, concentrated foods will she require. The
products are so varied in kind and composition that they can be used
to serve almost any purpose--beans and peas to save meat; potatoes
and others to save wheat; sweet fruits to save sugar; jams, even,
when spread on bread, to save fat. All will improve the health and
therefore increase human energies for winning the war.
IN THE WAR DIET
_To Save Meat_. Beans and peas and peanuts are the only vegetables
with much protein, so that they are the ones thought of primarily as
meat substitutes. There are many kinds of them, fresh or dried, more
than most of us realize. It is worth while to add to the diet not
only the ordinary white or navy beans, but kidney, lima, black or soy
beans, cow-peas, the many colored beans such as the pinto, frijoles,
and the California pinks. It is these latter kinds that are used
by the Mexicans as their chief standby. The Army and Navy use huge
quantities of the white beans, and the Allied Governments are also
buying tons of the pintos.
The 1917 bean-crop, in response to the patriotic appeal, was 50 per
cent higher than the normal. Nearly all this increase was in the
colored beans, chiefly pintos. The Food Administration, fearing
that some of this unusual surplus might be wasted and the farmer
discouraged from producing a large output in 1918, bought up the extra
crop and distributed it for sale at the different markets.
Though soy beans and peanuts at least are exceptions, the protein
in beans and peas is not so satisfactory as a bodybuilder as that in
animal foods, so that a diet in which they are a large part should
contain also some milk or eggs or a little meat. Two cups (half a
pound) of shelled green peas or beans, or one cup with a cup of skim
milk gives as much protein as a quarter of a pound of beef. Dried
beans and peas are, of course, cheaper than the canned with their
larger amount of water. At the usual market prices as much fuel can
be bought for 5 cents spent for dried peas as for 25 cents for canned
peas.
Meat-savers do not all have to be high-protein foods, since the diet
of most of us contains considerably more protein than is necessary.
Any vegetable can be a "meat extender." The pleasant flavor of
meat can be obtained in meat stews, such as the delicious French
"pot-au-feu." Stews can easily be made with less meat and more
vegetables than usual. The meat allowance is now so very small in
France and the vegetables so scarce in the cities, that the ingenuity
of even the French woman is taxed to get a meal.
_To Save Wheat_. Potatoes to save wheat! The great potato drive to
utilize the surplus of our huge 1917 potato-crop, 100,000,000 bushels
above normal, has fixed in every one's mind the interchangeableness
of these two foods. Potatoes are one-fifth starch--almost the same
quantity as in cooked breakfast cereals. Because of this starch, they
give as satisfactory a fuel as wheat or corn or any other cereal. One
medium-sized potato supplies the same number of calories as a large
slice of bread, and contains more mineral salts than white bread.
Europe has learned to eat potatoes instead of wheat. When bread has
been short potatoes have been the mainstay in every country. They are
to-day the largest single element, in terms of energy, in the German
war ration.
Sweet potatoes are also first-class wheat-savers. So to a lesser
extent are most vegetables and fruits. Very few except white and
sweet potatoes contain much starch, but many of them have considerable
sugar, which serves as fuel just as starch does--carrots, beets,
onions, parsnips, and practically all fruits such as bananas, oranges,
and grapes.
_To Save Sugar_. We want sugar, of course, both for fuel and flavor.
The vegetables and some fruits have their sugar so covered up by
other tastes that it does not help to make the food sweet. It does, of
course, serve for fuel. Bananas especially are fuel foods, containing
much starch when green, which changes to sugar as the fruit ripens.
The sweetest fruits are the dried ones--dates, figs, raisins, prunes.
They have so much sugar that they can well be used in place of candy.
_To Save Fat_, Although few common fruits and vegetables contain
fat, jam is a real fat-saver. It is of high fuel value, and has the
advantage of being a "spreading material" so that it can replace
butter with bread and cereals. Jam is of great importance in Europe
to-day and all the Governments have taken steps to keep up the supply.
It is a regular part of the English army ration.
_To Keep the Nation Well_. An increase in the use of vegetables and
fruits is practically sure to mean an increase in health. Many of us,
especially city-dwellers, do not eat enough of them. Many a young
girl who "does not like vegetables" probably owes part of her languor
to inadequate diet. The old-fashioned "touch of scurvy" formerly
noticed at the end of the winter and even now not an unknown thing,
was probably due to lack of vegetables in the winter diet. The
constipation which is so disturbingly prevalent can usually be cured
or prevented by eating vegetables and fruits in sufficient quantities.
One of the most serious limitations in the diet of many of the
very poor is the lack of vegetables as well as milk and the unduly
large proportion of meat and bread. In a community in New York City
with high mortality rate, 75 mothers whose diet was observed, ate
vegetables on the average only twice a week, and fruit about the same
number of times.
It is not difficult to understand why vegetables and fruits are so
important. Only a few are especially valuable as fuel or as a source
of protein, but almost all are high in mineral salts and can supply
the "roughage" desirable in the diet. Some also contain the vitamines,
the leafy vegetables being especially valuable because, like milk,
they contain the two kinds. The "greens," leafy vegetables like
spinach, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, and lettuce, are the
ones that help most in these last ways--"protective foods," they have
been called. They are rich in the iron, calcium, and other minerals
that some of the other foods lack. The use of plenty of these
vegetables should go far toward keeping up health.
CANNING AND DRYING VEGETABLES AND FRUITS
The value of these foods both for the nation's health and for saving
staples applies just as much in winter as in summer. In war-time,
a winter supply, either stored, dried, or canned, takes on special
significance because of their substitute value if the supply of
staples runs critically low.
The canning industry, because it makes vegetables obtainable at all
times and places, has been of great importance in the health and
development of the country. Smith, in his "Commercial Geography," says
that "canning, more than any other invention since the introduction
of steam, has made possible the building up of towns and communities
beyond the bounds of varied production." A century or two ago, sailors
after a voyage of a year or two, almost always came home with scurvy.
Recently Nansen and his men drifted in the Arctic ice for years and
remained in good health, because of their supply of canned vegetables,
fruits, and meats.
The Government has not been slow in appreciating the need of canned
vegetables for the Army and Navy. It has commandeered about 25 per
cent of the canned beans, 12 per cent of the corn, and 18 per cent of
the tomatoes of the 1917 pack. Large amounts will be needed this year
also. Much of the 1918-19 supply for our troops in France is to be
canned in France, by arrangement with the French Government, thus
saving valuable shipping space.
Drying, or dehydrating, has long been known for beans, peas, and corn,
and for dates, prunes, figs, and raisins. But dried potatoes, beets,
carrots, and "soup mixtures" are more or less new. The drying, of
course, merely removes most of the water from the vegetable, and if
the process is properly carried out, soaking the vegetable in water
restores its original freshness.
The war, with the need for every ounce of food and the increasing
transportation difficulties, has brought the process into prominence.
The dehydrated products, if properly stored, seem to keep a long time.
Their saving in freight and shipping is plain, when it is remembered
that the fresh vegetables and fruits often contain over 90 per cent
water, and the dried from 8 per cent to 10 per cent. Ships are too
precious to be used for carrying unnecessary water. Our Government has
placed orders for several thousand tons of dehydrated potatoes for the
Army and may use other dried products as they can be obtained.
Canada has sent abroad within the past 3 years over 50 million
pounds of dehydrated vegetables, about two-thirds of which was the
vegetable-soup mixture and one-third dried sliced potatoes. When
reconstituted this would make about 400,000,000 pounds of vegetables.
Germany has been drying her vegetables and fruits far more than we. In
1917 she had over 2,000 commercial plants, and an elaborate system of
distributing all the available fresh material to the different plants
to avoid waste.
Individuals and communities with gardens or wherever fresh products
can be obtained should not be dependent upon commercial agencies.
AS FAR AS POSSIBLE EVERY FAMILY AND EVERY NEIGHBORHOOD SHOULD BE
SELF-SUPPORTING. HOME AND COMMUNITY CANNING AND DRYING ARE IMPORTANT
DUTIES. CAN AND DRY THE SURPLUS. STORE UP ENOUGH TO CARRY THROUGH THE
NEXT WINTER. FOLLOW EXPERT ADVICE AS TO METHODS. USE THE GREATEST CARE
TO PREVENT SPOILAGE. WHEREVER POSSIBLE UNITE WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS IN
COMMUNITY CANNERIES AND DRYERS SO THAT EVERY ONE CAN HAVE THE BENEFIT
OF THE BEST EQUIPMENT AND THE MOST SKILLED SUPERVISION.
A GREAT DEAL WAS DONE IN 1917; MILLIONS OF CANS WERE PUT UP AND GREAT
WASTE PREVENTED. BUT IN 1918 MORE MUST BE DONE. MORE VEGETABLES MUST
BE RAISED AND MORE MUST BE CANNED. A GREAT RESERVE FOR THE WINTER IS
MORE NECESSARY THAN EVER.
CONCLUSION
Almost a year of food control in this country has passed and the great
new experiment in democratic administration of the nation's food is
succeeding. The method of well-directed voluntary co-operation, much
more characteristic of our food control than of any other country's,
can be judged by its results to date. We have sent abroad six times
the wheat that we had believed was in the country for export. We have
exported vastly increased shipments of the other cereals, of beef and
pork, of fats and condensed milk. With Canada, we are supplying 50 per
cent of the Allies' food, instead of barely 5 per cent, as before the
war. Meanwhile our own population has been taken care of. No one has
gone hungry because of the shipments of food out of the country. The
price of the most important food, bread, has been kept stable--a new
experience in time of war.
These and others are great accomplishments, brought about through the
co-operation of the nation, BUT THEY ARE SLIGHT IN COMPARISON WITH
WHAT MUST STILL BE DONE. The huge resources for extra food production
and conservation have hardly been touched. The imagination is just
beginning to be stirred by the immensity of the whole undertaking and
the sacrifice required to win the war. Men, ammunition and food, in a
steadily increasing stream, must go across.
"OUR DUTY, IF WE ARE TO DO THIS GREAT THING AND SHOW AMERICA TO
BE WHAT WE BELIEVE HER TO BE--THE GREATEST HOPE AND ENERGY OF
THE WORLD--IS TO STAND TOGETHER NIGHT AND DAY UNTIL THE JOB IS
FINISHED."--PRESIDENT WILSON.
A FEW REFERENCES
American Academy of Political and Social Science. "World's Food."
Philadelphia, 1917. (_Annals of the American Academy_, November,
1917.)
Carter, Howe and Mason. "Nutrition and Clinical Dietetics."
Philadelphia, Lea & Febiger, 1918.
Holmes, A.D., and Lang, H.L. "Fats and Their Economical Use in the
Home." Washington, 1916. (Department of Agriculture Bulletin 469.)
Kellogg, Vernon, and Taylor, Alonzo E. "Food Problems." New York,
Macmillan, 1917.
Langworthy, C.F. "Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, and Other Starchy Roots as
Food." Washington, 1917. (Department of Agriculture Bulletin 468.)
Langworthy, C.F. "Eggs and Their Value as Food." Washington, 1917.
(Department of Agriculture Bulletin 471.)
Lusk, Graham. "Food in War Time." Philadelphia, Saunders, 1917.
Lusk, Graham. "Fundamental Basis of Nutrition." New Haven, Yale
University Press, 1915.
Mendel, Lafayette B. "Changes in Food Supply and Their Relation to
Nutrition." New Haven, Yale University Press, 1916.
Mendenhall, Dorothy R. "Milk." Washington, 1918. (_Children's Bureau_,
Publication 35.)
Rose, Mary Swartz. "Everyday Foods in War Time." New York, Macmillan,
1918.
Rose, Mary Swartz. "Feeding the Family." New York, Macmillan, 1917.
Sherman, Henry C. "Chemistry of Food and Nutrition." New York,
Macmillan, 1918.
Sherman, Henry C. "Food Products." New York, Macmillan, 1917.
Taylor, Alonzo E. "War Bread." New York, Macmillan, 1918.
The publications of the United States Department of Agriculture and
the United States Food Administration.
The United States Food Leaflets.
United States Department of Agriculture: Farmers' Bulletin 487.
"Cheese and Its Economical Uses in the Diet." C.F. Langworthy and
Caroline L. Hunt. 1917.
Farmers' Bulletin 565. "Corn as a Food and Ways of Using It." C.F.
Langworthy and Caroline L. Hunt, 1917.
Farmers' Bulletin 717. "Food for Young Children." Caroline L. Hunt,
1917.
Farmers' Bulletin 808. "What the Body Needs." Caroline L. Hunt and
Helen W. Atwater, 1917.
Farmers' Bulletin 817. "Cereal Foods." Caroline L. Hunt and Helen W.
Atwater, 1917.
Farmers' Bulletin 824. "Foods Rich in Protein." Caroline L. Hunt and
Helen W. Atwater, 1917.
Farmers' Bulletin 839. "Home Canning by the One-Period Cold-Pack
Method." O.H. Benson, 1917.
Farmers' Bulletin 841. "Drying Fruits and Vegetables in the Home."
Farmers' Bulletin 853. "Home Canning of Fruits and Vegetables." M.E.
Cresswell and Ola Powell, 1917.
Farmers' Bulletin 871. "Fresh Fruits and Vegetables as Conservers of
Other Staple Foods." Caroline L. Hunt, 1917.
Farmers' Bulletin 881. "Preservation of Vegetables by Fermentation and
Salting." L.A. Round and H.L. Lang, 1917.
INDEX
Agriculture, Department of.--Aids wheat production, 8; campaign for
increased use of milk, 53.
Austria.--Wheat-supply, 4; meat-supply, 20-30; sugar-supply, 45.
Banana flour as wheat substitute, 20.
Barley as wheat substitute, 19.
Beans.--Varieties, 56; as meat substitute, 57.
Belgium.--Wheat-supply, 2; meat-supply, 29; sugar-supply, 44; milk
supplied to children, 50.
Bread.--Advantages of wheat loaf, 22-23; bakers' bread regulated, 23;
conservation of, by housewives, 24-25; restrictions on use in Europe,
25-26; rationing not necessary in United States, 27.
Buckwheat as wheat substitute, 20.
Butter.--Consumption in England, 39; uneconomical way to use milk, 53.
Calorie defined, 10.
Candy.--Manufacturers restricted in use of sugar, 46.
Canning.--Sugar allowed for, 45-46; importance of industry, 60; urged
upon housewives for conservation, 61.
Cereals.--Defined, 10; food value, 12, 17; wide consumption of, 12-13.
Cheese.--Valuable protein food, 34; as meat substitute, 35-36; a use
for skim milk, 54.
Corn as wheat substitute, 17-18; why Allies can not use, 26-27.
Corn-syrup as sugar substitute, 46.
Cottonseed meal as wheat substitute, 20.
Cream.--Extravagant use of milk, 54.
Drying.--Process, 60; importance of, 61.
Eggs as meat substitute, 35.
England.--Wheat-supply, 2; restrictions concerning bread, 25-26;
meat-supply, 29; meat restrictions, 30-31; fat shortage, 39;
sugar-supply, 44; milk regulations, 50, 54; cultivation of soil,
55-56.
Fats.--Food value, 37-38; shortage in Europe, 39; resources and
exports of United States, 40-41; necessity for conservation, 41.
Feterita as wheat substitute, 20.
Fifty-fifty rule, 16-17.
Fish as meat substitute, 35.
Flour.--Manufacture of, 14-15; 74 per cent extraction allowed, 15;
consumption cut by licensing millers, 15; by fifty-fifty rule, 16-17.
Food Administration.--Takes control of wheat business, 6, 8; licenses
millers, 15; licenses bakers, 23-24; regulates sugar prices, 46-47;
aids increased use of milk, 53; achievements in year of existence, 62.
Foods.--Importance of different kinds, 10-11.
France.--Wheat-supply, 1-2; bread regulations, 26; meat-supply, 29;
meat regulations, 31-32; sugar-supply, 44; sugar restrictions, 45;
production of fruit and vegetables, 56.
Fruit.--As sugar substitute, 46, 58; food value, 58-59; conservation
of, by canning and drying, 59-61.
Garbage conservation, 41.
Gardens.--See Production.
Germany.--Wheat-supply, 3-4; meat-supply, 20-30; meat restrictions,
32; fat shortage, 40; sugar restrictions, 45; conservation of food by
drying, 61.
Gluten.--Importance in bread, 22-23.
Graham flour.--Manufacture, 14; inferiority to wheat, 15.
Grain corporation, controls wheat trade, 6, 8.
Honey as sugar substitute, 46.
Hotels and restaurants.--Regulations in use of bread, 24.
Ice-cream.--Manufacturers restricted in use of sugar, 46.
Italy.--Restrictions on macaroni, 25; bread rations, 26; meat-supply,
29; sugar-supply, 44.
Jam as substitute for butter, 58.
Kaffir as wheat substitute, 20.
Legumes.--See Beans, Peanuts, Peas.
Macaroni.--Restrictions in manufacture of in Italy, 25; not a wheat
substitute, 25.
Maple-syrup as sugar substitute, 46.
Margarine.--Use in England, 39.
Meat.--Shortage in Europe, 28-32; exports from United States, 32-33;
consumption, 33-34; food value, 34-35.
Meat extenders, vegetables as, 57.
Meat substitutes, 35-36; vegetables as, 57.
Milk.--As meat substitute, 36; necessity for children, 49-50; shortage
in Europe, 50; food value, 51-52; supply in United States, 52-53;
economical uses of, 53-54.
Milk, condensed.--Use in Europe, 50; amount exported from United
States, 54.
Milo as wheat substitute, 20.
Molasses as sugar substitute, 46.
Nuts as meat substitutes, 36.
Oats as wheat substitute, 19.
Oils, vegetable.--Use in Germany, 40; supply in United States, 40-41;
as substitute for animal fats, 41.
Peanut flour as wheat substitute, 20.
Peanuts as meat substitute, 36.
Peas as meat substitute, 56.
Potato flour as wheat substitute, 20.
Potatoes as wheat substitute, 20, 57-58.
Poultry as meat substitute, 35.
Production.--Decreased in France, 1-2; of cereals doubled in England,
2; of vegetables in England and America, 55.
Protein.--Defined, 11; amount necessary in diet, 34-35.
Rationing: Austria.--Sugar, 45.
Rationing: England.--Bread not rationed, 26; meat, 30-31; fats, 39;
sugar, 45.
Rationing: France.--Bread, 26; meat, 31; sugar, 45.
Rationing: Germany.--Meat, 32; fats, 40; sugar, 45.
Rationing: Italy.--Bread, 26; meat, 32.
Rationing: U.S.--Voluntary wheat ration, 25; reasons for not
introducing system, 27.
Rice.--Chief diet in India, 13; as wheat substitute, 19-20.
Roumania.--Wheat-supply, 4; meat-supply, 29.
Russia.--Wheat-supply, 4.
Rye, as wheat substitute, 19.
Shipping.--Necessity for saving, 5; released by decreased use of
sugar, 46.
Soy bean flour as wheat substitute, 20.
Substitutes.--See Meat, Sugar, Wheat substitutes.
Sugar.--Consumption in United States, 42; shortage, 42, 44-45;
restrictions on, 45-46; price regulated, 46-47; conservation of,
47-48.
Sugar substitutes, 46, 58.
Tapioca flour as wheat substitute, 20.
United States: Exports.--Wheat, 5-6; meat, 33; fat, 40-41; sugar,
44-45; milk, 54.
Vegetables.--Importance in conservation, 55; production of, 56; as
meat substitute, 36, 56-57; as wheat substitute, 20, 57-58; as sugar
substitute, 58; food value, 58-59; conservation of by canning and
drying, 50-61.
Victory bread, 24.
Vitamines.--Defined, 11; in fats, 38; in milk, 52; in fruit and
vegetables, 59.
War bread.--See Flour, Victory bread, Wheat substitutes.
Wheat.--Necessity in war, 1; shortage in Europe, 1-4; distribution a
problem, 4-5; supply and exports of United States, 5-6; controlled by
United States Grain Corporation, 6, 8; conservation of by individuals,
8-9.
Wheat substitutes.--Corn, 18-19; oats, 19; barley, 19; rye, 19; rice,
20; miscellaneous, 20; keeping quality, 20-21; vegetables, 57-58.