Fish. Roast Beef. Liver and Bacon.
Greens and Potatoes.
Rhubarb Tart. Cabinet Pudding.
"If these menus reappear in the same order or connection it will be
at a very distant date. The aim is to supply all the kinds of food
necessary, and in a form the girls like. Pies, stews, and rissoles are
great favorites, stews being the chief. This is fortunate, because a
dish of stew of any kind is rich in fat and protein, and if vegetables
are added it becomes rich in salts too. The girls state each day at
dinner which meat they wish for, and they help themselves to greens and
potatoes. If they want a second helping of meat they can have it, but
it is an unwritten law that they must finish all they take. It is also
understood that if a girl does not eat her dinner she is not fit for
afternoon school. This rule prevents elder girls getting the foolish
notion that it is not 'nice' to have a good appetite.
"Cookery is part of the curriculum, so that sooner or later every
girl learns the importance of food, and that it is useless to try to
'make bricks without straw'--in fact, the dinners are a practical
illustration of the teaching in the cookery room."
The notion that it is not "nice" for a girl to have a good appetite
is not so common as it used to be. Now that we know the importance of
appetite to proper digestion this notion seems criminal as well as
silly, and should be denounced as such in all schools where it may seem
necessary.
Like some of the Continental countries, England now also has traveling
cooking schools. According to educational Blue Books issued in August,
1912, the record for the teaching of domestic science in 1910-11
included under the head of cookery 327,526 scholars. Concerning the
traveling schools we read with reference to the North:
"The county authority have provided a traveling van as a center
for cookery teaching throughout the country districts. The van is
practically a movable room, carefully planned, with satisfactory
arrangements, and has so far answered admirably.
"The van remains for four weeks at each school visited, and where two
classes of girls can be provided, lessons are given both morning and
afternoon on each day. It is used as a center for classes formed from
other schools (if any) within walking distance. When the van was at
Sutton some girls walked two to three miles, but made no difficulty
about the distance. The teacher is usually besieged by applications
to admit older girls--and even women--to the classes. Housewifery is
now taught as well as cookery. The van makes a pleasant little room,
and the girls enjoy their work and do it very well. The North Riding
authority have now built a second van, which is already in use."
Norfolk has a teacher who remains in a village for a fortnight, the
children attending classes in a convenient kitchen of a farmhouse,
adapted club-room, barn, &c., all day and every day during the
fortnight.
The inspectors show that already the influence of these classes has had
a reflex in the homes.