FOODS OF THE FOREIGN-BORN In Relation to Health BY BERTHA M. WOOD Dietitian, Food Clinic, Boston Dispensary WITH A FOREWARD BY MICHAEL M. DAVIS, JR. WHITCOMB & BARROWS BOSTON, 1922 Copyright, 1922 By Whitcomb & Barrows MADE IN U.S.A. PREFACE THE purpose of the study which resulted in the collection of the enclosed material was to compare the foods of other peoples with that of the Americans in relation to health. The inspiration for the work came at the request of Mr. Michael M. Davis, Jr. A deep sense of appreciation is felt toward many friends and fellow workers who very kindly coöperated. Acknowledgment is here given to a large number of men and women of different nationalities for their patience and help in teaching the recipes which had to be made many times before the measurements were standardized. Mrs. Mary L. Schapiro's article, "Jewish Dietary Problems," was of great value in making the study of Jewish food habits. Many thanks are due to Miss Minnie Newman, of the Foreign Department of the National Young Women's Christian Association, for much information secured in relation to both the Polish and Hungarian diets. To all others who from time to time added valuable information, this piece of work is gratefully dedicated. BERTHA M. WOOD. BOSTON, December, 1921. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE FOREWORD. . . . . . . . . . vii I. DIETARY BACKGROUNDS . . . . . . . 1 II. MEXICANS . . . . . . . . . 6 III. PORTUGUESE . . . . . . . . . 13 IV. ITALIANS . . . . . . . . . 18 V. HUNGARIANS . . . . . . . . . 39 VI. POLES AND OTHER SLAVIC PEOPLES . . . . . 49 VII. THE NEAR EAST: ARMENIANS, SYRIANS, TURKS, AND GREEKS . . . 65 VIII. JEWS . . . . . . . . . . 82 IX.APPLICATIONS . . . . . . . . 96 Portions of Chapters I, IV, VI, VII, VIII, IX, were published in "Immigrant Health and the Community," by Michael M. Davis, Jr., Harper and Brothers, New York, to whom acknowledgment is here made. FOREWARD A FAMOUS doctor has referred to this medical age as having witnessed "the passing of pills and powders." Although the patent medicine advertisements in newspapers and magazines seem to belie the remark, yet the fact remains that physicians nowadays give less medicine to their patients than formerly and pay much more attention to hygiene, diet, and occupation, both as therapeutic agents in curing disease and as factors in maintaining the individual in the best of health and at a high level of working efficiency. Of these personal and environmental factors affecting the hygiene of life and the physical efficiency of the individual, food ranks among the first. The physician, the public health nurse, the social worker, must deal at every turn with problems of diet. These present themselves in economic form when the income of a family is so low as to make adequate nourishment difficult, even with very careful selection of foods. The problem presents itself in a medical form in the treatment of many diseased conditions: diabetes, nephritis, tuberculosis, "malnutrition," constipation, etc. Thus the dietitian has entered the area of medical and public health service as an aid to the physician and as an agent in the curing of disease and the maintenance of health. In this capacity the dietitian has entered the hospital, the clinic, and the homes of patients. Books have been written and courses are given for the training of dietitians for such service, but to a large extent the dietitian, the physician, public health nurse, and social worker have approached the problem of diet merely from the standpoint of foods, food elements, and food values. The approach needs also to be made from the standpoint of the persons who are to be fed. The patient's food habits, his tastes, inherited or acquired, are often vital considerations because the practical question in securing results is often not what diet the person needs, but what diet he can get or will take. Knowing the technique of adapting diets to individual needs in terms of food elements, calories, mineral content, vitamines, etc., is essential; knowing the technique of adapting the diet in terms of the patient's food habits and financial circumstances is no less so. From this point of view the physician, the nurse, the social worker, and the dietitian must study people as well as dietetic technique. The contribution made by Miss Wood in this book is to the study of people in relation to diet: people, in those large groups which we call nations or races, aggregations of individuals who for historical reasons have acquired certain physical and psychological characteristics in common, and among them similar tastes and habits of diet. In the melting pot of America these food habits too often conflict rather than fuse or evaporate. The changing of food habits among adults is not an easy process, as any reader will realize if he faces radical changes in the things he habitually eats and likes. To know the characteristic foods of the foreign-born, the food flavors, food habits, of each of the chief races of immigrants found in this country, is an essential part of the knowledge which should be possessed by the physician, the public health nurse, the social worker, and the dietitian who deal with these newcomers in America. In the present book Miss Wood opens the door to this knowledge in an interesting as well as a practical way. Her initial study, undertaken in connection with the Americanization Study supported by the Carnegie Corporation, was included as a chapter in the writer's "Immigrant Health and the Community." We owe to the courtesy of Harper & Brothers, the publishers of that volume, the privilege of reprinting a considerable portion of that material in this book, amid the very considerable additions which Miss Wood's further investigations have brought. MICHAEL M. DAVIS, JR. NEW YORK CITY, December 15, 1921. DIETARY BACKGROUNDS MOST of our friends from other countries come to America in the very cheapest way, and are unaccustomed to travel. They leave home with many of their cooking utensils in a cloth bag and continue their housekeeping on shipboard in the steerage, feeding their children and themselves from stores brought from home. Almost their first thought on landing is of something to eat, and this fact places food in the first rank of importance in our plans for Americanization. Their first impression of America is often gained in a poorly-housed restaurant, whose proprietor is of their own nationality. From him they learn where to get some of their native foods, both raw and cooked. Usually they establish their homes in neighborhoods or colonies of their own nationality. Here there is no opportunity to know about American foods, raw or in combination, or the kind and amount of foods needed in a day's dietary under the new living conditions. If they have come from countries in which the climate is very different from this, they make no change in diet; or if their occupation here is more strenuous or less taxing, they do not take this into consideration. They have always eaten certain kinds of foods, prepared in certain ways. Why change? There is no one to tell them; no one to tell them which of theirs to keep, and which of this country's to adopt, or how to prepare them. They are probably more willing on their arrival than they will be at any later time to accept American help and suggestions. Their housing conditions are changed--their style of clothing must be changed; many of their social customs, as well as some of their religious ideals, must be given up; the only habit and custom which can be preserved in its entirety is their diet. This is made possible because they find in America, as in no other country, all their native raw food materials. All human beings are naturally gifted with more or less ability, when occasion requires, to prepare food for themselves. This aptitude does not necessarily help them to adjust their diet to new conditions. They are willing to learn, but who will teach them? Who knows their food? How many and which ones shall they continue to use to meet their daily needs and their new financial condition and responsibilities? Where shall they buy them? Even the dishes to cook in are of a different type. Which kind produces the familiar results? There is much that we may learn from these people and, equally much for them to learn from us with profit. If we then study their customs and acquaint ourselves more and more with their foods, we shall not only broaden our own diet by the introduction of new and interesting dishes, but also we shall be better able to help these foreign-born to adjust themselves to new conditions with as few changes as possible. During the influenza epidemic of 1918 it was plainly demonstrated that neither district nurses, settlement workers, nor visiting dietitians knew much about the foods of the foreign-born patients. Gallons of American soups and broths were served to these people, only to be untouched and thrown out. This came at a time when diet might have meant much in furnishing resistance to the disease. In our hospitals and dispensaries we usually find only American foods prescribed for diets. Often it has been said, "They should learn to eat American foods if they are to live here." Whether we all agree with this or not, at least we agree that when a person is ill and needs a special diet, it is no time to teach him to eat new foods. It is like hitting a person when he is down. Our milk soups are nutritious, but so are theirs; why not learn what they are and prescribe them? The same is true of other foods. It is much easier for the dietitian to learn the foods of the foreign-born than for these people to adjust their finances to a new dietary. Often their income is insufficient to buy their own foods, which they know they like. Can we wonder that they hesitate to invest in food about which they are uncertain? There are certain diseases prevalent among the foreign-born people which are due largely to their change of diet. If this is corrected, it may overcome the disease. A Bohemian family of father, mother, and six children, who were patients at a dispensary, were living (or staying here) on an income of twelve to sixteen dollars a week. It was necessary to get milk and cereals into the diet of the children, but who, without a knowledge of Bohemian foods, dare disturb that very limited amount of the income which was available for food? An Italian printer earns seventeen dollars a week. In his family are seven children, the oldest a boy of eleven. Barbara, five years old, was very bow-legged, and had to have her legs broken to straighten them. Three younger children were sent to a dispensary food clinic for diet to prevent their being bow-legged. It was necessary to have not less than two and a half quarts of milk added to their food each day. The income was too small to allow for this, so the man got extra work at night to pay for the milk. This shows that they are willing to go at least halfway in changing diet habits. In the chapters which follow a brief account is given, for several important nationalities or race groups, of the conditions and dietary habits of the people in their own country, and then of their food problems here, with special reference to health. Reference is made to some diseases in which diet is a factor and which are most frequently noted among the group by physicians, nurses, and social workers. Diets and recipes for these diseases are given for each nationality. These recipes are made from our American raw materials, and many of them resemble our dishes so closely that only slight changes are necessary in our recipes to produce a welcome diet for these people. In printing these recipes no attempt has been made to force them into cook book English. Many carry their national atmosphere in the expressions used. A dietitian has never been so honored, in college or out, as she will be by these foreign-born people when once she talks to them of their familiar foods. An Armenian storekeeper found a fellow-countryman, a chef in an Armenian restaurant, who was suffering from indigestion. He said to him: "You come with me. I take you to the smartest woman you ever knew. She knows our foods; she tell you what to eat; you feel better." The recipes have not been worked out in calories or grams, as this can readily be done by the dietitian when necessary to fit specific needs. Because it might be that the same dish could be served with very little change, lowering the fat content, increasing the protein, or lessening the carbohydrate, as the case might require, it is unwise to figure them in advance. To meet the foreign-born taste, the principal requirement is to give the flavor; any nurse or dietitian can measure the amount in calories or grams when she once knows the materials and how to combine them. MEXICANS MEXICANS have settled in some of the best fields of California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Idaho. They are not a people who love academic work, but they enjoy any educational training which develops the use of their hands. Their interest lies largely in music, flowers, and the arts. Mexicans who live in the rural sections, on farms or ranches, are not naturally migratory. They remain in the same locality or in the same communities more permanently than any other nationality. They are especially desired where irrigation farming is necessary, because they are very skillful at this kind of farming, many of them having been well trained in old Mexico. Most of them live in houses on the farms and pay a per acre rent, although there are some who pay a percentage of the grains. Many live in the smaller villages, leaving their families there and going to work by the day on ranches. This bears a definite likeness to the French system. They live in groups, going out to work small sections during the day and returning to the village at night. They pay rent for their small houses in the villages, although some own the small tracts of land on which they live; and the men and the older sons take care of these, or leave them to the care of their wives while they themselves work by the day on larger ranches in the neighborhood. To look at their homes, one would think that they were decidedly unsanitary. This is not necessarily so, but depends almost entirely upon the water supply. Most of the water comes from private wells in rural sections, and if the wells are shallow, the quality of the water is questionable. The people crowd into their small houses, and often there is a deplorable lack of window space. Fortunately, the shacks are only one story high and are not close together, even in the villages. The life is an outdoor one; doors are almost always left open, and it is doubtful if the housing conditions have much to do with their ill health. Infant mortality is always high among the Mexicans in both city and rural districts, and this is no doubt entirely a matter of feeding and bathing. Most babies are breast-fed, especially during the first few months, but in addition to the milk, Mexican mothers generally insist on feeding the children heavier foods as soon as they will begin to take them. Very small infants are taught to eat frijoles or beans, and when the melons begin to ripen, the babies are stuffed with cantaloupes and watermelons. During the summer, and especially during the hottest months, infant mortality increases by leaps and bounds. If the babies can be put on milk diets under the care of a visiting nurse, they seem to do quite well, although it is necessary for the nurse to repeat her instructions many times. There has been distinct improvement in the housing conditions in El Paso, and to some degree in other cities also, during recent years. A few years ago the Mexicans were living in crowded, small, adobe houses of one room only, sometimes with no windows at all, and only the door to admit light. In one instance eighty tenants lived in one block, the entire block being filled, leaving nothing but an alleyway which was not used. The houses were a miscellaneous lot of shacks, with one toilet for the entire block and no water in any of the houses. One hydrant in the alleyway furnished water to all. There are still undesirable places, and many of the houses lack proper window space and toilet facilities. Almost none of the houses in which Mexicans live have bathrooms, but plans are under way to provide a system of public baths, which will probably be better than having bathrooms that would not be used. There is one small public bath, which is almost always crowded with Mexican boys. As the Mexicans live almost entirely in one-story houses, part of which are of brick and part of adobe, the housing problem should not be a serious one, as there are few elements of danger. There are only a few tenement houses, which are of two and three stories. Small houses tend to scatter the population, although, of course, they may be crowded in the single rooms. The people are responsive to right treatment, although suspicious, but not necessarily unstable. Their suspicious nature handicaps efforts to get their coöperation. They are responsive only to the degree that they understand the motives. The prevalent idea is that Mexicans are very deceitful. This may be so if their suspicions are aroused; otherwise they are no more deceitful than any other nationality. They are extremely courteous, and in their way coöperative. With regard to their food, Mexicans eat beans, rice, potatoes, peas, and all sorts of vegetables. The chili, or pepper, is often considered a sacred plant which furnishes health to those who eat it. Therefore it is found in many of their dishes. They still prepare their food largely as they did in Mexico. To write fully about it and its preparation would require many pages. In brief, however, ever, they eat less meat than Americans eat, and generally it is mixed with vegetables and well cooked. When not too highly seasoned, Mexican dishes are very tasty. During the winter, when vegetables are scarce, their food is limited almost entirely to beans, rice, and potatoes, using a little meat when they can afford it. Such a diet abounds in starch and has too little protein and mineral matters, thereby causing stomach troubles of all kinds. In some ways, however, their foods are superior to ours, and by making adjustments, if they do not acquire some of our bad habits, there ought to come from their dietary a sensible, economical, and nourishing group of foods. Only lack of variety and the use of hot flavors keep their food from being superior to that of most Americans. Undernourished and malnourished children are frequently found in Mexican families. They are served with the same foods as the adults, foods highly spiced, with a large amount of fat added, or corn meal fried in fat. Bland foods are quite unknown in their dietary. Chicken, chicken soup with rice, vegetables, fruits and cereals, with milk and eggs, are good foods for the children. Clean milk, however, is not always easy to procure. Rice and oatmeal are the cereals most commonly used. These are boiled in water, with milk added when nearly done. They are eaten as a thick gruel instead of with cold milk poured over them as we have them. Nephritis cases, in general, must have foods containing less spice and salt. The diabetic must be furnished with dishes that have no rice in them. This is difficult, as rice is used in many combinations with other foods. When the Mexicans intermarry with Americans, the result of the cross dietary is that often there is double the amount of fat taken at a meal by the American. The Mexicans put their fat into the food, while the American puts his on the food. Therefore if he eats bread and butter, or potatoes with butter and green peppers fried in oil and rice, he is getting more fat than a Mexican would get. He would eat his bread without butter, and would not eat potato and butter with peppers and rice. As the Mexicans come north or intermarry, it would be better for the children and adults to learn to eat the simpler foods of the American people, boiled or baked, with less spice and fat. Any nurse or dietitian can persuade them to use cereals or baked or boiled fish and meats and vegetables, if they gradually reduce the amount of tomato or pepper for flavor until it becomes a bland dish, easier to digest and not harmful to the kidneys. RECIPES Chicken Soup 1 chicken 4 cups water 1 green pepper 1/2 cup rice 2 tablespoons salt Cut up chicken and boil in salted water with chopped green pepper. When chicken is done, remove and add rice to liquid. Cook until soft. Baked Chicken and Rice Make as Chicken Soup, adding chicken, cut in dice, to rice drained from soup. Brown in oven. Hot Milk Soup Put into kettle two cups of milk. Add one tablespoon of allspice. Serve hot. This is usually drunk from a cup or bowl. Stuffed Peppers 6 green peppers 1 tin sardines, 4 1/4 ounces 1 cup fresh bread crumbs 1 tablespn. grated cheese 1/4 cup tomato sauce Salt Cut peppers in half, lengthwise, and remove stem and seeds, so as to leave peppers boat shape. Wash well and pour boiling water over them, and let stand till cold. Bone the sardines and rub to a paste. Add the bread crumbs and cheese, mix well, and moisten with tomato sauce. Season highly with salt. Fill the halves of peppers, place in a greased baking dish, pour tomato sauce or soup over them, and bake in moderate oven till peppers are tender. Remove peppers, and thicken and season the liquid in the dish to serve with them. Eggs 6 eggs 2 onions 2 green peppers 1 teaspoon chopped parsley 3 tomatoes, or 1 cup thick canned tomatoes 1 tablespoon butter Remove seeds from peppers and pour boiling water over them. Let stand till cold. Chop fine the onions, peppers, and tomatoes, and cook five minutes in the butter. Add parsley, and season highly with salt and pepper. Use this sauce to serve over the eggs fried. Rice Make a sauce as directed above; add two cups boiled rice to it, with a little water, and let cook till most of the water is absorbed. To Prepare Chili Peppers Remove seeds from the pods. If dried, soak in one pint of warm water till soft. Scrape the pulp from the skin and discard the skins. Use the pulp and water. Chili Con Carne 2 pounds round steak 2 tablespoons fat 4 tablespoons flour 1 clove of garlic 4 chili peppers Salt Cut the steak in small squares and cook in hot fat till well browned. Add the flour, garlic sliced, and the chili pulp prepared as below (or use green or red peppers and season with cayenne ). Let simmer about two hours, adding more water if necessary. Season to taste with salt. Tamales 15 dried corn husks 1 onion and garlic 1/2 pound pork meat 2 cups hominy 4 teaspoons cornstarch 2 teaspoons salt 25 almonds 1 cup raisins 4 teaspoons lard 3 1/2 cups hot water 2 teaspoons baking powder 3 teaspoons red pepper 2 tablespns. peanut butter Take the hominy and corn starch and mix with salt, baking powder, and hot lard. Add the hot water and beat it with a spoon until it makes a soft, light dough, and let it stand for fifteen minutes. Put your pork in hot water and salt and cook it until it is quite done. Add the peanut butter, onion and garlic, raisins and almonds, and let it cook until it is thick. Take the large corn husk and spread the dough with a spoon. Then put on a spoonful of the sauce and cover it with some more of the dough. Then fold it in the husk, and when you have fixed in that way all your dough and sauce, steam it for twenty-five minutes. PORTUGUESE MOST of the Portuguese in this country come to us from the Azores or Western Islands, only a small proportion coming from Portugal. We have grown to know them in their homeland much better since the war, as at that time we used Delgada, the capital of the island of Saint Michael as a coaling station. The Portuguese are among the most gifted city builders in the world. They do not plan for efficiency, as the Americans or French would do, but have a gift for tucking a sense of beauty into every little corner of a town. In this they are hard to rival. The natural environment of these island people is a sparkling cluster of white houses, dashed here and there with spots of vermilion, blue, and lavender, and flanked on either side by an ancient fortress, with no sooty railroad yard or fuming factory visible to mar the loveliness. Even their row boats are artistic. As one approaches the shore one notices the striking beauty, the wonderfully graceful lines, and the charming decorations of the boats dotting the shore line. From the boat landings of the port cities on the several islands of Saint Michael, Angra, Madeira, and the northerly island of Terceira, the streets usually radiate up the hills like the ribs of a jeweled fan. The public markets occupy whole squares, located among the cross streets. These are tempting places, with their stalls of melons, bananas, pineapples, eggs, squashes, tomatoes (both red and yellow), meat, fish, and the brown potatoes (two or three times the size of the largest American ones), with splashes of sunlight and shade giving cheer and inspiration to the most depressed mind. The fuel burned is cedar, and through the streets floats its evanescent fragrance. The few Portuguese who come to us from Portugal have had the same surroundings. Even Lisbon is as romantic and full of color as the island towns and cities. The whole environment of these people has avoided the grimy, sordid, commonplaceness of the neighborhoods into which they come in America. In the old country, the chief pursuits of the people are fishing and gardening; over here they usually locate in a seaport, but these occupations become only their recreation, with often very little of that. In America, most of them work indoors in the big mills. Their diet, too, has changed; not because a new one has been thoughtfully planned to fit the need, but because foods are too expensive. Fruit and vegetables are not grown near at hand, and therefore cost more. Fish, too, is three times the price paid in the islands. There are few goats in the city neighborhoods into which they come. Their cooked foods have much the same flavor as those of the Mexicans. Spices and peppers are freely used, their favorite spices being allspice and mace. When the income is sufficient, the children's food is easily planned for. They are fond of fruits and vegetables, as well as of cereals. If they were born here, they enjoy milk; but if they were brought up on goats' milk in the homeland, they must be taught to like the flavor of cows' milk. They like eggs, and chowders and soups are used freely. This helps in the care of underweight or tuberculous children and adults. All nephritic patients must be warned against the frequent use of salt fish and many kinds of spices. Hypotension cases, also, are difficult to treat, as they have been in the habit of using various kinds of salt fish as well as irritating spices. RECIPES Hot Milk Drink 1 cup milk 1 stick cinnamon Heat one cup of milk with a stick of cinnamon in it. When hot, remove cinnamon stick and serve. Can be served cold. Egg Milk 1 cup milk 1 egg 1 stick cinnamon 2 tablespoons sugar Prepare milk and cinnamon as above. Beat egg and sugar together. When milk is hot, add to egg and serve hot. Chicken Soup 1 chicken 4 cups water 1/2 cup rice 2 tablespoons salt 1 teaspoon sweet mace Cut up chicken and boil in water until done. Remove chicken and skim off fat; add rice and salt. Cook until done, then add water and mace. Beef Stew 2 pounds stew meat 2 tablespoons drippings 4 potatoes 2 onions 1 tablespoon vinegar 2 tomatoes 1 teaspoon allspice 4 cloves 2 tablespoons salt 3 cups water Cut up onions. Put drippings in kettle and add onions. When brown, add other ingredients, and cook until meat is tender. Roast Meat 6 pounds beef, pork, or lamb 1 clove of garlic 3 onions 2 tablespoons salt 2 green peppers 4 tomatoes 1 tablespoon mace 1/2 cup vinegar 1 teaspoon black pepper Rub meat with salt, mace, and pepper. Pour vinegar over it and let stand over night, or four hours. Cut up peppers, onions, and tomatoes. Place meat in roasting pan, cover with the vegetables, and roast until meat is tender, basting every fifteen minutes with vegetables. Boiled Fish 4 or 5 pounds haddock 2 tablespoons vinegar 2 tablespoons salt 1 green pepper 1 clove of garlic 1 onion 2 tomatoes 4 cloves Clean fish and spread open. Cover with salt, vinegar, spices, and vegetables. Add two cups of water, and simmer until fish is done. The fish may be roasted in a pan. Fish Chowder 4 or 5 pounds haddock 2 quarts water 2 tablespoons drippings 4 potatoes 3 onions 2 teaspoons mace Cut up fish, cook in water, and remove bones. Save water in which fish was cooked, and cook potatoes and onions in it. Add mace and serve. No milk is used. Boiled Potatoes with Mace Boil potatoes until soft. Drain and add mace until potatoes are nicely coated. Serve hot with drawn butter, or meat or fish gravy. Boiled or Baked Custard This will be eaten if flavored with mace instead of vanilla. Bread Corn breads are generally used, made with baking powder or raised with yeast. ITALIANS ITALY has a climate much like that of California, which gives the people a long farming season, but in the hottest part of the summer, in Southern Italy, very little work is done during the middle of the day. Wheat, corn, and other cereals, vegetables, fruit, chickens, sheeps' and goats' milk constitute the food products of the farm. Some have a greater variety than others, depending on the ambition and aggressiveness of the farmer. The Italians make their own cheese from goats' milk; they lay in a store of dried peppers and strings of garlic for the winter, and they make enough tomato paste to last during the season. Here and there one finds olives raised for family use. These are pickled, both ripe and green, and are used not only as a relish, but cooked with macaroni or, in Northern Italy, with corn meal. The Italians who come to America are the peasants or land workers. They are heavily taxed at home, and almost no educational opportunities are provided for their children. Taxes are heavy, ready money is scarce, and saving is a slow process. The needs of the family are supplied from the farms direct, or by exchange with neighbors. Italians may be divided into three groups: those from Northern Italy; those from Central Italy; and the seacoast group--the Sicilians and those living on the shores of the Adriatic. The northern group know as little about the foods of the central and seacoast groups as they do of their dialects, and vice versa. The Italians from the northern provinces use stronger drinks than wine, both at and between meals. Their diet consists of black coffee for adults, goats' milk for children, and bread without butter for breakfast. The bread is heavy and made of wheat, which is home grown and ground. It is dark in color, because the wheat is not put through any refining process. The bread is made in large, round loaves, or in oblong pieces, and is baked on the bottom of the oven, without being placed in tins. Oftentimes it is baked on the stones in one side of an open fireplace, or out-of-doors on heated stones. This gives a heavy crust on all sides. The midday meal is not considered an important one, as the men are out in the fields during the farming season, which lasts from early spring till late fall. Often the women are with them, helping them with the work. Sometimes they take along bread, cheese, and coffee; sometimes a piece of sausage. If they return to the house they have bread, fried eggs, and black coffee. The important meal is served at the end of the day, preparation for which is generally started early in the morning. The black pot is put over the fire, and into this is put a small amount of meat or some beans. Their variety of the latter is so great, they can use a different kind each day if they wish. Later they add vegetables, then macaroni, and last fat, either lard or olive oil. Polenta may be started in this same black iron pot. This to us is a thick corn meal mush, to which is added tomato paste or ripe tomatoes. Sometimes they change it by adding grated cheese, or bits of pork and garlic. It is eaten hot; or, if allowed to cool, is then sliced and fried in olive oil. This is eaten with bread and butter. Proceeding south in Italy, one finds the use of alcohol decreasing and more wine used at meals and on social occasions, accompanied by cakes. The food produced in Central Italy is not very different from that of the north. It is raised more abundantly, however, as the farming season is longer. Fruits and vegetables are produced in quantity, and the poorest people have them in abundance. Very little meat is used; it is served not more than once a week in some families, and in others on festive occasions only. Here again we find the many kinds of pasta, or macaroni, used in combination with different vegetables, garlic, and oil. When bread is eaten with it, no butter accompanies it. The peasants use very little pastry or cake except on feast days; then they are elaborate--such as Gateau Margherita, made with ten eggs and the whites of five more, butter, flour, and almond flavoring. In the frosting of cakes the Italians exercise all their artistic ability, beautifying and ornamenting them. It is because of the expense and the unusual amount of time and work required to make them that pastries are not used oftener. Fruit takes their place in the everyday diet of the people. Goats furnish milk for the family. The children drink it, and the surplus is used for cheeses of various kinds. Thus we see that the people of Northern and Central Italy have a very well-balanced diet in their own country, with protein from milk, cheese, eggs, and meat; carbohydrates from macaroni in various forms and from bread; mineral matter from fruits and vegetables; and fat from olive oil, lard, and pork. From the milk, vegetables, and egg yolks they derive vitamines to promote growth and repair tissue. It is difficult to measure their daily food in calories, as they generally have a one-dish meal, prepared in a large kettle from which each one helps himself, eating until he is satisfied. The occupation of the southern Italians outside the cities is fishing. Some are engaged in the sponge fisheries, others in coral fishing, while the largest proportion are fishing for food. As a result, the seacoast people have a more varied diet than the other two groups. Fish of many kinds, including shellfish, are added to their daily menus; these ranging from snails--the smallest variety--to ink fish, one of the largest. Snails are sometimes combined with rice or macaroni. They are put into cold water and left to soak out of their shells, then the shells are taken out and the water turned off, leaving the snail meats in the bottom of the dish. These are scooped out and mixed with the macaroni to which may have been added garlic, green or red peppers or tomatoes, for the southern Italians are fond of more highly seasoned food than the other two groups. All small fish are boiled, baked or fried in olive oil, and served with a tomato sauce to which garlic and green peppers have been added. Generally one can tell from what part of Italy a family have come if one knows the foods they are using. The diet of the Italians in the cities is more expensive and varied than that of the people in the rural districts. Incomes are larger and transportation brings food materials from all parts of Italy, from Northern Africa, and even from America. These people use more pastry and cake. Afternoon tea is always accompanied by cakes, and light wine is served with small cakes. Throughout Italy the variety of foods is more limited in the winter than in the summer, as the people have little knowledge of preserving fruits and vegetables, except the making of tomato paste, the pickling of peppers, cucumbers and olives, and the drying of peppers and garlic. On the arrival of the Italians in the United States, they readily find friends and neighbors from their own section of the home country. They establish their homes near; and from the different foods carried in the markets, it may be determined from what locality the people came. Macaroni is not only imported, but is also manufactured in this country. There are Indian meal for their polenta, meat and fish in abundance, and plenty of vegetables and fruits of various kinds, but everything is much more expensive than at home. The Italian laborer here is paid larger wages; he handles more money than in Italy, but with the joy of this comes the realization that it costs more to live. At home he had a garden and never had to count the cost of vegetables or fruit; here he has no garden and is amazed at market prices. The most important food that is missing from the Italian diet in this country is milk. Herds of goats and cows, with their calves, are not driven around our streets from door to door to furnish the day's supply of milk for a few cents, as is done in some cities of Italy. No great effort was necessary there to have milk; goats were inexpensive, both in first cost and in their maintenance; cows were always kept on a farm if goats were not, and the more well-to-do often have both. These animals were considered as much a part of the place as the grapevines and fruit trees. In this country it is an effort to get milk, and it has to be planned for. As it is usually considered a drink rather than a food, the food is bought first, then if any money is left, and usually there is not much, it is used for milk. More meat can be had than in the old country, and the Italian enjoys it. Moreover, he feels better satisfied when he has it in larger proportion with his macaroni and olive oil. Whereas it was used only once or twice a week in Italy, now it becomes a part of the daily dietary. The family like vegetables, but to get from them the amount of satisfaction and bulk to which they are accustomed would incur too great an expense. Either they leave out both milk and meat and live largely on starches--bread, macaroni, and potatoes--and vegetables, or meat is used at the sacrifice of vegetables and milk. When the health of the family suffers through this great change in diet, one often hears, "My man no like his work; he sick," or "My child, he no good since he came here," always attributing the difficulty to the wrong cause. Eggs are another staple in the diet in Italy which is almost prohibited here because of the high prices, unless the family keep hens. Many of their soups require a large number of eggs, eggless soup being almost unknown to them. These conditions and changes help to indicate the hard problem which the woman in the Italian family has to meet in this country. Doubtless she was unaccustomed to marketing in Italy, and generally has no one who has solved the problem to help her in this country; so she quite naturally follows in the footsteps of others who have known no more than she the way out into dietary suited to the new needs of her family and to American supplies. The result is that a readjustment takes place without really making any plan for an adequate diet. The raw food materials of the Italian diet, many of which were easily procured from their own farms, when combined in their home country ways furnished a cheap, well-balanced diet. In this country, because of greater cost and more difficulty in securing, the Italians often have a poorly-balanced diet and run short in some of the most important food elements. The Italian children are given the adult's diet as soon as they are out of swaddling clothes. The larger the abdomen, the stronger and healthier the mother considers the child. A diet of milk, strained cereal, and fruit juices is unknown to an Italian mother. Too large an amount of macaroni or rice and lard are usually included in the diet, and often the children suffer from constipation because of this excess of starch, with few vegetables and little fruit. The children learn to take tea and black coffee, and bread without butter, for breakfast. Usually this means a meal of 200 to 250 calories, composed of carbohydrates, instead of one of 500 calories, such as they should have obtained from a combination of protein, carbohydrates, mineral matter, and fats. At noon the meal often consists again of bread with a piece of bologna, and more tea or coffee. At night, or supper time, comes the big meal of the day, which, as in their native country, is started in the morning and cooked either in one large kettle or in several small ones, the contents being put into one in the last process of preparation. The Italian woman, when she does cook a meal, spends much time and care, and the results are very appetizing. This fact gives encouragement, showing what an apt pupil she would be if taught early on her arrival how to market, what raw food materials like those of her home country can be secured, what substitutes can be used, and what a day's dietary--breakfast, dinner, and supper--should contain, and why. In attempting to furnish this instruction, native dishes and raw food materials should be recognized and preserved as far as possible. If olive oil is a luxury, other vegetable oils, of which we have several, may be introduced. Soups may be given that will have the Italian flavor of tomato, or garlic, or both. To them may have been added macaroni in one of its various forms, rice, or fava (horse beans), and this will furnish thickening in the place of eggs. Milk soups will be acceptable only when highly flavored, or after the family have learned to like white sauces. Gnocchi is their milk soup. Vegetables the Italians have always cared for, and when their value is explained, they are often willing to substitute more of them for meat. Cheese is used more sparingly here, because the people cannot make it themselves and must therefore buy it. This adds another expense, with the result that less is used. The Italians have an many good combinations of food to select from as can be found in American cook books, when special diets must be given to those who are not well. The following are prescribed for undernourished children: Zuppa alla Provinciale (Potato Soup) 2 large potatoes 3 tablespoons milk 4 cups soup stock 2 tablespoons butter 2 egg yolks 1 tablespoon salt Boil potatoes; rub through sieve. Put in saucepan with butter, salt, and milk. Simmer until thick, then add egg yolks to form it into paste. Turn onto bread board, cut into small dice, and throw into soup stock which must be boiling. Zuppa di Lettuga (Lettuce Soup) 1 head lettuce 2 potatoes 1 head of celery 2 tablespoons green peas 1 heaping tablespn. flour 4 cups soup stock Cook all together for one hour and a half, and serve with toasted squares of bread. Zuppa di Zucca (Pumpkin Soup) 3 pounds sliced pumpkin 2 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup water 1 1/2 cups milk 1 tablespoon sugar Peel pumpkin, cut into pieces; cook slowly in water with butter, sugar, and salt for two hours on the back of the stove. Drain and add to milk, which has been heated. Bring to a boil before serving. Brodo di Lenticchio (Lentil Soup) 3 tablespns. dried lentils 1/2 tablespoon butter 2 tablespoons milk 4 cups soup stock Cover lentils with water and simmer until soft; put through sieve. Melt butter in saucepan, add lentils and milk; mix well. Add a cup of stock, and this to three cups hot stock. Some of the Italian soups more nearly resembling our own are minestrone alla Milanese, or vegetable chowder, brodo di capone, or chicken soup, and brodo di carne, or vegetable and beef soup. Milk may be given plain or in custards, as in gnocchi of milk, or in zabione. Gnocchi of Milk 1 cup milk 1 tablespn. cornstarch 3 drops vanilla 2 egg yolks 2 tablespoons sugar Put all these ingredients together in a saucepan. Mix well, then put on stove and let cook slowly until thick. When cold serve with milk or cream. Zabione 2 cups milk 1/2 cup sugar 4 drops vanilla, or 2 tablespoons fruit juice 2 eggs Put all together in saucepan and beat well. Put on back of stove; let it heat and cook slowly, stirring often until thick. Serve hot or cold. Other recipes which may be used for children are as follows: Spinagi 1/2 peck spinach 1 tablespoon salt 5 tablespoons cream 1/3 tablespoon butter 3/4 tablespoon flour 1 egg yolk 3 egg whites Wash and cook spinach in salt and one tablespoon water for twenty minutes; chop fine. Put butter and flour into saucepan. Stir while heating, then add chopped spinach. Cook for five minutes, and add cream. Add yolk of egg, well beaten; when cool add well-beaten whites, then place mixture in a buttered dish and bake for ten or fifteen minutes. Italian cooked vegetables are best for children in this form. They are more easily digested than when cooked in olive oil or other fats. Lettuga Informata (Lettuce Baked in Oven) Take off wilted outside leaves, wash and tie up heads, and place in baking pan with two cups of soup stock. Bake one-half hour. Place fork under heads, remove, and serve with stock for gravy. Polenta (Corn Meal Mush) This is usually eaten with meat gravy instead of milk. It would not be difficult to teach children to eat it with milk. Gnocchi di Semolina (Indian Meal) Often called farina by the Italians, cooked in milk. Canestrelli (Tea Cakes or Cookies) 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup butter 1/2 cup flour 1 egg yolk 1/2 teaspoon vanilla Cream together sugar and butter; add well-beaten egg yolk and vanilla; then enough flour to make a firm dough, probably one-half cup. Roll out thin and cut into fancy shapes. Italian children do not need to be encouraged to eat macaroni, vermicelli, or spaghetti, which are usually well cooked. They are quite ready to eat oat meal or rolled oats if these are cooked in milk and raisins added. A constipation diet includes vegetables served in the many different ways of cooking and combining, and fresh fruit or fruit juices. When constipation is found among the Italians, it is usually due to the fact that they have been financially unable to secure vegetables, fruit, and olive oil, and have lived exclusively on macaroni, rice, and lentils. An Italian patient with nephritis finds it very hard to leave cheese out of his diet. He does not miss the other forms of proteins so much. A very little meat is used at any time; eggs are used as thickening, and would not be missed if another thickening were used, but cheese furnishes flavor for many dishes. Therefore, if any protein is to be allowed, cheese should be selected. Tuberculous patients may be given milk in the same forms as are prescribed for undernourished children, and eggs in soups. The Italian people are not in the habit of using soft eggs, but have many recipes for using hard-boiled eggs. Patients can be taught to poach or drop them, and serve a little grated cheese on them. In this way they may learn to eat them. Sugar may be prescribed in fruit compotes--stewed fruits, made of either fresh or dried fruits. Raisins and almond paste are other forms of sweets. Diabetic patients find it very hard to adjust themselves to a diet without any pasta, or macaroni. Among their people it has always been the staple at every meal. Vegetables used by them in many combinations are prescribed for this disease. Tomatoes may be scooped out and an egg dropped in each. Then the tomatoes are placed in a small dish, and baked until the eggs are set. Mushrooms are often chopped and baked in tomatoes. Beans of all kinds are used in their dietaries, and must be removed. Often the use of mushrooms may be encouraged in their place. Endive is enjoyed as well as dandelions, spinach, and many other leafy vegetables. If the Italians can secure their preferred diet, it is usually well-balanced. Naturally they are painstaking, good cooks. It is not, therefore, at all impossible for a person who knows their native dietaries to help them adjust themselves to the conditions in this country and to the needs in their local environment. An understanding of their dietary background is absolutely essential to successful results. RECIPES Spaghetti alla Napolitana 1/2 pound spaghetti 1/2 pound round steak 1/4 pound salt pork or bacon 1 small onion 1/2 cup grated cheese 1 clove of garlic 2 sprigs of parsley 2 cups canned tomatoes 6 dried mushrooms Grind the salt pork and try out in a saucepan. When it begins to brown, add the onion, ground; parsley, chopped; shredded garlic and the mushrooms, previously soaked. When the vegetables are brown, add the meat, coarsely ground; and when that is brown, add the tomatoes. Simmer slowly till of a creamy consistency. Cook spaghetti, without breaking it, and drain carefully. Put into a hot serving dish, sprinkle one-half cup grated cheese over it, then pour the hot sauce over it. Lift with two forks till thoroughly mixed. Codfish with Green Peppers 1/2 salt codfish 1/4 cup oil 1 onion 1 tablespn. chopped parsley 2 large green peppers 2 large fresh tomatoes, or 2 cups thick canned tomatoes Wash and soak the codfish, then remove the bones and cut into squares, or slice. Roll in flour and fry in lard or oil. Roast the peppers so as to blister the skin, which may then be easily removed. Cut and remove the seeds, then cut into narrow strips. Thinly slice the onion and fry slowly in oil till yellowed. Add the tomatoes, cut in pieces, or thick canned tomatoes, and the green peppers. When the peppers are partly cooked, add the codfish and parsley. Cook slowly till the peppers are done. If the sauce is too thick, add a little water or tomato juice. Neapolitan Sandwiches Grind three tablespoons of blanched pistachio nuts to a paste, or chop very fine. Cut three tablespoons of cherries into tiny pieces and mix with a soft icing, honey or melted fondant, to make a consistency fit for spreading. Butter four good slices of bread. Spread the nuts over one slice, some jam on the next, and cherries on the third. Pile them up in the same order and place the remaining slice on top. With a sharp knife cut down through the center, making the slices one-quarter of an inch thick, each of which shows the layer of color. A sandwich similar to this may be made of brown and white bread, alternating the colors. Any filling to suit the taste may be used. Risotto 1 cup rice 3 tablespoons butter 2 cups tomatoes 1 cup stock This may be the means of using up any bits of meat that the housekeeper has on hand, or it may be made with cheese and tomato only. Wash one cup of rice and turn it into a frying pan containing two tablespoons of melted butter. Stir over a moderate heat until it begins to take on a golden tinge, and then add two cups of canned tomatoes, which have been pressed through a sieve, and one cup of strained stock. Cover and cook slowly until the rice is tender and has absorbed nearly all the liquid, which will take about forty minutes. When half done add salt and paprika to taste. If necessary to stir, use a fork, so as not to break the grains. Just before removing from the fire add a tablespoon of butter, cut in bits, and half a cup of grated cheese. Half a cup of any minced meat or poultry can be substituted for the cheese, both ham and sausage being particularly good. Spaghetti--Italian Style First, put one-quarter pound salt pork, sliced, in a small pan; try out, and then strain it. Put fat back in pan, cut some garlic; if you like, one onion, too; stir a little and then put in two pork chops. Cook for about ten minutes, then add one cup strained tomato and cook for about half an hour to an hour, according to meat. Second, put enough water in a good-sized pan and let come to a boil; then put in one-half pound spaghetti and cook. Strain spaghetti in a colander, and spread in a platter; over spaghetti spread grated cheese and sauce. Put meat in a dish, separate. Italian Prupetti (Meat Balls) 1 pound chopped meat 1/2 cup bread crumbs 1/4 cup grated cheese 1 teaspn. black pepper 1 teaspoon paprika 1 teaspoon salt 2 eggs Parsley Mix together well; if a little too dry, add a little water. Roll in small balls and fry in olive oil. Minestra del Paradiso (Paradise Soup) 4 tablespns. sifted bread crumbs 4 tablespns. grated cheese 3 eggs Nutmeg Salt, pepper 1 quart white soup stock or clear broth Beat the whites of the eggs, then beat in the yolks. Add the bread crumbs gradually; then the grated cheese, a pinch of salt, and a grating of nutmeg. These ingredients should form a thin batter. Have the broth boiling and drop the batter into it by spoonfuls. Let it boil three or four minutes and serve in the clear soup. This soup is much used as a delicacy for invalids. In this case, the cheese may be scant or omitted entirely. By way of variety, a tablespoon of finely chopped parsley may be added to the batter, or half a cup of spinach, drained and rubbed through a sieve, may be substituted for half of the bread crumbs. When stock or broth is not available, it may be made from bouillon cubes and a lump of butter, dissolved in boiling water, and seasoned with celery salt, onion, salt, and pepper. Zuppa di Piselli (Pea Soup) 2 tablespns. oil or butter substitute 1 small carrot 1 small onion Sprig of parsley 2 ounces ham, fat and lean Stalk of celery Bay leaf Salt, pepper 1 pint peas: fresh peas, canned peas, or dried peas soaked over night Chop fine or put through a meat grinder the ham, onion, carrot, and celery; add the parsley, chopped or clipped fine with scissors, and the bay leaf. Fry all this in the oil until it is golden brown, but not at all scorched. Add one pint of boiling water and the peas. If this cooks away, add more water as needed until the peas are tender. Rub through a sieve. Serve this group garnished with croutons or toast triangles, and send a dish of grated cheese to the table with it, to be added according to individual taste. Cappelletti all' uso di Romagna (Soup with Little Hats) Grated cheese 1 egg Grated lemon peel Nutmeg, allspice, salt Equal parts curds or cottage cheese and cooked meat ( chicken, pork, or veal ) Grind the meat very fine and make a highly seasoned mixture of it and all the other ingredients. The ground meat may be sautéd in a little butter or drippings before it is mixed with the other indredients to improve the flavor. Cut rounds measuring about three inches in diameter from a thin sheet of paste, made according to the recipe for Noodles or Home-Made Paste. Place a spoonful of the filling in the middle of each circle of paste. Fold over and moisten the edge of the paste with the finger dipped in water to make it stay securely closed. These cappelletti should be cooked in chicken or turkey broth until the paste is tender, and served with this broth as a soup. This is a time-honored Christmas dainty in Italy. Fagiuolini in Salsa d'Uovo (String Beans with Egg Sauce) 1 pound green or wax beans Butter, salt, and pepper Yolk of 1 egg 1 teaspoon cornstarch or flour Juice of 1/4 lemon 3/4 cup soup stock String the beans and parboil them in salted, boiling water. Drain, cut into inch pieces, and season with butter, salt, and pepper. Beat the egg yolk in a saucepan. Beat in flour and lemon juice, add the stock ( cold water will do), and cook the mixture over a moderate fire until it thickens. Pour over the hot beans and let remain over the fire a moment, so that they will absorb the flavor of the sauce, but not long enough to curdle the egg. Sformato di Fagiuolini o Piselli (Mold of Peas or Beans) 1 pound green or wax beans 1/4 onion Sprig of parsley Piece of celery 1 tablespoon flour 1 cup milk 3 eggs Grated cheese 2 tablespoons oil or butter substitute String the beans. Blanch them by throwing them into boiling water. As soon as the water has boiled again, drain the beans and plunge them into cold water. Fry the finely-chopped onion, parsley, and celery in a tablespoon of oil. When the onion is a golden color, add the beans and let them absorb the oil. Add just enough water to keep them from burning until the beans have simmered tender. Make a white sauce of the milk, flour, and one tablespoon of oil. Beat the eggs. Let the beans and sauce cool a little. Then add the eggs, beans, and a few tablespoons of grated cheese to the white sauce. Pour into a buttered mold. Bake or steam as a custard until firm, and serve hot. Peas are good cooked in the same way. Canned peas and beans may be used. This makes a very satisfactory luncheon dish. Pasticcio di Polenta (Corn Meal Loaf) 1 cup yellow corn meal 4 dried mushrooms 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese 2 tablespoons butter 1 tablespoon cream 2 tablespoons salt The day before this dish is to be served, cook corn meal very thoroughly with only enough water to make it very stiff. Turn out to cool in deep dish. Next day turn the mold out upside down; take this same dish, butter it, and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Cut the mold of corn meal in horizontal slices about one-quarter inch thick. Lay the top slice in the bottom of the dish where it fits. Dot with two or three small pieces of butter and three or four dried mushrooms, which have had boiling water poured over them and soaked some time. Moisten with cream and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese. Repeat, slice by slice, until the shape is complete. On the last slice put only two dots of butter. Put in a moderate oven and bake three hours. If at the end of this time there should be too much liquid on top, pour this off to use for the seasoning of some other dish, such as spaghetti, rice, or noodles, and continue cooking until the liquid ceases to ooze. Gnocchi alla Romana (Gnocchi of Farina or Corn Meal) 1/2 cup farina or corn meal Butter and grated cheese 1 egg Salt 1 pint of milk, or half milk and half water Let the milk come to a boil; salt it and add the farina gradually, stirring constantly, so it will not become lumpy. Take from the fire and add a tablespoon of butter and several tablespoons of grated cheese, also the egg, slightly beaten. Mix well and spread out on a molding board in a sheet about three-quarters inch thick. When it is cold, cut in squares or diamonds. Put a layer of these on a shallow baking dish or platter that has been buttered. Sprinkle with cheese and dot with butter. Make another layer, and so on, until the dish is filled. Bake in the oven until the crust is well browned. Tagliatelli o Pasta Fatta in Casa (Noodles or Home-Made Paste) The best and most tender paste is made simply of eggs and flour and salt. Water may be substituted for part of the eggs, for economy, or when a less rich paste is needed. Allow about a cup of flour to an egg. Put the flour on a bread board, make a hole in the middle, and break in the egg. Use any extra whites that are on hand. Work it with a fork until it is firm enough to work with the hands. Knead it thoroughly, adding more flour if necessary, until you have a paste you can roll out. Roll it as thin as a ten-cent piece. If the sheet of paste is too large to handle with an ordinary rolling pin, a broom handle, which has been sawed off, scrubbed, and sand-papered, will serve in lieu of the long, Italian rolling pin. This paste may be cut in ribbons, to be cooked in soup as Tagliatelli, or cut in squares or circles and filled with various mixtures to make Cappelletti, Ravioli, etc. Any bits that are left or become too dry to work may be made into a ball and kept for some time to be grated into soup, in which it makes an excellent thickening. Budino di Cioccolata (Chocolate Pudding) 2 cups milk 3 eggs 1/4 cup sugar 3 ounces ground macaroons 1 1/2 squares unsweetened chocolate Make a custard of the eggs, milk, sugar, and chocolate. Cook in a double boiler until it thickens. Take from the fire and add the finely-ground macaroons, stirring and beating the mixture until it is smooth. Pour into a buttered mold and chill thoroughly on the ice. Zabaione 1/4 cup fruit juice 2 eggs 1 tablespoon sugar Beat the eggs; beat in the sugar; add the fruit juice. Cook over a slow fire, beating constantly until the mixture begins to thicken. Take from the fire and continue to beat a moment, so the mixture will not cook to the side of the hot vessel. It should be a smooth, frothy cream. It is eaten hot, poured over sponge cake or served in tall glasses. A scant teaspoon of cinnamon may be added by way of variety. Bigné 1 cup flour 1 cup water 1/2 cup butter 3 eggs Little salt Boil the water and melt the butter in it. Salt it, add the flour, and let it cook a little while. Cool and add the beaten eggs. Form this into twelve bigné (little cakes or cookies), and bake them in the oven. When they are baked, split them open and fill with a custard, flavored with vanilla, and sprinkle them with powdered sugar. HUNGARIANS THE Hungarians come to us from various walks of life, and with different standards of living, and include in about equal proportions the peasant type and the city dwellers. The peasants come from the fields in the country towns where opportunities for education are lacking. From them we get our unskilled Hungarian workmen, who, in this country, are generally found in our mill cities, working in the factories. At home, in the fields, they are served a lunch at four o'clock, consisting of bread, bacon or bologna, and curdled or sour milk. Here, they change from an outdoor occupation to one in the mill or factory, and there is no mid-afternoon lunch. The city dwellers have had educational advantages, and there are many in this country who have had a college education. Some have left Hungary in order to have religious freedom in America. Some of these city dwellers have been artisans in the homeland, and in this country are among the best workers in metal factories. The ordinary factory noon time in Hungary is one and half hours, and the worker tries to live near enough to go home for dinner. Otherwise he must go to restaurants. Sometimes his wife or child carries his dinner, but dinner pails generally are unknown. Liquor is always taken in the home at meals, and often the wines served are home-made. Rye bread or rolls is the usual bread served. Cereals are not as generally used as they are by many other nationalities. Wheat is the principal one. Besides using it in bread, they make various noodles, and serve them in different ways. Underweight children should be taught to eat cereals, and dill pickles should not be included in their diet. The nephritis patient must have a number of changes made in his diet, as ordinarily it contains a large amount of spice and many pickles. The diabetic can be fed very comfortably if the income is sufficient to buy vegetables. It is the custom to serve them dressed with melted butter, and with bread crumbs placed on top. The following week's menus, arranged and served by a Hungarian housewife, give a good idea of the kinds of foods and the combinations used by the different types of Hungarians in their own country. These do not change very much here if the income is sufficient to purchase them. Breakfast Field Worker Whisky (sometimes red pepper in whiskey) Sliced smoked bacon (raw) Onion sometimes (raw) Bread (rye) (children pour whisky on bread like gravy) (Breakfast the same every day) Monday Lunch Whisky Cherry soup (summer) or Dried bean soup (winter) Noodles with cheese Bread (rye) Fruit Monday Supper Whisky Bacon (raw) and onions (raw) Bread (rye) Fruit Tuesday Lunch Whisky Beef soup, noodles Meat with potato Cucumber salad with cream Bread (rye) Tuesday Supper Whisky Chicken paprakas with noodles Lettuce Bread (rye) Wednesday Lunch Whisky No meat Creamed potato soup Noodles with jelly Bread (rye) Fruit Wednesday Supper Whisky Clotted sour milk (cold) with rye bread Fruit Thursday Lunch Whisky Beef soup Rolled cabbage with meat Bread (rye) Lettuce and sliced beets Thursday Supper Whisky Left overs Bread (rye) Fruit Friday Lunch Whisky No meat String bean soup (cream) Cheese strudel Bread (rye) Friday Supper Whisky Bacon with rye bread (men) Milk with rye bread (women) Fruit Saturday Lunch Whisky Soup (cream) with eggs Lentils with sliced ham Bread (rye) Saturday Supper Whisky Left overs Bread (rye) Sunday Dinner Whisky Beef soup, noodles Chicken paprakas, mashed potatoes Sauerkraut with meat Bread (rye) Cucumber salad Fruit Sunday Supper Whisky Fried meat from soup Mashed potato Bread (rye) Doughnuts with jelly inside Fruit Wine Breakfast Workingman, City Except at breakfast, wine or beer is used at all meals Coffee with milk Rolls (white) (Breakfast the same every day) Monday Lunch Broth Boiled meat with potatoes Bread (rye) Dill pickles Fruit Monday Supper Kidneys with brains Lettuce Bread (rye) Tuesday Lunch Tomato soup Veal stew with potatoes Bread (rye) Dill pickles Tuesday Supper Cold boiled ham Onion salad Bread (rye) Wednesday Lunch Goulash soup Meat pie made with ham and noodles Bread (rye) Dill pickles Wednesday Supper Fried pork Mashed potatoes with fried onions Bread (rye) Thursday Lunch Vegetable soup Squash with beefsteak Bread (rye) Fruit Thursday Supper Left overs Bread (rye) Fruit Friday Lunch Fish soup Pot cheese with noodles and cream Bread (rye) Fruit Friday Supper Left overs Bread (rye) Saturday Lunch Cream soup with eggs Lentils with roast pork Bread (rye) Saturday Supper Egg omelet Butter, radishes Bread (rye) Sunday Dinner Chicken soup Stuffed roast chicken Onions, parsley Red pepper or saffron Cucumbers, lettuce salad with cream Bread (rye) Apple or cheese strudel Fruit Sunday Afternoon Ice cream or iced coffee Sunday Supper Left overs Rye bread Women and children--Coffee with bread and butter or left over cake, 4 o'clock. Lots of fruit and melons. Breakfast Well-to-do Family Coffee with milk Bread and butter (white) Cheese (sliced) Fruits White bread with coffee but rye with meals Monday Lunch Broth with noodles Boiled meat with potatoes and grated noodles Bread (rye), dill pickles Peach pudding, fruit Wine Monday Supper Kidneys with brains Fried potatoes Salad--lettuce with cream and a little vinegar Bread (rye) Wine Tuesday Lunch Tomato soup Green peas with breaded veal cutlets Cold slaw Bread (rye) Apple preserve Wine, mineral water Tuesday Supper Sweet or sour beef lungs prepared with rolled dumplings (appetizer) Cucumbers Bread (rye) Wine Wednesday Lunch Goulash (soup) Pickled beets Bread (rye) Pastry with chopped walnuts (sauce with milk) Fruit Wine Wednesday Supper Pot roast Fried potatoes Dill pickles Bread (rye) Fruit Wine Thursday Lunch Marrow bone soup with rice and vegetables Squash with fried pork, horse radish Bread (rye) Pastry (like cinnamon bun), fruit Wine or beer Thursday Supper Left over (heated) squash and meat Cucumber salad Bread (rye) Fruit Wine Friday Lunch Fish soup Pot cheese with noodles with cream Peppers stuffed with cabbage Bread (rye) Fruit Wine Friday Supper Egg omelet Mashed potato with butter Lettuce with cream Bread (rye) Fruit Wine Saturday Lunch Caraway seed soup with dropped eggs Veal with cream gravy with rice Bread (rye) String bean salad Poppy seed pudding with wine sauce Wine Saturday Supper Scrambled eggs, chopped ham Radishes Rye bread--butter Fruit Wine Sunday Dinner Duck soup Roast duck with cucumber salad French fried potatoes Bread (rye) Cherry strudel Ice cream Fruit Wine Sunday Supper Cold meat with lettuce salad Swiss cheese Bread (rye) Wine or beer Every afternoon at 4 o'clock coffee with sweet bread of some kind. RECIPES Hungarian Potatoes 1 quart cooked potatoes cut in large pieces 3 tablespoons fat 1 tablespoon chopped onion 2 tablespoons chopped parsley 2 cups tomato 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon paprika Brown the onion in the fat and add to the potatoes. Add all the ingredients except the parsley; put into a greased casserole and bake forty-five minutes in a moderate oven. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve at once. Paprikos 1/2 pound raw fish 2 cups potatoes, diced 2 tablespns. chopped onion 1 1/2 cups water 2 teaspns. chopped parsley 2 tablespoons oil 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon paprika Brown the onion in the oil; add potatoes and brown. Add the fish, boned and cut into small bits. Mix well; add parsley and other seasonings with the water and cook twenty minutes. Serve with a garnish of sliced lemon. Cesirke Paprikos (Chicken Fricassee) Chop one onion and fry in lard till yellowed. Add enough paprika to give it a pinkish color. Cut up a chicken in serving pieces and fry in the same pan till golden brown. Add one or two cups of water with two tablespoons chopped parsley, and let simmer till chicken is tender. Salt to taste. Serve on a platter with galuska sprinkled with chopped parsley around the edge and pour hot sour cream over the chicken. Galuska Beat one egg, add one-quarter cup water, one-eighth teaspoon salt, and flour to make a stiff drop batter. Drop from a spoon into boiling water and cook about ten minutes. Maj Galuska (Liver Balls) Chop one-half pound liver and add one egg yolk. Season with pepper and salt, adding enough flour or farina to hold the mixture together. Mix thoroughly. Drop from one spoon into gently boiling clear soup or salted water and cook about ten minutes. Serve two or three balls in each plate of soup. The balls should be small and of uniform size. Goulash 1/2 pound beef 1/2 pound veal 1/2 pound pork 2 pork kidneys 3 tablespoons fat 1 green pepper 1 large onion 1 tablespn. chopped parsley 1 cup tomato Salt Water Potatoes Chop the onion and brown slightly in the hot fat. Add the beef, veal, pork, cut in dice, the kidneys cut in thin strips about an inch long. Turn and mix with the onion and fat. Add the pepper, cut in pieces, parsley, and tomato. Let simmer till meat is entirely tender, adding water to keep the mixture covered. Season to taste, then add a layer of diced potatoes, and more water if necessary. Let simmer till potatoes are done, but do not stir. POLES AND OTHER SLAVIC PEOPLES THE Polish people introduce us to a northern climate in which the summers are not so long as the winters. Very few of the people from the cities of Poland come to America. Those we find here are the peasant class. They have lived on farms where they raised grain and vegetables that develop during a short season, such as beans, carrots, turnips, parsnips, cabbage, lettuce, and other summer vegetables. Tomatoes are not raised, nor are they known to the people outside of Warsaw. They raise stock from which they get milk and meat. In the winter they are fond of hunting, and they know many ways of cooking game. Many spend their summers farming and their winters lumbering. Wood is used almost exclusively for fuel. Great ovens are built out-of-doors, in which quantities of food are prepared to be stored away for winter use. Meat has a prominent place in the Polish diet, beef, veal, and pork being the kinds most commonly used. These are roasted or used in combination and boiled. Pork is perhaps the favorite kind, and they have many ways of making it into sausage and of smoking it. When smoked it is often covered with mace to add flavor. This is true not only among the Poles, but also among other Slavic people. Pork is frequently used with beef and made into puddings or loaves. In the winter the only fresh meat used is game, and it is customary to roast this over an open fire. The skins are used for clothing, including shoes. In the very recent years only have floors been laid in the country homes, families heretofore going barefooted on dirt floors. Fish is used fresh in summer and pickled in winter. It is rarely preserved by salting. In some restaurants of the large cities of Poland and Russia there are tanks or aquariums filled with edible fish for the enjoyment of the guests, who designate to the waiter the kind of fish they prefer. It is then taken from the tank and prepared. Fish is boiled or baked, but for special occasions the best cooks prefer to make it into cutlets. Cooked fish blended with a sauce or gravy is shaped into cutlets, which are then fried or baked and served with a sauce or gravy. Potatoes are served at almost every meal. The preferred grain among all these people is barley. The Poles use corn meal and oats also. Eggs are the dinner dish on Wednesdays and Fridays in place of meat. Sometimes chickens or ducks are used. When a family arrives in this country, it is confronted by many new and strange appliances, such as agate and tin cooking utensils instead of copper and iron, and "so many kinds to learn how to use"-- double boilers, "funny egg beaters that you turn as you do a hand organ," bread pans, and egg poachers. Then there are "stoves with no fires in them and no place for the wood, just holes in irons and if you turn a handle and apply a lighted match fire comes." The clothing is queer, too. Hats made of straw or felt are such wonderful things compared with kerchiefs. Other clothing seems of such light-weight material, even in winter. When the man of the family gets his first job, it is as a laborer, sometimes building our railroads, bridges, or subways. He generally carries his noon luncheon, and it consists of bread broken from a loaf, either round or oblong, according to which was the more convenient shape to fit the oven. With this he may have some bizos, if he is Polish. Bizos is made of two kinds of sausage, red and white, sauerkraut, tender beef, pork, and barley, all boiled together until thick, and known as pudding. When cold it is sliced and eaten, or it may be warmed. The laborer has no place to warm it, so eats it cold. In his own country bizos was one of the luncheon meats taken when hunting, and as he sits on the curb, or out along the railroad he is helping to build, he enjoys his lunch, accompanied by memories of one of those hunting expeditions and the friends who were with him. The family diet slowly changes from flour gruel and potatoes with coffee for breakfast to coffee and rolls or coffee, rolls, potatoes, and meat. Wednesdays and Fridays they have always had eggs for dinner. This custom they continue as long as they are able to afford it. In winter, because of the high price of eggs or because the man is out of work, they must hunt a substitute; or, what is more frequently done, eggs are left out and no substitute is provided. Flaxseed oil is their favorite fat. That is hard to find here, and this necessitates learning to use some of the vegetable oils that we have. The Polish children and those of the other Slavic peoples come from a sturdy race. Upon arrival in this country they have round, well-shaped heads, rosy cheeks, and strong bodies. With their kerchiefs over their heads, they make fascinating pictures of health. They have had an abundance of milk and fresh air in their own countries. Here they live at first in crowded districts, and milk is counted as a drink--not something to eat. Therefore, because the family income is small, it is left almost entirely out of the diet. If these children are fortunate enough to belong to Polish families who have saved and bought land in the country, in order that the man might grow tobacco or have onion farms, then the family will keep goats and the children will have fresh air, milk, vegetables, and fruit. Otherwise they eat what the grownups have, and they pay the price. Sometimes they are constipated, with accompanying ill-feelings; sometimes they are underweight. In cases of undernourishment among the children, it is always necessary with the Slavs, as with the other foreign-born people, to prescribe milk and to help plan the food budgets so that milk may be included in the children's diets. Among their soups children may have rosolzlazankamt, a consommé with eggs dropped in it. Eggs are beaten as for scrambled eggs, and dropped into the hot soup by small spoonfuls just before serving. They may also have chicken soup or krupnik palski, which is prepared with barley. Cereals are eaten not only for breakfast, cooked in milk, but often in soups or baked and served with meat. As vegetables are seldom cooked and served without meat, it is necessary not only to prescribe them, but also to show them how to make purées and to cook plain vegetables. Kisselle is one of the desserts children like; it is made of blackberries, raspberries, or black grapes as follows: One quart of berries or grapes washed well and drained. Cover berries with cold water and cook until soft. Strain through cheese cloth. Add sugar to taste and set to cook; when boiling add two or three large tablespoons of cornstarch. Set to cool. Serve with cream. A constipation diet is easy to find for these people, as they are naturally large vegetable eaters. Szynka pieczona zkasza (ham roasted with cabbage) or rozbiantere dusgony (roast fowl with vegetables) illustrate how inseparable are their meats from their vegetables. Dusgony or vegetables they welcome on a diet list. Cereals in the form of coarse grains they use. These will come under the name of kasga, which is boiled in milk or baked in water, with milk and fat added during the baking to give moisture. The diabetic patient finds consolation in the number of fish dishes known to the Polish and Russian folk. Ryba wgalarecie, or fish in jelly, is much enjoyed. The jelly is made with lemon and the first layer often has chopped cabbage or celery in it. When this is set, the fish, already boiled, is placed upright in it and more cooled jelly added to cover the fish. Pigs' feet in jelly is another favorite dish, made of the gelatine from the feet of the pig, with meat from the hocks. Ciely, or veal roasted or made into cutlets, may be used; also pork, or wiprzony, prepared in a number of ways. Sledy pocztomy, or maatjis herring, is often used for supper. For nephritic patients it is hard to separate their protein from their vegetables. Their vegetable soups are made thick with vegetables and in this way they can be given in a diet. Zupa Jarzynowa is vegetable soup made with a foundation of chicken stock and any or all kinds of seasonable vegetables added. Soup, or rosal, with makoronom or noodles cannot be included, but borszoz zabillang can be given. It is a beet soup, made by boiling both the tops and the roots of beets with the addition of fat and sour cream. Tuberculous patients will enjoy many of the smietanie, or cream sauces, which are used for vegetables, meats, and game. Ovsyanka is a very good oatmeal soup, made as follows: One-quarter pound whole or cracked oats and enough water for five or six plates of soup; boil with one onion till grain is soft. Strain; add a lump of butter and a little milk; serve with croutons. A few dry mushrooms (well washed) chopped fine add to flavor of soup. A cold soup, or what we know as floating island, is made as follows: Boil a quart of milk. Take three yolks of eggs and rub until white with one-half cup of sugar. Dilute with one-quarter cup of cold milk and add to boiled milk, stirring constantly so yolks don't curdle. Keep on slow fire until somewhat thick, but not boiling--add for flavor either cinnamon or vanilla. Before the above yolks are added, beat the whites stiff and add one tablespoon sugar, dropping whites off the spoon into the boiling milk. When milk with whites boils, remove the whites with a perforated spoon and put into a bowl. Add the soup when fixed with the yolks to the whites; set on ice and serve. This makes a good dessert. Flaxseed oil with a small amount of lemon juice is a favorite salad dressing. The following story illustrates how a sympathetically prescribed diet, recognizing the value of familiar national foods, aids in winning the hearts of people. A Russian woman was asked to interpret for a Ukrainian patient at a Food Clinic. She was not much interested at first, but when some of her well-known foods were mentioned, she looked up and said to the dietitian, "I only been here in this country three years, but you my sister." She then not only urged the patient to use the food prescribed, but was much more diligent thereafter in her own regimen. Kascha Made of whole buckwheat grain or fine barley or whole oats or millet (to be washed in many waters before using). Take one pound of grain and rub through it one whole egg. Dry thoroughly on a frying pan, stirring to prevent burning. When dry put into an earthenware dish with cover. Cover with boiling water. Add salt to taste and butter size of egg. Bake in moderate oven until done (from two to three hours). Watch to prevent burning; when edges get too dry add boiling water, pouring along edges. Favorite dish of the peasant. Russian Hamburg Steak Chop one and one-half pounds of beef fine or put through meat-chopper; season with salt and pepper and work in one-quarter pound of butter substitute, working it in with a wooden spoon. Flour a board and turn the chopped meat on it. Divide into eight parts, roll with a little flour into balls, and flatten into cakes about one-half inch thick. Beat up an egg and add a tablespoon of olive oil; blend well together; dip the steaks in this and then into fine bread crumbs, being careful lest they lose their shape. Have a frying pan, one or two ounces of drippings in it; place the steaks in this and cook three minutes; turn and fry three minutes more. Arrange in a crown shape on a chop plate and pour Madeira sauce in the center and garnish with parsley and cress. A cream sauce strongly flavored with horse radish and a little vinegar may also be used in place of the Madeira sauce. Schavel (Sorrel Soup) Chop fine one pound sorrel and one pound spinach. Cook in boiling water (open pot), adding salt to taste. Take two yolks of eggs in a bowl and rub with a little salt. When greens are tender (about one-half hour), stir with yolks, drop by drop, and prevent curdling. Set out to cool and then put on ice. To serve, put into plate a tablespoon of sour cream and add cold soup, stirring cream. Add chopped, hard-boiled egg. Favorite dish for summer. Polish Cookies One quart of flour, two whole eggs, four more whites, six ounces sugar, one-quarter pound butter, one wine glass brandy (in U.S.A. fruit juice is used). Beat the whites well; cream butter and sugar together and add whites. Knead well and roll thin. Cut in strips and then cut diagonally. Cook in boiling fat and sprinkle with sugar. SLOVENIAN MENUS AND RECIPES Breakfast Coffee, bread and butter. Breakfast is always the same. 10 A.M. An egg, a sandwich, or a cup of milk for parents. Fruit for children. Luncheons No. 1. Two cups rice, cooked with mushrooms, celery, onions and spice. In cold weather, fifteen cents' worth of mixed fat and lean pork is cooked with the rice. Water with fruit juice to drink, or the water from cooked fruit. No. 2. Buckwheat cakes, eaten with cooked, dried fruit or jelly. No. 3. Barley and beans cooked together. Colored beans are used and must be tried to see whether they will cook in the same time as the barley. Olive oil, bacon, or sausage and a little garlic are added. No. 4. Millet (kasa) cooked in milk with sugar, then baked in the oven fifteen minutes and served with milk. No. 5. French toast. No. 6. Fried corn meal mush, with sauerkraut. A good quality of corn meal is used, bought in Italian districts. Boiling water is poured very slowly into a dish of meal, and allowed to stand twenty minutes. Mush is fried in butter. Eaten with sauerkraut, cooked dried fruit, or honey. No. 7. Noodles with Parmesan cheese. No. 8. Noodles with baked apples. 3 P.M. Coffee, bread with butter or jelly. Coffee is very weak for children--a great deal of milk is added. Dinners No. 1. Beef soup with farina dumplings. Meat--from the soup--eaten with a relish. Potatoes, turnips. Bread. Soup is almost invariably served at dinner. When a soup is made from meat stock, the only meat served is the soup meat. When there is roast for dinner, the soup is made from vegetables without meat stock. Stock for soup is made from beef with vegetables; this is strained and a variety of dumplings, noodles, cereals, etc., added to it. The soup meat is served with a variety of sauces, relishes, salads. Sauces are made from onions, celery, garlic, horse radish, etc. Salads are simple combination of endive or lettuce with an oil and vinegar dressing. The vegetables served at dinner are usually potatoes and some more watery vegetable--turnips, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, peppers, string breans, etc. Beef Soup Stock (For Six Persons) Two pounds of meat with a good yellow bone, cooked in one cup water with soup greens -- celery tops and roots, parsley, onion, leek, carrots, tomato --for two hours. Quenelles (Farina Dumplings) Cream a tablespoon of butter, add one egg and one yolk, a teaspoon of minced chives, and four tablespoons of cooked farina. Allow mixture to stand ten minutes, then make into balls the size of an English walnut and drop in the boiling soup. Quenelles (Calf's Liver Dumplings) Mince half a pound of cooked calf's liver; take out all the veins, skin, etc., and then mix well with two tablespoons of beef marrow or butter; add a pinch of marjoram, grated lemon rind, a clove of garlic mixed to a paste with salt, a pinch of mace, and pepper; add enough bread crumbs to make the mixture neither stiff nor thin. Bread crumbs swell in boiling, and if too many are used the dumplings will be hard. Form in balls and cook in boiling soup ten minutes. Potato Quenelles Boil four large potatoes, peel, and grate. Cream a tablespoon of butter, add one egg and salt, and cream again. Add the grated potato and mix thoroughly. Make balls the size of a walnut, cover with bread crumbs, and fry a golden brown in lard. Place in tureen and pour clear soup over them. Mock Peas Beat together two eggs, two tablespoons of flour, two tablespoons of milk, a pinch of salt and of mace, until the batter is smooth. Place lard in a saucepan, and when it is smoking hot, force the batter into it through a ricer. When it is fried a golden brown, take out with a skimmer, place in a tureen, and pour clear soup over it. Horse Radish Sauce Cream together one tablespoon butter and one tablespoon flour; add two cups warm soup, mix until smooth, and boil a while; then add grated horse radish and a pinch of salt, and one of grated mace. Pickled beets are often used as a relish with meat. Both Croatians and Slovenians have spoken of their taste for this dish of boiled meat from the soup stock, served with a variety of such sauces and relishes, as one of the main features of their diet. They believe it to be much better than the fried meats so commonly substituted for it by their people in America. Dinner No. 2. Vegetable soup. Roast meat. Vegetables Bread. Water. Vegetable Soup Vegetable soups are made of tomatoes or asparagus and thickened with bread crumbs browned in butter. Roast Meat Three pounds of beef makes meals for two days for five persons--one dinner and the next day's lunch. In winter, rabbit is served with a sour cream gravy with capers. Bread Plain bread is bought at the bakery. Bran bread, raisin bread, rolls, are baked at home. Strudel is made and potice, a national cake, prepared for Christmas and Easter--rolls filled with honey and chopped nuts. Halushky Three cups flour, one egg, one cup water, three slices bacon, one-half pound cheese, one-half teaspoon salt. Make a batter of the flour, egg, water, and salt. Drop into boiling water like "drop dumplings," and cook about twenty minutes. Cut bacon in very small pieces, cook, and serve over the Halushky. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Kopustal (Stuffed Cabbage Rolls) One head cabbage, one-half pound each of pork and beef, ground, one cup bread crumbs, two eggs, one-half cup rice, two tablespoons lard. Mix pork, beef, eggs, and bread crumbs together, mixing well; add the parboiled rice; season well with salt, pepper, and paprika. Place in crisp cabbage leaves, using toothpicks to hold together. Boil at least thirty-five minutes. Then place in oven until brown. Keep in oven (slow) at least twenty minutes. Serve with tomato sauce. Or bake in oven with hot sauce for forty minutes. Strudel (Noodle) Four large potatoes, two cups flour, two eggs, one-half pound walnuts, one-half cup milk, one-quarter pound butter with sugar, cinnamon, and salt enough to flavor. Boil potatoes, mash them when cold. Put on noodle board. Add the flour. Work until dough is smooth. Chop walnuts. Boil with milk for ten minutes. Roll the dough. Spread cooled nuts on dough. Shake a little cinnamon and sugar over entire surface. Roll up the dough. Roll up in napkin and boil from twenty to twenty-five minutes. Take out; cut in pieces; brown with butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon and powdered sugar. RUSSIAN DISHES Stschi 1 medium cabbage 1/4 cup meat stock 2 pounds beef brisket 3 pints water 1 tablespoon flour 2 onions 2 leeks 1 parsnip 1/4 cup sour cream Salt 1 tablespoon fat Cut the cabbage in pieces and heat in fat. Add the stock and turn the cabbage over till all is moistened. Cut the beef in dice and add to the cabbage with the water. Cook one and one-half hours. Add the onions and leeks sliced, and the parsnip cut in dice. Cook till these vegetables are done, then add the sour cream mixed with the flour. Let cook five minutes; season to taste. Serve hot with small buckwheat cakes if desired. Steaks with Smetanye Sauce 1 cup sour cream 2 tablespoons flour 1 tablespn. onion juice 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon paprika Dried mushrooms Mix dry ingredients and make a smooth paste with one-quarter cup cold sour cream. Add the rest of the cream, which has been heated, and cook slowly till thickened. Add mushrooms that have been soaked and cook till tender. Add onion juice and stir thoroughly. (The mushrooms may be omitted.) Cut the steak into serving pieces and sear. Put into baking dish and pour the pan gravy over. Add the sauce; cover and bake in a slow oven till the steaks and done. This sauce can be used with Hamburg balls or with fish. Pirog Kulbak 2 cups warm water 1 yeast cake 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon sugar Flour to make stiff dough Make a stiff dough of the above ingredients and let rise till double its bulk; then add 2 eggs, well beaten; one-half cup melted fat. Mix in; then knead thoroughly. Let stand in a warm place till doubled in bulk. Roll out to one-half inch thick, cut in pieces to make small rolls about six inches long. Spread each one with cold boiled rice, then a layer of smoked fish ( finnan haddie ) or smoked roe; sprinkle with pepper and nutmeg. Double and pinch the edges together, having them at the top. Spread with beaten egg and bread crumbs. Bake in moderate oven till a light brown color. A filling of highly seasoned chopped meat may be used, and the pirogs fried in deep fat. Russian Salad Dressing 1 cup mayonnaise 1/4 cup chili sauce 1/4 cup pimento, cut in strips 1/2 teaspoon tabasco 1 tablespn. tarragon vinegar 1 tablespoon chives cut in pieces 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce Mix thoroughly and serve on lettuce. Bortchock Consommé To one quart of strained meat stock add one raw beet, scraped and finely chopped. Heat and, when colored, strain and serve hot. Pierogi Two cups flour, four eggs, one-quarter pound butter, six potatoes, three-quarters pound cottage cheese, one-quarter cup cream, four slices bacon, salt and pepper to taste. Sift the flour; beat two eggs, and work the dough as for noodles. Then roll it thin. Cut the dough into five-inch squares. Boil the potatoes and mash them. Set out to cool. Beat two eggs and mix with the cheese and cream, adding salt and pepper to taste. When the potatoes are cold, add the cheese mixture to them and mix it well. Cut the bacon into tiny squares and fry it. Then add it to the potatoes and cheese. Now put a tablespoon of potatoes and cheese into each square of dough. Flop over, forming a three-cornered affair. Drop these into boiling water and boil for ten minutes. Brown some butter with crumbs and pour over the pierogi. THE NEAR EAST ARMENIANS, SYRIANS, TURKS, AND GREEKS THESE interesting peoples, with their love for friend and neighbor, producers of works of art, dwellers in God's out-of-doors, taking shelter only when occasion demands, have much to give to any country. A majority of those who come to America have lived in the open country, among the foothills of the mountains or on the high tablelands. A minority dwelt in the smaller cities. Early in March, in the home country, the families change their place of living from indoors to the open. That is the season for plowing and planting; meals are prepared and eaten out-of-doors, and the evenings are spent under the great canopy of blue and gold, with all the family and relatives telling the news of the day or exchanging stories. Some of the stories have been related many times before, but their familiarity makes them even more interesting. These people practically live out-of-doors, working in the fields or harvesting their supplies, until late in November. Then they change their occupations to different lines of craft work. Many of their most interesting pieces of copper and brass are tooled and etched during the winter months. Some of their wonderfully beautiful rugs are woven then. A pleasant pastime for the older women is the dyeing of the yarn from the vegetables gathered, a little of this color and a little of that being mixed to get just the shade desired to harmonize with the one artistic design in the mind of the weaver. It is difficult to distinguish between work and recreation among these people. So much of life is beauty to them. During the farming season they raise sheep for food and clothing; goats and cows for milk; chickens, ducks, and geese for eggs. They also raise grains, vegetables, fruits, and berries in abundance, and make butter and cheese. Their wheat is threshed in the fall, then taken to the one neighborhood caldron, where it is boiled "until all germs are killed," then spread out on great sheets of cloth to dry in the sun. After it has dried it is ground between two great stones to different degrees of fineness, according to its future use, then stored for winter or until the next harvest. This grain is used in many different ways; it is even burned as incense. It is called bouglour. Olives are pickled, both ripe and green, and some are salted. Wines and raisins are made from grapes, and the leaves of the grapevines are salted, to be used later in wrapping dolmas. Figs and dates are preserved in sugar with other fruits. Potatoes, squashes, onions, garlic, and other vegetables are put in pits in the ground, and at least three lambs are salted. In the Orient lamb is the principal meat used. Rice has a large share in the daily menu. The use of nuts with rice and meat adds an attractiveness to the diet. Pine-cone seeds, or fustuck; hazel-nuts, or fanducks; chestnuts, or kestanch; pistachio nuts and coriander seeds are many of the seeds referred to in Oriental recipes. Cardamon seeds are frequently added to coffee. The bread is usually made in round loaves or cakes, which are hollow. They are from four to eight inches in diameter and about one inch thick. They are the same as were used in the time of Christ, and referred to in the lunch basket of the lad in Mark 8:19. This bread is dipped in the liquid in which meat and vegetables have been cooked instead of being buttered. It is a sign of friendship to dip in another's plate. This is referred to in Mark 14:20. Their use of honey corresponds to our use of sugar. Wild honey was very plentiful in their countries and was used, therefore, in cooking as well as on prepared foods. Chick peas, or nohond, a product of Greece and Turkey, and fava, pakla, or horse beans, are two of the leguminous plants of high food value. In Eastern cookery not a single dish is dependent on the extravagant use of expensive and various ingredients which, when counted up, make food very expensive; but is dependent, and very much so, on the flavor of each different article used in the making. Oriental food is not highly spiced or flavored, but is a very fat diet. Butter is not eaten on bread, the fat in the food preparations being sufficient. The breakfast of these Easterners consists of black coffee and bread for the adults and goat's milk and bread for the children. In some facilities cracked wheat is used as a cereal, boiled with milk, and is called Bouglour. The noon meal may be matzoun or curdled milk, with a "dressing" of pilaf. Matzoun, or yoghourt, is the famous beverage or soup of the Orient. It is as valuable in their diet as buttermilk in ours. It is made in the following way, and is usually to be found in every family: Take two quarts of milk and one tablespoon old matzoun. Heat milk over a slow fire until it starts to boil; set aside to cool until bloodwarm. Add old matzoun to start fermentation. Cover vessel with blanket to keep the milk warm during the process of fermentation. In from two to three hours it will be done. It may be served hot or cold, and some people add sugar. For the dinner or evening meal shish kibab (lamb cut in walnut-sized pieces and roasted on skewers ) is a favorite form of serving meat. All vegetables are first fried in a small amount of olive oil or other fat, then boiled in meat stock. Sometimes tomato is added to give more flavor. Okra is never slimy, and vegetables lose their green taste when first cooked in oil or other fat. When these people settle in America, their dietary customs are continued to a large extent, but milk becomes a luxury and fruit less plentiful. Many of our finest fruit stores are owned by Greeks, Armenians, or Syrians. The men are seldom laborers; almost all choose commercial occupations, usually starting with a push cart of fruit, frequently bananas, and gradually working up a trade, buying a horse and wagon, then establishing a small store. Others are waiters in restaurants or have shoe-blacking stands. Some sell antique rugs; they also clean and repair them. It was interesting to find during the war that these people were still able to secure wheat in its different degrees of coarseness. They use a large amount of fat in the preparation of many of their dishes, but as no butter is eaten on bread, they do not have an excess of fat in their diet. The amount of milk used when there are children is generally insufficient, because of the expense. They rarely if ever buy it in their home countries, and if they do have to, the cost is but a few cents. A Syrian woman who had tuberculous glands was advised to use one quart of milk a day. After being treated for some time, she showed no improvement, and it was discovered that she had not had the milk. When questioned why she did not take it she said: "The milk come in a bottle--I get it from the goat in my country. The doctor ordered milk and I do not know what else is in the bottle; there must be something besides milk to make it cost so much." After all was explained and milk ordered for the patient for a month, she began to improve, and then she was convinced that although we have an expensive way of obtaining milk, it has the same virtue. In the majority of these homes the men return for the midday meal. There are comparatively few Eastern women over here. Often an Eastener and his wife run a restaurant or coffee house, and board a number of men. Sometimes a bulletin board is hung in these places, upon which letters received from folks at home are posted for others besides the recipient to read. Eating at these coffee houses is a very social occasion; the food is well cooked, although the service lacks some of the conventionalities of this country. Because of the indoor occupations of these peoples, their incomes are more regular than the incomes of those who are laborers, or do other seasonal work. Among the Syrians, Armenians, Greeks, and Turks we usually find the children well nourished, with plenty of growth-promoting material and mineral matter in their diets. Milk is not given in as large quantities as it should be, and fruit is also found by them to be expensive. The undernourished children need more milk added to their diet. Wheat is used extensively, either whole or cracked, cooked in water until nearly done; then milk is added for the last few minutes' cooking. The green-leaved vegetables are not used in cream soups, but are cooked in stock. This must be remembered in diets for children. A Greek boy who was a patient at a dispensary was referred to the food clinic for a constipation diet. When questioned about the delicious orange compotes the Greeks usually have two or three times a day on their tables in Greece, he said: "Oh,yes! My mother makes it, but she keeps it for company. When she is out, I crawl in the window and eat some on my bread. Oranges cost a lot for boys, my mother says." The national dish of the Turks is Pilaf; of the Armenians, Herissa. Both are good foods for the children. Pilaf 5 cups stock 2 cups rice 2 tablespoons olive oil Salt and pepper to taste In a deep vessel fry well the washed rice in the oil, then add the stock. When nearly done, remove to back of stove to cook slowly. Cover with a piece of muslin under the lid, letting it fall a little over the brim to prevent the steam from falling back into the kettle. After ten minutes stir the rice lightly with a perforated spoon, then place over hot oven until moisture is evaporated and rice is almost dry. ( Cracked wheat may be used instead of rice. ) Herissa 1 pound lamb or chicken 10 cups stock 2 tablespoons butter 3 pinches cinnamon Pepper and salt to taste Take lamb or chicken meat without bones; boil for an hour or longer, shred into fine thready pieces with your fingers. Take the special wheat prepared for this purpose and soak in water for eight to ten hours, then boil in one-half the broth of the chicken or lamb, gradually adding the rest of the broth. During the process of boiling it is necessary to stir and pound the mixture continually with a wooden spoon. When serving in plates, pour over each share hot butter and powdered cinnamon to taste. Fruits prescribed may be dried ones, as well as fresh, as compotes, not "stewed" fruits. Even the candy or sweetmeat called "Medley" is made with wheat in it. Ashoureh has nuts as well as wheat: 1 pound wheat 1 1/2 pounds sugar 1/2 cup seedless raisins 1/2 cup peeled pistachio nuts 1/2 to 1 teaspoon rose water 1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts 1/4 cup chopped walnuts 1/4 cup chopped almonds 1 to 2 pinches powdered cinnamon Soak the wheat in plain water for ten to twelve hours; then after washing well boil in newer water, twice of its measure, until it cracks. In a separate vessel boil the sugar in an equal quantity of water, until two-thirds of it remains. To this add the raisins and the pistachio nuts. Then pour these all in the boiled wheat and continue boiling a while longer. When this is done, take away from the fire and add the rose water. Then chop well hazelnuts, walnuts, and the almonds; roast a little in a pan on a moderate fire, and spread over the boiled wheat mixture, meanwhile sifting on the powdered cinnamon. Kolva is something like it: 1 pound wheat 1/2 cup flour 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup seedless raisins 1/2 cup chopped almonds 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 1 cup mixed fancy candy Soak the wheat in water for ten or twelve hours; wash well, and boil in newer water, but take away from the fire before it cracks. Strain and then spread over some white muslin over night. Then roast the flour in a pan by itself until light brown, and when sufficiently cold, add the sugar, also the almonds and the walnuts, which should be well chopped. Add this mixture to the boiled wheat, and mix in also the spiced fancy "grape shot" candy. (Serve cold.) For constipation, fruit compotes may be prescribed. These are known as retchel. Wishneh, or cherry preserve, is made as follows: 2 1/2 pounds sugar 1 pint plain water 1 1/2 pounds sour cherries, freed from the stones 1 teaspoon lemon juice Boil the sugar in the water over a moderate fire until it gets cream thick, then add the sour cherries (without the stones), also the lemon juice; after a little boiling, take away from the stove and cool before placing in jars. NOTE.--Retchel can be prepared from all kinds of berries and fruits, especially from figs, pineapple, and even pumpkin, in same manner as described above. When vegetables are prescribed, it is well to remember that the Oriental cooks them with olive oil. They are known as basdis, and are used extensively with meat or cooked in olive oil, or both. One of the best dishes for a patient with constipation is cabbage with meat, as follows: Lohano Basdi (Kelom) 1 pound meat, fat, of beef, mutton, or lamb 3 pounds cabbage 2 dry onions, medium 2 tomatoes, ripe (or 3 to 4 tablespns. of canned) 3 cups broth (or plain water ) Salt and red pepper to taste Cut the cabbage into egg-sized pieces, and the meat into one-half the size of the cabbage pieces. Also chop coarsely the onions and put them all, alternately, into a suitable vessel. Season with salt and the red pepper. Then, after adding the cut tomatoes and the broth, boil on a moderate fire until the meat and cabbage become very tender. (It is better to serve this Basdi at least six to eight hours after cooking, when it should be reheated.) Another dish equally valuable in their diet is Tureli Chuvedge, or mixed vegetables with meat: 1 pound meat, fat, of mutton or lamb 1 pound eggplant 1/2 pound green beans 2 dry onions, medium 1 bunch parsley 1/4 bunch mint 5-6 strips celery 3 to 4 tomatoes, ripe and unripe Salt and red pepper to taste Clean all the vegetables properly and cut them into small sizes, the same with the meat. Then put these all in a deep flat pan or a deep earthen vessel, and after seasoning the whole to taste, place in a moderately hot oven, until well done. It is not necessary to use any broth or plain water with this Basdi, as the ingredients will discharge enough water to be cooked in. Nephritis seems almost unknown among these people. A patient may have any of their cereal dishes made of wheat or rice, and any of their green vegetables cooked in olive oil. Suggestive combinations for them are as follows: Patlijam Beoregh (Eggplant in Omelet Style) 1 medium eggplant Olive oil, in quantity required to fry with 2 eggs 2 to 3 tablespoons hard cheese, grated 1/2 bunch parsley Salt and pepper to taste Slice the eggplant in less than one-half inch disks, and fry slightly with olive oil in a large flat pan. Then make a mixture of the eggs, the grated cheese, and very finely cut parsley, and after seasoning it to taste, pour it over each piece of the eggplant, and continue frying until brown on both sides. Spinache 2 quarts spinach 1 tablespoon flour 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 cup broth (or milk ) 2 or 3 slices bread (stale) Salt and pepper to taste Clean the spinach, cut into pieces, wash well, boil for ten minutes, and put through cold water. Then fry for ten minutes the flour in the olive oil; to this add the spinach, also one-half of the broth. After boiling this mixture for five to eight minutes, pour in the rest of the broth, stir slowly, and continue boiling for ten minutes longer. (Serve this hot with a little hot butter poured over it.) The stale bread slices may be cut into square pieces and fried in butter, and arranged over the spinach. The broth may be replaced with milk. Tazeh Fassculia Yaghli (Green Beans with Olive Oil) 1 quart green beans 3 dry onions, medium 1 green pepper, medium 2 ripe tomatoes (or 3 or 4 tablespoons of canned) 3 tablespoons olive oil Salt and pepper to taste Clean and trim the beans, splitting them lengthwise; crush with some salt and, after washing, arrange them in a suitable vessel. Slice over this the onions and the green pepper. Also add the juice of the tomatoes. Season to taste, and after pouring in the olive oil, boil on a moderate fire for ten to fifteen minutes, when one-half of plain water should be added, and then left over a slow fire to simmer until done. (Serve hot or cold.) Khiyar Dolma (Stuffed Cucumbers) Pare eight to ten cucumbers of medium size, dig out their seedy parts with the aid of a narrow and pointed knife, stuff with the Dolma mixture, and after piercing each one with a fork, arrange in a suitable pan, side by side. Add two or three ripe tomatoes, cut into small pieces (or three to four tablespoons of canned tomatoes ), and then pour over one cup or more of broth, or plain water. Cook either on a slow fire or in a moderately hot oven. Dressing (Terbish), made of one beaten egg and the juice of one lemon mixed, may be added to the whole, after blending the mixture first with part of the Dolma Gravy. (Serve hot.) Because of the large amount of rice and wheat used in the preparation of the Near East foods, it is difficult to give a diet list for a diabetic patient. In prescribing low carbohydrate vegetables cooked in olive oil, and lamb and chicken cooked on skewers, one is able to feel sure no rice or wheat is used. It is frequently found that the amount of fat must be reduced. Bread is usually limited to two of their loaves a day. The tuberculosis patient needs milk added to the diet instead of black coffee. Tzouvatzogh, the Armenian egg milk toast, is very good made with: 6 to 8 slices bread, dry (or toasted) 1 cup milk 3 or 4 eggs Butter in quantity required for frying Sugar to taste Dampen the dry bread with the milk, and after dipping into the beaten eggs, fry in smoking hot butter on both sides. Some prefer only eggs and omit the milk; others use the milk with the beaten eggs mixed; the result of both methods being similar. (Serve with sugar or syrup if desired.) Matzoun is always popular, and may be served with eggs in the following comination: 1 cup matzoun 4 to 5 bulbs garlic, pressed 4 eggs 1 tablespoon butter Salt and pepper to taste Mix the juice of the garlic with the matzoun, and hold ready in a large flat plate. Then break the eggs into boiling hot water, and let boil for five or six minutes, regular dropped egg style. After which time take them out with the aid of a perforated spoon, and arrange in the plate over the matzoun. This done, pour over the whole the butter, which should be smoking hot. Season to taste and serve at once. An egg dish that they enjoy is made with orange, and is called Sudoli Youmourta: 1/2 cup sugar 2 cups milk 4 eggs 1 orange, skinned Salt and pepper to taste Take a saucepan, put the milk in, and break the eggs into it. Add the sugar and the orange, cut into pieces. Season to taste and stir well; then place the saucepan in a steamer full of boiling water. Cook this on a moderate fire until the mixture is fairly thick. Spread over it, lightly, some burnt sugar, and serve. Another milk dish common among them is bread, buttered, and a pitcher of hot milk. This is eaten as we eat bread and milk. The Near East's knowledge of food combinations and possibilities seems greater than among any other people. It is generally supposed that their cookery is spicy, but it will be noticed, in looking over these recipes, that the cooking is rich in flavor because of the number of ingredients, and not because of condiments. Sarma (Used by all Near East) Rice, meat ( beef or lamb ), and tomatoes. Mix rice, ground meat, salt, black pepper, and tomatoes together. Roll in grapevine or cabbage leaves, which have been cooked until soft. Pile in a kettle and cover with cold water. Cover with plate to hold in place. Cook about one hour. Paklava (Used by all Near East) 2 eggs 1 cup butter 1 pint milk Flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 2 tablespns. melted butter 1 1/2 cups chopped nuts 1/2 cup sugar or 1/2 cup honey Mix two eggs, one cup butter, one pint milk, as much flour as you need, and two teaspoons baking powder. Let stand over night. Make into balls. Mix cornstarch and flour, and put on board. Roll balls out thin. Put into pan and cover with melted butter, chopped nuts, and sugar or honey. Add another layer of dough, then one of nuts--pistachio, walnuts, or pinto, etc. Cut in pieces, diamond shaped. Bake. Serve with syrup. Patlijan-Boereg (Armenian) 1 medium eggplant 4 sprigs parsley 1 lemon 3 eggs 1/2 pound hard white grated cheese Salt to taste 1 cup olive oil Slice the eggplant round or lengthwise, one-quarter inch thick. Sprinkle the slices with salt. Let stand for an hour. Drain all juice. Cook the slices in olive oil in the frying pan until nearly done. Strain off all but very little oil in the pan. Spread a layer of the eggplants in the pan. Mix up cheese and chopped parsley in two beaten eggs. Spread the mixture on the layer of eggplants. Then cover the mixture with another layer of the cooked eggplants. Let cook on small fire for a few minutes. Beat the third egg. Spread on top of the second layer. Cook until the egg on top is done. Serve with lemon juice. Silkme (Armenian) 1 eggplant 1 tomato 1 onion 1/2 cup olive oil 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 pound meat ( pork ) Slice eggplant, leaving the skin on. Fry the meat, cut in squares in the fat, and when brown put into a kettle with the slices of eggplant, the cut onion, and the tomato. Add seasoning and the rest of the fat. Cook until meat is tender. Dolma (Armenian) 3 peppers, green 3 tomatoes, fresh 2 sprigs parsley 1/2 head cabbage, outside leaves 1/2 cup rice 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1/2 lemon Water 1 1/2 cups chopped lamb (lean and fat, mixed) Cut the outside leaves of the cabbage and cut off the thick parts, and boil it five minutes in water. Strain the water off. Take the seeds off the peppers. Take the inside of the tomatoes and keep it in a dish. Cut the parsley in small pieces. Wash the rice. Mix the meat, rice, parsley, and the inside of the tomatoes together, and put a little in each leaf of the cabbage and roll; also stuff peppers and tomatoes. Arrange the cabbage rolls in the bottom of the pot, the stuffed peppers and tomatoes on the top. Add the juice of one-half lemon and barely cover the stuffing with water. Let it cook slowly about one to one and one-half hours. Mantu (Armenian) 1 large onion, chopped 1 cup lamb, chopped 3/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 2 1/4 cups cold water 1 cup matzoun 1 cup flour Make a stiff dough with the flour, water (one-quarter cup), and salt. Allow to set one-half hour. Roll it out to one-sixteenth inch thick. Cut into one and one-half inch squares. Put on a well-floured board, so that they do not stick to each other. Mix the chopped meat and the finely-chopped onion, one-half teaspoon salt and one-quarter teaspoon pepper. Take one of the squares of dough, fold each corner into center point, placing a little of the mixture into the case. Put into a well-greased pan and put over the open flame, and brown the bottoms. Pour boiling water over this until covered, and cook twenty minutes. Put matzoun over this when done. Okra Stew (Greek) 3/4 quart okra (fresh) 1 1/2 cups tomato (canned) 1 small onion 3/4 cup lamb (cut in small pieces) 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 4 tablespoons olive oil 1/4 cup water 1/2 lemon Put meat in hot oil and fry until nearly cooked, adding onion, chopped fine. Have whole okra cleaned, washed, sprinkled with salt, and dried in the sun for half an hour. Wash the salt away and add to the meat, together with the tomato, water, lemon, salt, and pepper. Cover well and cook over a rather slow fire. In cleaning okra, do not cut the stem so that the seeds are exposed, but face or cut the stem off carefully, to avoid having a gummy substance in the cooked product. Bean Stew (Greek) 3/4 quart shelled beans (fresh) 2 cups tomatoes (canned) 1 small onion 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 4 tablespns. olive oil 1/4 cup water 3/4 cup lamb (cut into small pieces) Put meat in hot oil and fry until nearly cooked, adding onion, chopped fine. Add tomato, beans, water, salt and pepper. Cover well and cook over a rather slow fire. Bouglour Pilau (Armenian) 1 small onion 3/4 cup lamb 1 cup Bouglour (prepared wheat) 2 teaspoons salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper 3 tablespoons olive oil, melted 3 cups water Cut the meat into cubes. Put into saucepan with water and salt. Let boil until meat is nearly done. Then add Bouglour, which has first been cleaned. Do not allow stock to reduce to less than two and one-half cups. If you have less, add water. Cook for thirty minutes in covered saucepan. Chop onion and brown in the olive oil, and pour over all. Set on back of stove for fifteen minutes to settle or simmer. Syrian Stew 2 cups raw mutton (cut in cubes) 2 tablespoons fat 3 tablespoons flour 2 cups string beans 2 onions 2 cups tomatoes Dredge the meat with the flour, and brown it in the fat. Put all the ingredients in a stewpan, scraping from the frying pan all of the flour and fat, and add enough water barely to cover. Cook slowly until the meat is tender. THE JEWS THE wanderings of the Children of Israel since Bible times have made them an International Race. They are known to all countries, and have adapted themselves to different climates and products. Because of these conditions, they have a more varied dietary than any other people. They have acquired the use of Russian, Polish, German, Spanish, and Italian foods, and have adapted them to their dietary laws. It is essential that the Jewish dietary laws be understood, at least in general, by all who attempt medical or social work among orthodox Jews. From an article by Mrs. Mary L. Schapiro the following account is quoted of those dietary laws "that are now regarded as essential." 1 1. PROHIBITED FOODS Prohibition of Animal Foods. Absolute and partial prohibitions: Unclean animals are absolutely prohibited. Clean animals are all quadrupeds that chew a cud and also divide the hoof. All others are regarded as not clean. Products of animals that are suffering from some malady or that have died a natural death or had eaten poison are regarded as "terefah," unclean, and may not be used. All animal foods which are not obtained by killing in the prescribed manner and after adequate inspection by a duly authorized official may not be used. 1 Extract from "Jewish Dietary Problems," by Mary L. Schapiro, in The Journal of Hope Economics, Vol. XI, No. 2, February, 1919. One may also consult with interest Miss E. G. Hern's book, "My Mother and I." Blood was regarded by the ancient Hebrews, and is by many primitive peoples today, as the vital part of the animal which must be given back to God. Fish does not come under this category, possibly because it is a cold-blooded animal. Fish that have fins and scales--none other--may be eaten. This would bar all shellfish, such as oysters or lobsters, as well as fish of the eel variety. There seems to have been some good dietetic reason for this, as the Eastern waters were doubtless often polluted, and there may have been cases of poisoning resulting from mistaking poisonous water snakes for eels. No scavengers or birds of prey are to be eaten. These are regarded as unclean. The suet of ox, sheep, or goat is forbidden (not the fat). Fat of birds or permitted wild animals is not forbidden. An egg yolk with a drop of blood on it is considered as an embryo chick, and is forbidden. II. PRESCRIBED MODES OF PREPARING FOOD The following partial prohibitions are fully as important as the above: After the proper cut of meat is secured from the proper kind of animal which has been slaughtered in accordance with Jewish Law, it is to be soaked half an hour to soften the fiber and enable the juice or blood to escape more readily when salted. (The pan used for this purpose may not be used for anything else.) The meat is then thoroughly salted, placed on a board which is either perforated or fluted, and placed in an oblique position, so as to enable the blood to drain off. It is allowed to remain thus for one hour, after which time it is to be washed three times. The washing is for the purpose of removing all the salt. This process is called Koshern and is regarded as very important. Bones with no meat and fat adhering to them must be soaked separately, and during the salting should not be placed near the meat. Chops and steaks may be broiled. The heart may be used, but must be cut open lengthwise, and the tip removed before soaking. This enables the blood to flow out more freely. Lungs are treated as is the heart. Milt must have veins removed. The head and feet may be koshered, with the hair or skin adhering to them. The head must have the brain removed. This latter is used, but must be koshered separately. To kosher fat for clarifying, remove the skin and proceed as with meat. In preparing poultry, it must be drawn and the insides removed before putting into the water. The claws must be cut off before koshering . The head must be cut off. The skin of the neck must be either turned back or cut, so that the vein lying between two tendons may be removed. Seething a kid in its mother's milk is forbidden. This is the origin of the prohibition against the cooking of meat and milk together, or of the eating of such mixtures. This rule is rigidly adhered to, and in its present application necessitates the use of a complete double equipment of dishes and utensils. Since this rule is regarded as one of the most important, one can understand why such sauces as butter sauces or white sauce are refused at meals with meat. This rule occasions the home economics teacher considerable trouble in planning menus. Meat and fish should not be cooked or eaten together, for such a mixture is supposed to cause leprosy. The mouth has to be washed after eating fish and before meat may be eaten. III. JEWISH HOLIDAYS Sabbath: No food may be cooked on the Sabbath. This means that all cooking for both days is done on Friday. This need has led to the development of foods such as Sabbath Kugel or Sholend, Petshai, and many others. Passover: During Passover week no leavened bread or its product, or anything which may have touched leavened bread, may be used. This restriction holds for eight days. In every Jewish home a complete and most thorough system of cleaning precedes this holiday. No corner escapes a scrubbing and scouring, lest a particle of leaven, or what is just as bad, a particle of food which may have touched leavened bread, should be found. A complete new set of dishes is used during the week. Cutlery, silver, or metal pots may be used during this holiday if properly koshered or sterilized. The usual method of doing this is to plunge red-hot coals into boiling water, and then to immerse the desired utensils. These or any other Passover utensils may be used after the holiday is over without re- koshering, but once used without Passover precautions they are unfit for Passover use unless re- koshered. In actual practice this means that in every orthodox Jewish household there are four sets of dishes--the usual set for meat and the set for milk food, in addition to duplicate Passover sets. The Passover dishes are stored away very carefully, lest some leaven come near them. Because of the need for abstaining from leavened bread during Passover, many interesting dishes have developed, such as the Mazzah Klos (dumplings) soup, cakes and puddings made of the mazzah meal. Almond pudding and cake are very popular. Almost all of the food cooked during this holiday requires the liberal use of shortening or fat, with great danger of a too liberal use for health, as well as from the economic point of view. The fat generally used is either goose or chicken drippings, or clarified beef fat other than suet. Fast Days: (a) Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement). No food or drink may be had for twenty-four hours. (b) Fast of Esther. This precedes the Feast of Purim and is now observed only by the very pious. The feast is universally observed. Semi-Fast Days: Eight days in Ab. For nine days no meat food may be eaten by the orthodox. CHARACTERISTIC JEWISH DISHES From Spain and Portugal comes the fondness of the modern Jew for olives and the use of oil as a frying medium. The sour and sweet stewing of meats and vegetables comes from Germany. The love of pickles, cabbage, cucumbers, and herring comes from Holland, as does also the fondness for butter cakes and bolas (grain rolls). From Poland the Jewish immigrant has brought the knowledge of the use of Lokschen or Fremsel soup (cooked with goose drippings), also stuffed and stewed fish of various kinds. From Russia comes Kasha, made of barley, grits, or cereal of some sort, which is eaten instead of a vegetable with meat gravy. Blintozos are turnovers made of a poured batter and filled with preserves or cheese, and used as a dessert. Sholend, sometimes called Kugel, are puddings of many kinds, such as Magan, Lokschen, and Farfil. Zimos, or compotes of plums, prunes, carrots and sweet potatoes, turnips and prunes, parsnips and prunes, and prunes and onions, are all puddings, and come from Russia. Zimes of apples, pears, figs, and prunes are Southern Roumanian, Galician, and Lithuanian as well. Soups are the great standby of the poor. Krupkick is a term used for cereal soups, made of a cereal like oatmeal with potatoes and fat. When the family can afford it, meat or milk is added, as the case may be. This is the staple food of the "Yeshibot" (schools to which Jewish boys are sent to be instructed in rabbinical lore). When there is neither meat nor milk in the soup, it is called "Soupr mit nisht." This really is "Supper mit nichts." Borsht is a form of soup. It is made of either cabbage, spinach or beet-root, and rossel (juice derived from the beet). This is made by the addition of meat, bones, onions, raisins, tartaric acid or "sour salt," sugar and sometimes tomatoes. Eggs are added just before serving, to whiten it. This is called "Farweissen." Gehakte herring is really a salad made of chopped, boned herring, with hard-cooked eggs, onions, apples, pepper, and a little vinegar and sugar. It is used as an appetizer in the form of a canapé . Sabbath Kugel or Sholend is a dish of meat, peas, and beans, sometimes barley or potatoes as well, which is placed in the oven before Sabbath and usually eaten hot on the Sabbath. This dish is sometimes also called Shalet. Petshai, or Drelies, characteristic of South Russia, Galicia, and Roumania, is a calves' foot jelly made at home. (Commercial gelatin is prohibited.) The calves' feet are cleaned by first singeing off the hair. They are then koshered and stewed with onions and seasonings of salt and pepper. Like the Sabbath Kugel, this is placed in the oven the day before, and is ready Sabbath noon to be served hot. What is left is freed from bone, hard-cooked eggs and vinegar are added to it, and it is allowed to congeal. This forms a sort of aspic which is served cold in the later afternoon. Strudel, taken from the Germans, is a single-layered jelly or fruit cake, and takes place of pie as a dessert. It is usually rolled. The dough is as thin as tissue paper. Teigachz is a pudding, sometimes called Kugel or Sholend, and may be made of rice, noodles, or even mashed potatoes. These usually have some drippings, eggs, and flavorings added. Gebrattens is pot roast, and is usually accompanied by Kasha, though it is often served with potatoes which have been cooked with the pot roast. These are usually stewed to a golden brown. Onions are always an important ingredient. Almond pudding is a favorite, because it requires neither meat nor butter, and can therefore be eaten at either type of meal. It is made of almonds, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, and lemon rind, and baked. The obstacles to the use of meat have developed a taste for fish, as well as for cheese and milk products. Since fish is not a warm-blooded animal, it may be eaten in conjunction with milk and milk products. (This is an added reason for its popularity. The celebration of the Sabbath and the eating of fish have always been associated.) Mrs. Scharpiro says that "from no orthodox table is fish entirely absent from the Sabbath meals, however difficult it may be to procure. In inland countries, like Poland, the Jews are limited to fresh-water fish. I have known people who could barely afford bread during the week to pay as much as forty or even fifty cents per pound for their Sabbath fish." Salmon is a favorite kind of fish. This is fried, white stewed, or brown stewed. Smoked salmon, pickled herring, and pickled pickerel are served as appetizers by the Russian Jews. Most characteristic of all fish dishes, perhaps, is the "gefillte fisch," for which carp, whitefish, and pike are most generally used. Part of the flesh of the fish is removed and chopped with onions, bread crumbs, seasonings, and eggs. The mixture is returned to the fish, which is then baked or stewed with more onion and a large amount of pepper at a low temperature for several hours. The long, slow cooking develops the flavor of the fish, which belnds with the other ingredients and forms a most palatable dish. While Jewish fish dishes form excellent appetizers or even entrées, these are not desirable as the main dish of the meal, because of the high seasoning. For this reason they are particularly bad for children. LIMITATIONS OF THE JEWISH DIET IN THE UNITED STATES When the Jew arrives in this country, some of the limitations of his diet, if unchanged by instruction, are evident. Many of the Jewish people who come to America have lived much of the time out-of-doors, worked out-of doors, and played out-of-doors. Here many thousands of them are tailors, sitting all day indoors at their work, and having little exercise or fresh air. Many of them pay little attention to their diet during the week, until their Sabbath. Then on Friday night, Saturday, and on our Sunday, which to most of them is a holiday, they have a feast time. On Friday all the cooking is done for the next two days. Chickens are cooked, soup made, and kuchen (cakes) and mehlspeise (flour mixtures) prepared. The result of these weekly feasts is that many of the Jews eat too much or have not a well-balanced ration. By nature the Jews are an emotional people. A slight physical discomfort usually sends them to a doctor, whereas the readjustment of their diet would many times produce a cure. The dietary restrictions of the use of butter and meat at the same time limit the use of the vegetables. Jewish people are therefore not as fond of them as they ought to be for their own physical well-being. One must not forget that the Jewish housewife utilizes a small amount of fresh meat in dozens of ways. Rich foods are customary in Jewish families, and it is with difficulty that a taste for the simpler foods is cultivated. Jewish women have long known how to use honey, molasses, and syrup in place of sugar. Sugar has often been a luxury in the countries from which they come. They have also been fond of rye, barley, oats, and buckwheat. These cereals have been used both in puddings and soups. Probably no other people have so many kinds of "sours" as the Jews. On the other hand, they have little knowledge of stewed fruits but have many kinds of rich, preserved fruits. All these highly-seasoned foods they have in abundance. In the Jewish sections of our large cities there are storekeepers whose only goods are pickles. They have cabbages pickled whole, shredded, or chopped and rolled in leaves; peppers pickled; also string beans; cucumbers, sour, half sour, and salted; beets; and many kinds of meat and fish. This excessive use of pickled foods destroys the taste for milder flavors, causes irritation, and renders assimilation more difficult. In prescribing diets for the Jewish people, it might be helpful both to the person who prescribes and to the patient for whom the diet is prescribed to remember that all their foods may be classified under three heads: (1) meat or fish; (2) milk and its product; and (3) neutrals. Meat and milk are never mixed. Neutrals may be used with meat or with milk products, but never with both in the same meal. The Jewish children suffer from too many pickles, too few vegetables, and too little milk. Because of their dietary laws, they cannot drink milk with their meals if they have meat. Therefore mid-morning and mid-afternoon meals of milk have to be introduced. This is impossible if the children are in school unless there is a school lunch. Enuresis is quite common among these children, as they are accustomed to having highly-spiced foods in their diet, with pickles at and between meals. For undernourished children among the Jews, it is necessary not only to urge the use of milk, but to plan when it may be taken, as it cannot be taken at the same meal with meat. Vegetables are usually needed in greater abundance. These may be eaten in borsht, a favorite soup corresponding somewhat with our vegetable soup, but this does not give them in very large portions. Therefore a menu should be given to show how they may be combined with other foods. If served with a white sauce or butter, vegetables must be eaten without meat, but can be eaten at the noon meal or lunch with bread. Creamed vegetable soups may also be given in this same way, but never with meat at the same meal. Poached or "dropped" eggs are not often used. The process is unknown. A "dropped" egg was prescribed for a patient who did not know what it meant. When it was explained that an egg was broken and its contents dropped into hot water, he shook his head and said, "Oh, no! I lose my egg; he get all mixed up with the water." When he was taken to the stove and saw an egg poached, he stood in wonder and admiration. He said, "I go home and tell my wife; she never knowed that." Since then many mothers and even children themselves have been shown in this same Food Clinic how to poach eggs. Cereals, if used as a breakfast food, are usually tested as follows: "Place them on a hot plate. If no worms or other insects appear, they are fit to be eaten; if not fit, they must be thrown away." The cereals used by the Jewish people are barley, oats, buckwheat, and rice. These are baked in a pudding and eaten with meat. Children soon learn to eat cereals boiled with milk, and will learn more easily if raisins are added. With Jewish constipation patients the most satisfactory results are secured by removing all meat until the patient appreciatates the value and learns the preparation of many vegetables. In the treatment of constipation, which is very frequent, cereal pudding or krupnick is given, which is prepared as follows: Krupnick 1 cup rolled oats 3 cups milk 6 potatoes, cut up 1 tablespoon goose or chicken fat Boil all together three hours Six glasses of water a day are prescribed "to kosher the intestines," also rye bread or "Jewish Black Bread," and borsht once a day. Borsht (Jewish Beet Soup) For a good, wholesome borsht with a natural sourness one has to make what is known as rossel. Take three bunches red beets; peel and cut in halves; wash. Put into a wooden or earthenware jar. Cover with tepid soft water and set in a warm place, covering jar with towel. In four days rossel will be ready. A crust of real dark bread improves rossel. When ready, put into a cellar or other cool place, to prevent the process of fermentation from continuing. To make borsht, make a good consommé with meat and as many vegetables as are on hand. When ready, bake a few raw beets in skins; cut them fine and sprinkle with a little sugar. Add to strained consommé, and add some of the rossel to taste. Boil once and serve with sour salts. DIABETIC DIET There are many Jews who have diabetes. In prescribing for them one has not only to give a new dietary, but also to teach the ways of cooking the foods allowed. For example, they have been accustomed to having vegetables in small quantities, cooked with beef; but for the diabetic this is excluded, and new forms of cooking vegetables must be introduced. All five or ten per cent. carbohydrate vegetables after cooking may be seved with drawn butter, white sauce, hollandaise sauce, or with salt and a small portion of lemon juice or vinegar. Green peppers stuffed with vegetables are another pleasant variety. As the Jewish dietary does not allow shellfish or tripe, no thought need be given these; but liver is frequently used, koshered over the fire. This must be specified as not allowed in the diet. Before Passover the patient must be warned not to eat mazzah or unleavened bread which is made of flour, salt, eggs, and water in the form of large crackers. Eggs baked in spinach or scrambled with mushrooms may be ordered. The Jewish people are fond of the flavor of almond omelet, prepared with one-half cup almonds, four eggs, and four tablespoons cream. Blanch the almonds, chop fine, and pound smooth. Beat the eggs, add the cream, and turn into a hot pan in which one tablespoon of butter has been melted. When the omelet is set, sprinkle the almonds over it, fold over, and serve. NEPHRITIC DIET In cases of nephritis, all pickled foods should be discouraged; also the use of "sour salts." Almost all their soups are low in protein. Many of their meat dishes have little meat in them. For example, Bitki or Hamburg Steak: Bitki Take two cups of clear beef chopped, and two cups of bread crumbs that have been soaked in a little water, leaving them quite moist; mix thoroughly, season with pepper and salt, and shape into individual cakes. Fry as Hamburg Steak. Both Kascha and Schavel are dishes that can be recommended and enjoyed. They are made in the following way: Kascha Made of whole buckwheat grain, fine barley, whole oats, or millet (washed in many waters before using). Take one pound of grain and rub through it one whole egg. Dry thoroughly on a frying pan, stirring to prevent burning. When dry, put into an earthenware dish with cover. Cover with boiling water. Add salt to taste and butter size of egg. Bake in moderate oven until done (from two to three hours). Watch to prevent burning. When edges get too dry, add boiling water, pouring along edges. Favorite dish for peasants. Schavel (Sorrel Soup) Chop fine one pound sorrel, one pound spinach; put into pot and cook in boiling water (open pot), adding salt to taste. When greens are tender, about one-half hour, take two yolks of eggs in a bowl; add a little salt and stir hot mixture into the yolks, drop by drop, to prevent curdling of yolks. Set out to cool. When cold put on ice. To serve: Put into plate a tablespoon of sour cream, and add cold soup, stirring cream. Add chopped, hard-boiled eggs. Favorite dish for summer. DIET FOR TUBERCULOSIS The diet for a Jewish tuberculous patient would have less of the carbohydrates and more of the protein foods than is usually found in the Jewish daily dietary. Milk and milk and eggs may be given between meals, both in the mid-morning and mid-afternoon and before bedtime. This would not interfere with either their lunch or dinner of meat. Milk dishes of all kinds, from a plain boiled or baked custard to a Bavarian cream, will have to be taught. Once more the staple borsht may be used, made without meat and with the addition of sour cream. Sour cream is a favorite dressing for berries or fruit, and may be used freely by these patients. Eggs scrambled with vegetables or baked in a nest of vegetables are two of their favorite ways of preparing these foods. Scrambled Eggs with Potatoes Three eggs, three potatoes, one large onion, one tablespoon chicken fat, three tablespoons milk, one-quarter teaspoon salt, pinch pepper. Cut up potatoes and onions, and brown in pan with chicken fat. Add well-beaten eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Stir until scrambled. The Jewish housewife has had to adapt herself a number of times to new foods and their preparation, each time remembering her dietary laws and arranging the recipes to conform to them. This fact makes her an apt pupil. APPLICATIONS TO HEALTH WORK AND TO INSTITUTIONAL SERVICE FROM our studies of dietary backgrounds it has become apparent: That a family coming to this country from a wholly different environment is under an enormous handicap in attaining a satisfactory diet, particularly when the income is small. That doctors, nurses, social workers, and even dietitians generally lack knowledge of the native diets and usual food habits of the foreign-born. That a large number of the foods of foreign-born peoples are well adapted to their physical needs. That most of these foods can be obtained in this country. That the dietary errors arising in this country are largely due to disturbance of the balance in the diet because of change of environment, new scales of prices, etc.; and that the problem before the dietitian is not so much to introduce a complete "American" dietary, as it is to restore the former dietary balance by supplying lost elements. That knowledge of foods of the foreign-born and of their native dietaries is the foundation of all success in this endeavor; it is a necessity in dealing with many specific problems of health or of disease; and is invaluable as a means of mutual understanding and sympathy between the American-born and the immigrant. "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach." The soul of a family may be reached through the daily chores of the household. There is need for enlightenment among Americans regarding the practical utility and enjoyability of many foreign foods. A study of "Foreign Foods Which Would Improve the American Dietary" would be an Americanizing agent of practical value for the use of Home Economic sections of Women's Clubs and similar organizations. American diet would be improved and (psychologically speaking) be enriched; and many Americans would be given a sympathetic appreciation and understanding of our foreign-born population through the practical medium of the kitchen and the dinner table. An International Menu is needed for use in institutions of all kinds recieving any number of foreign-born. An "International Menu" is one which is not confined to "American" dishes, but which contains each day at least one dish especially adapted to at least one of the nationalities or races represented among the patients. This would demonstrate to the patients that the dietitian had considered them and would have a good psychological effect which would of itself help them physically. Thus in a menu for an istitution with many different race groups, a characteristic Italian dish might be included one day, a Polish dish at another meal, or on another day soon thereafter, and similarly the next day might remember the Jewish or Russian patients. So during each week they would all be better satisfied, both physically and mentally. Such an "International Menu" need not make the diet less acceptable to the native-born Americans. It would give greater variety and would help the dietitians in their endless search for something new. As must be borne in mind, the practical value of such a menu is its psychological effect upon the immigrant, almost if not quite as much as its physiological. The work of making up such an International Menu is a matter of practical and not difficult detail. The dietitians, or other persons responsible in hospitals, sanitoria, convalescent homes, restaurants in industrial plants, etc., should (wherever the racial constitution of their people requires it) be made responsible for developing something of this sort. The diet lists used by medical institutions such as hospitals and dispensaries should be adapted to the people, as well as to the diseases which are treated. The habitual foods of the nationality or race dealt with must be in the mind of the person who prepares the diet list, if it is to be much real service. This means that the dietary problems of patients need to be handled by dietitians, visiting nurses, or social workers who have some knowledge of foreign as well as of the characteristic American diet. The average visiting nurse of medical-social sevice worker cannot become an expert in dietetics, and must depend upon the advisory dietitian or the visiting housekeeper. It may be expected that dispensary and visiting nursing associations should provide themselves directly, or through the coöperation of some other organization, with at least the advisory services of such a dietitian. Food Clinics, in which dietitians can be consulted by nurses or general workers, and to which patients can be sent when necessary, are neeeded in the large dispenaries and in connection with the Health Centers which are now being established so rapidly throughout the country.