The introductory texts reproduced here were written by the original Feeding America team to contextualize the books that were selected for inclusion as part of the 2001 digitization project.
Practical Sanitary and Economic Cooking Adapted to Persons of Moderate and Small Means.
American Public Health Association, 1890.
This is a most interesting volume. It was published by the American Public Health Association after being awarded its prize as the best work on recipes and cooking methods for the poor to moderate in means.
Its author, Mrs. Abel had spent five years in Europe with her husband, a Professor of Pharmacology (University of Michigan and Johns Hopkins), during which time she studied nutrition and diet habits and observed European "people's kitchens".
Upon her return to the United Staters, she entered an essay contest sponsored by the American Public Health Association on the topic of "practical sanitary and economic cooking adapted to persons of moderate and small means." A first prize of $500 and a $200 second prize were offered by the philanthropist Henry Lomb. There were seventy submissions but Mrs. Abel won handily - none of the others even came close enough to merit the second prize.
One of the judges for this contest was Ellen Richards, the first female Professor of Chemistry at M.I.T., and a leader in the growing home economics and feminist movements. Richards was so impressed with this book that she asked Mrs. Abell to join her in setting up the New England Kitchen, a project to feed and educate new immigrants and the working class in Boston. Mrs. Abel joined Ellen Richards and they worked together on various projects for many years.
This book is a straightforward exposition of diet and nutrition information with simple, unadorned recipes. No joy or romance of cooking is to be found here. There are suggestions for using leftovers. There are three classes of Bills of Fare, some for meals averaging 78 cents per day, or 13 cents per person, for a family of six; others for $1.26 a day, and the third for $1.38 a day.
This book will be cross-referenced under Economy, Diet and Nutrition and Social issues (women's and immigration).
