George Washington Carver: A National Agricultural Library Digital Exhibit

1916

National Agricultural Library

As we learn more about ourselves and the relation of food to our well being, we cannot but agree with those who have made it a study that ‘the prosperity of the nation depends upon the health and morals of its citizens, and the health and morals of a people depend mainly upon the food they eat, and the homes in which they live.’

As a rule, we are wasteful; we do not know how to save. Ignorance in the kitchen is one of the worst curses that ever afflicted humanity, and is directly or indirectly responsible for more deaths than all the armies combined. It sacrifices human life from the following angles:

1. A poor selection of food; that is, foodstuff lacking in the constituents necessary to build up the body and keep it healthy.

2. Bad combinations of food; that is, there are many foodstuffs good within themselves, but when combined with other material create an unnatural appetite; and quite frequently the body is unnourished, unduly stimulated, and as a result often leads to strong drink, bad morals, and bad manners.

3. Bad preparation of food. In this I think I make a conservative statement when I say that 75 per cent of those who are entrusted with this important charge are deficient. Here is the very hot-bed for indigestion, constipation, sour stomach, malnutrition, colic, and a host of other stomach troubles.

Three Delicous [sic] Meals Every Day for the Farmer