Food Guide for War Service at Home Part 2
The United States, more like England than Scotland, has used oats mostly for feed. The crop is second only to the corn-crop. Oats are eaten in the form of oatmeal, which is a finely granulated meal, and as the common rolled oats which have been steamed and put through rollers. There is little oat flour on the market at present. A successful and palatable home-made flour may be prepared by putting rolled oats through a food-chopper. Any of the forms of oats can be used in breads of all kinds, but the more finely ground flour can be subst.i.tuted in larger proportion. The demand for oat products has grown so rapidly the last year that mills are running to their limit.
Special machinery is required for its manufacture, so that a great increase in the supply is not feasible in a short time.
_Barley and Rye_. In using barley and rye for bread we are only going back to the methods of our forefathers. Barley is supposed to be one of the first cereals used by man. Good barley flour is a very acceptable subst.i.tute for wheat, but if too large a proportion of the kernel is included, it may be bitter in flavor.
_Rye_, of all the cereals, makes bread nearest like wheat, though the rye bread formerly made usually contained from 20 per cent to 80 per cent wheat flour. The supply is far below what we could well use. For this reason it is not included among the cereals which the housekeeper is allowed to buy on the 50-50 plan, and since March 31, 1918, bakers have not been allowed to use it as a subst.i.tute in baking on the same basis as the other subst.i.tutes.
_Rice_. Rice forms the chief food of hundreds of millions of people, and in many oriental countries is the staple cereal, like wheat with us. As a wheat subst.i.tute we may use it cooked whole or ground into a flour. The rice flour may be mixed with other cereals in making bread and cakes. The rice polish, which is a by-product secured by rubbing off with brushes the outside coating of the brown rice, is much cheaper. It has been sold chiefly for stock-feed, but it has possibilities as a flour subst.i.tute.
The rice-growers of the South are doing their best to supply the country with rice in quant.i.ty and to make known the possibilities of this cereal. The rice flour supply, though not large now, will doubtless be much increased by next year. One Louisiana mill, for example, is increasing its output from 150 to 1,200 barrels a day.
_Other Cereal Subst.i.tutes_. Besides the subst.i.tutes which are common all over the country, there are products produced in too small amounts to make them universal subst.i.tutes, such as buckwheat, cottonseed meal, and peanut flour, any of which can be used with other flours for baking. The Southwest produces both flour and meal from milo, kaffir, and feterita.
Flours are made from the Irish and sweet potato, from tapioca, from soy beans, and bananas, but they are manufactured in such small amounts that they do not take the place of wheat to any great extent.
Potato flour comes nearest to doing this. It has always been used to some extent in Europe and it is being widely used in Germany now.
Potato itself can be used instead of wheat. An extra potato at a meal will take the place of a large slice of bread.
Many of the subst.i.tute cereals do not keep so well as wheat, especially if they contain more than a minimum of moisture and fat.
The housekeeper and the baker should therefore buy them in small enough quant.i.ties to use them up promptly and should keep them in a cool, well-ventilated place. May and June and the summer months are the time when most care is needed.
It is the free use of these many wholesome subst.i.tutes that is making possible the necessary saving of wheat. We who appreciate their wholesomeness and their value can well break away from our wheat habit and gladly make the little effort sometimes necessary to begin using newer foods.
CHAPTER III
WAR BREAD
Bread is the staff of life for all nations. But "bread" does not necessarily mean the wheat loaf. At one time and place it has been barley cake, at another oaten cake, and at another corn pone. Bread has always been whatever cereal happened to be convenient. Even such unbreadlike food as rice is to some races what bread is to us.
Why, then, have we developed our wheat-bread habit? Partly because wheat bread has been easy to get and we have grown to like the taste, but chiefly because wheat flour gives the lightest loaf. To understand why, make a dough with a little white flour and water and then gently knead it in cold water. The consistency changes, the starch is washed out and a rubbery, sticky ball is left--the _gluten_, which is the protein of the wheat. It is this gluten in the flour that stretches when bread rises and then stiffens when it is baked, making a light, porous loaf. Wheat is the only one of the cereals that has much gluten; rye has a little and the others practically none.
Gluten seems to be essential to the making of a light, yeast-raised loaf. Products raised with baking-powder, for which our standard of lightness is different--"quick breads" like biscuits and m.u.f.fins and cakes--do not require the gluten and can easily be made from subst.i.tute cereals. But for our ordinary loaf of bread, at least some wheat seems to be almost essential, though with skill in the making, rye can be made to serve in its place. Patriotic bakers and housewives all over the country have been trying to produce a wheatless loaf which is light, palatable, and sufficiently durable to stand transportation. The durability is a very important consideration; crumbly corn bread cannot be distributed by bakers nor served to armies. Corn bread and the other quick breads are chiefly home-made products.
OUR PRESENT PROBLEM, THEREFORE, IS TO MAKE THE MOST EFFECTIVE POSSIBLE USE OF OUR WHEAT GLUTEN, TO MAKE IT GO AS FAR AS POSSIBLE IN OUR BREADS. BOTH BAKERS AND PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS HAVE THEIR SHARE IN SOLVING THE PROBLEM.
THE BAKERS' REGULATIONS. VICTORY BREAD
The bakers have co-operated loyally. Probably no other food industry has been more vitally affected by the war. ALL BAKERS USING THREE OR MORE BARRELS OF FLOUR A MONTH HAVE BEEN LICENSED AND SO ARE UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE FOOD ADMINISTRATION. This means practically all the commercial bakers of the country, and many hotels, clubs, and inst.i.tutions. About two-fifths of the bread in the United States is made in bakeries and three-fifths in the home. The bakeries have used 35,000,000 barrels of flour each year, so the importance of this field for conservation is plain.
The amount of wheat flour they are now permitted to have has been reduced: at present 80 per cent of their last year's quant.i.ty, or, if they are pastry and cracker bakers, 70 per cent. They must make no bread wholly of wheat flour. Some subst.i.tute must be mixed with the wheat. When the regulation went into effect in February, 1918, 20 per cent was required and later, 25 per cent. In pies and cakes there must be at least one-third subst.i.tute. The amounts of sugar and fat used are limited. Even the sizes of the loaves are fixed, so that the extravagance of making and handling all sorts of fancy shapes and sizes may be avoided. Bread must not be sold to the retailer at unreasonable prices.
Victory bread is bread made in accordance with these regulations.
The name "Victory" was chosen as representing the idea underlying the conservation of wheat. The name is really a present to the Food Administration, having been used by two large firms who gave up all rights to their trade-mark.
Hotels and restaurants are required to make or serve bread containing at least as much of the wheat subst.i.tutes as Victory bread. They may not serve more than two ounces of bread and other wheat products to a guest at a meal. Many of them have recently promised to use no wheat at all till the next harvest. That means, of course, that only through intelligent effort can they serve yeast bread.
THE INDIVIDUAL'S ANSWER TO THE BREAD CRY
UNTIL THE WHEAT-SUPPLY INCREASES AND THE FOOD ADMINISTRATION LESSENS RESTRICTIONS, USE NO WHEAT AT ALL IF YOU CAN POSSIBLY DO WITHOUT.
Remember that you can make delicious m.u.f.fins and other quick breads from the subst.i.tute flours. And you need no bread at all at some meals. An extra potato or a serving of rice can be eaten instead of the usual two slices of bread and the body will be supplied with the same amount of energy. Do not be the slave of old food habits. WHEN ALL EUROPE IS EATING TO KEEP ALIVE, FASTIDIOUSNESS AND FOOD "NOTIONS"
MUST PLAY NO PART IN THE DIETARY.
Some people find it is almost impossible to do without the baker's loaf. Hundreds in crowded city quarters have no facilities of their own for baking. Women doing their share in factories and workshops cannot get up earlier to make corn bread for breakfast. Victory bread must be saved for them. For households which must use wheat, the Food Administration has fixed a voluntary ration of 1 pounds of wheat per week for each person. This includes wheat in the form of bread, pastry, macaroni, crackers, noodles, and breakfast foods.
All who can should do more than their share--they must do their utmost to make up for those whose circ.u.mstances prevent them from doing it.
THE INTERESTS AND DESIRES OF EACH OF US IN THIS WAR CAN BE TRANSLATED INTO SERVICE IN NO MORE EFFECTIVE WAY THAN BY CONFORMING OUR FOOD HABITS TO THE NEEDS OF THE HOUR.
FLOUR AND BREAD IN THE ALLIED COUNTRIES
All the Allied countries have been stretching their meagre wheat-supply to the limit and are enforcing the most stringent regulations.
The flour is required to be of high extraction--ordinarily from 81 per cent to 90 per cent, decidedly higher than our 74 per cent. Even with this coa.r.s.e, gray flour a large percentage of subst.i.tute must be mixed, usually 25 per cent. In England there are local regulations on the use of mashed potato in bread. Their bread must be twelve hours old before it is sold, so that people will not be tempted to eat too much. The result is seldom palatable. In France no flour at all may be used to make the delectable pastries and cakes which have long been the delight of the French people and their guests. In Italy, macaroni, which in many regions is as much the "staff of life" as bread, must contain 43 per cent subst.i.tute, and in some places may not be manufactured at all.
Both England and France have subsidized bread; the Government has set a price below cost and itself makes up the difference to the baker.
England has appropriated $200,000,000 for the purpose.
Bread rations are in force in both France and Italy. France has recently put her whole people on a rigorous ration which limits them to two-thirds of the amount of bread that they have been accustomed to. Remember that bread is a far more important part of the French diet than of ours. Even children under three have bread cards allowing them 3 ounces a day. Rations are not a guarantee that the amount mentioned will be forthcoming; they only permit one to have it if it can be obtained. One interesting result of the stringency, according to an American officer writing from Paris, is that guests even at formal dinners, may be asked to bring their own bread, finding this postscript on their invitations: "Apportez un peu de pain si vous le voulez."[1] In Italy the very limited bread rations are fixed locally.
[Footnote 1: "Bring a little bread if you wish it."]
England has compulsory rations for meat and b.u.t.ter or margarine and sugar, but not for bread. Her bread system is voluntary like ours, but much more detailed. The voluntary ration allows one-half pound of bread a day for sedentary and unoccupied women and larger allowances up to a little over a pound for men doing heavy labor. Waste of any kind is very heavily punished--one woman was fined $500 for throwing away stale bread.
"Why not send corn abroad?" One hears the question over and over again. The answers are many. In the first place, we _are_ sending corn over--our exports of corn during March, 1918, increased 180 per cent and of corn meal 383 per cent over the pre-war average. This they are using as we are using it in our Victory bread. But they must have enough wheat to make a durable loaf of bread at the bakeshops, where for generations all the baking has been done. The French housewife has no facilities for bread-making and the French woman does not know how and has not the time to learn. She is doing a man's work and her own woman's labor besides, and the extra unaccustomed labor of bread-making cannot be added to her burdens.
WHY WE IN THE UNITED STATES DO NOT HAVE BREAD CARDS
Some people, disturbed either selfishly or patriotically by the failure of a neighbor to conserve wheat, have asked why the Food Administration trusts to voluntary methods, why it does not ration the country.
Rationing may come yet, but any such system bristles with difficulties. The cost to the Government has been variously estimated all the way from $10,000,000 to $45,000,000 a year. Fifty per cent of the population could not be restrained in their consumption by rationing, for they are either producers or live in intimate contact with the producer. A wheat ration which would be fair for the North might actually increase the consumption in the South. Finally, the burden of a bread card would fall largely not on the well-to-do, who eat less wheat already and can easily cut down further, but on those with little to spend, who might have to change their whole food habits.
The success that is meeting our method of voluntary reduction of consumption "will be one of the remembered glories of the American people in this t.i.tanic struggle."
CHAPTER IV
THE MEAT SITUATION
Meat shortage is not a war problem only. We had begun to talk of it long before the war, and we shall find it with us after peace is declared. Great production of beef can take place only in spa.r.s.e settlements. As the tide of increasing population flows over a country, the great cattle-ranges are crowded out, giving place to cultivated fields. More people means less room for cattle--a relative or even absolute decrease in the herds.