Publisher's Synopsis
Author's PREFACE:
In the early days of the war, I came away from a talk with Mr. Hoover and Dr. Taylor of the Department of Agriculture, convinced that unless I could make candy without sugar and cake, and bread without wheat, I was daily depriving our suffering Allies and our Soldiers of food they sorely needed-Soldiers do not fight well if underfed, nor have they good morale if their families at home are hungry. So it seemed to me that women's first war activity should be to cooperate fully with the Food Administration; and I then and there determined that I would sell and serve in my shops only foods that entirely conformed to the requirements of the United States Food Administration. It has meant a good deal of very interesting work, but the results have far exceeded my hopes, and all these recipes are now in daily use in my shops.
My opportunities for testing recipes are many times greater than those of most women, and war time foods that my patrons will order and enjoy must possess qualities of merit. The requests for my war time recipes have been so abundant that I am gathering these recipes together in book form, that they may help some folks who have the same earnest desire as myself to aid the Food Administration in every way but lack the facilities and time to work out their own recipes.
The Food Administration's rulings will change from time to time, along with crop and other conditions; but the need for wheat, meat, and sugar conservation-except perhaps for short periods-will continue as long as the wheat and beet sugar fields of Europe remain battle fields and men, who might be raising crops and animals for food, are soldiers.
Fish and poultry, fresh vegetables and fruits that grow nearby (foods that must be carried a long distance by our already overburdened railroads must be used as little as possible) should form the greater part of our diet, and can do so with no sense of deprivation if a little added care and attention be given to menu-making and cookery.
Mary Elizabeth
