PREFACE


"FOOD IS FUEL FOR FIGHTERS. Do not waste it. Save WHEAT, MEAT,
SUGARS AND FATS. Send more to our Soldiers, Sailors and Allies."


The patriotic housewife finds her little domestic boat sailing in
uncharted waters. The above message of the Food Administration disturbs
her ordinary household routine, upsets her menus and puts her recipes out
of commission. It also renders inoperative some of her usual methods of
economy at a time when rising food prices make economy more imperative
than ever. To be patriotic and still live on one's income is a complex
problem. This little book was started in response to a request for "a war
message about food." It seemed to the author that a simple explanation of
the part which some of our common foods play in our diet might be both
helpful and reassuring. To change one's menu is often trying; to be
uncertain whether the substituted foods will preserve one's health and
strength makes adjustment doubly difficult. It is hoped that the brief
chapters which follow will make it easier to "save wheat, meat, sugars and
fats" and to make out an acceptable bill of fare without excessive cost.

Thanks are due to the Webb Publishing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota, for
permission to reprint three of the chapters, which appeared originally in
_The Farmer's Wife_.

TEACHERS COLLEGE, Columbia University, New York City.