HOW.TO LIVE WELL AND CHEAPLY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 183, 29 April 1919, Page 9

HOW.TO LIVE WELL AND CHEAPLY

LESSONS FROM BELGIAN PEASANTS

. A Bolgian lady, writing in "Outlook on the good living of the Belgians, says that they aro anion? the healthiest and strongest in the world, especially the peasant class. In contract with the Belgians tho' British working classes aro badly nourished, and are certainly not nearly so strong nor so healthy, notwithstanding that the averago British family spends far mora money on food than, their North .Sea jioighbours. What is the secret of this superior standard of living, combined with greater cheapness? Tho answer will bo found in tho better methods of preparing and cooking food prevailing in Belgian homes. Belgians eat a great deal ot vegetables. Amongst the peasants it is. the great staple food, soup is oaten once a day in every home, and in many homes at least twice, and is tho most nutritious of all foods, but our methods of preparing soups are quite different from that employed in the average Britisli kitchen. I have seen English cooks boil cabbages and similar vegetables for a very considerable time, and then throw away the liquid and serve the vegetables alone,. which is. very much like tho way in which tea wns first sferved in this countrv in the time of • Queen Elizabeth. When tea was first brewed, tho liquid was thrown out and the leaves served hot! The most nourishing portion of vegetables resides in the solublo salts which, when boilod, dissolve in water, and when tho water is thrown away the most nutritions part °f the vegetables is wasted. It would be far better to drink the vegetable liquid and throw away the solid, matter than to, eat the boiled vegetables and wrfsto the water. One reason why vegetable soups are 60 nourishing when properly prepared is that these salts aro preserved. The best way to cook vegetables is.to either steam or ntew them. Jf they are boiled, comparatively i little water should bo used, and flhould be served with the vegetables. Belgians—particularly the country people—eat a great quantity of milk and cheese, which contains similnr propertins to the famous preparation "Yaghourt" recommended by the great Dr. Mcchnikoff for increasing longevity, as well as a euro for indigestion. Buttermilk is. also an important beverage on the Continent, and is used as a soup for supper in many workmen's homes. I am convinced that the craving for stimuhiuts—alcoholic drinks, tobacco, as well as sweets, which is so pronounced in this country,, is due in a very great measure to the lack of nourishing food, and tho imperfect digestion from which millions, of British people suffer is solely through the bad cooking and ignorance of the housewives in not knowing how to prepare food. Good, well-prepared food |is the foundation of a strong and he'althy nation, Tvhilst badly prepared, ill-cooked food is the cause of untold dvils and misery. Take, for example, the condition of the average person's teeth in Great Britain and compare thein with the Belgians. I have never seen so many persons wearing i'also teeth as during my few gears' residence in England. Instead of tho strong, healthy teeth conspicuous among mv country people in England one is appalled at tho shocking condition of the poorer classes. In.no other country is ilia business of artificial teeth so prosperous as in the British Isles. The root of the evil is undoubtedly duo to lack oF nutritious food, as well as to lack of ninety, to which is also traceable anaemia and poor blood generally, although ' nnneima is often attributed to insufficiency of fresh air. Since poor country children, who spend most of their days out of doors, are afflicted with this dread disease, it is evident that fresh.air alone is not a preventive The custom of feeding children with sweetmeats and candies is also responsible for tho early decay of the. teeth, and whilst sugar is a nutritious food in moderate quantities suitably prepared, tho wholesale distribution of sweetmeats which is made, not only among children, but consumed in largo quantities by grown-up's, has a very prejudicial effect on the system.' The effects are not only bad on the teeth, but aggravated and in some coses, cause skin troubles. Plenty of properly prepared vegetables and vegetable soups purify the blood and tend to keep the skin in a healthy condition. Thero is ono thing which foreigners cannot understand, and that is tho'difficulty of getting a good cup of coffee at the averago British restaurant. Here is a sirnplo and stimulating beverage which, ■when properly, prepared, is far less injurious 'than any of tho ordinary beverages offered in the shape of tea or other stim--ulating but non-nutritious drinks, and" the' preparation of coffee is one of the simplest things in tho world. The water which is used for preparing tho coffee should, of course, bo boiled and as hot as possible; but tho coffee pot in which the coffee is made should not be allowed to stand sufficiently near the stove or fire to allow the contents to boil; and yet at most of tho railway station restaurants ono can seo huge kettles in which coffee is kept boiling with tho coffee grounds, hour after hour, the result being that the eo-cnlled coffee becomes almost poisonous. .