"SAY, LITTLE HEN"

New Zealand Listener, Volume 8, Issue 208, 18 June 1943, Page 10

"SAY, LITTLE HEN"

(Written for

The Listener

by

DR.

MURIEL

BELL

Nutritionist to the

Department of Health)

Say, Little Hen, When, when, when, Will you lay me an egg for my tea? "Ttcom is the present plaintive cry from the housewife. The absence of eggs puts a serious damper on her ability to vary the menu — it cramps her style to a degree that no other shortage does. She is unable to make custard, apple sponge, omelette, Yorkshire pudding, pancakes, soufflés; the bacon seems lonely without an egg; she has to cut out the simple boiled egg for tea. She often says with less than anamatical accuracy but certainly with a measure of work-a-day truth, that "the | way to a man’s heart is through his stomach." Now she has her fears lest the absence of the best-loved dishes will undermine ... . oh, no, not really! She goes to some trouble to see what things can be;used as egg substitutes, and finds that the list echoes eggs----egg pulp, powdered egg. Perhaps she can obtain the latter, and finds that it can add one or two things to her repertoire, but she longs for eggs to give scope to her ingenuity in the kitchen, It is not only the wife and mother who feels the absence of eggs, but also the business girl who has to work so much overtime nowadays and who finds it so difficult to get into a restaurant; she would enjoy dashing home to her flat to cook an egg-she can be back in time with a satisfactory feeling inside and a glow of mental satisfaction because she knows she has had a meal of nutritional merit. For, apart from their ability to ring the changes in the menu, eggs have outstanding qualities asa food. They contain protein of high value and thus are useful for building and repairing the body tissues; they are the only food which makes a generous contribution of vitamin D; they yield much more iron to the body than does ordinary meat, and thus egg-yolk should figure in the diet of infants. Thus to obtain a nutritional substitute for eggs, you might use beans or peas or lentils, which would supply protein (of inferiér grade) and iron; but you would still need to add some cod-liver oil to make up for the vitamin D, and some milk to make up for the riboflavin. Or you could use milk or cheese, certainly containing an excellent protein, and a contributor of riboflavin, but you would again need the cod-liver oil for D, and some wheat-germ for iron. London used to be pathetically amusing to New Zealand visitors who had never before seen a hen kept in the basement "area’"’ just outside the window. I heard tales of the times when the hen was kept under the bed! Before we are driven to return to the primitive, let us hope that more eggs will be available from our country districts.