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The growing importance to manufacturers, dealers, and consumers of a knowledge of food products has led to the preparation of the following manual.

Unfortunately, many misleading statements respecting the composition of foods, their nutritive value, and their relation to health and digestion have been published and received with more or less credence by the public. Claims of superior excellence, which are entirely baseless, are constantly made for certain food products in order to call the attention of the public more directly to their value and, unfortunately, at times to mislead the public with respect to their true worth.

It is not uncommon to see foods advertised as of exceptional quality, either as a whole or for certain purposes. Many of the preparations of this kind are of undoubted excellence, but fail to reach the superior standard or perform the particular function which is attributed to them. Particularly has it been noticed that foods are offered for specific purposes or the nourishment of certain parts of the body, especially of the brain and nerves. We are all familiar with the advertisements of foods to feed the brain, or feed the nerves, or feed the skin. It is hardly necessary to call attention to the absurdity of claims of this kind. One part of the body cannot be nourished if the other parts are neglected, and the true principle of nutrition requires a uniform and equal development and nourishment of all the tissues. It is true that many of the tissues have predominant constituents. For instance in the bones are found large quantities of phosphate of calcium and in the muscles nitrogenous tissues dominate. In the brain and nerves there are considerable quantities of organic phosphorus. All of these bodies, however, are contained in normal food properly balanced.

It would be contrary to the principles of physiology to attempt to feed the bones by consuming a large excess of phosphorus in the food or the muscles by confining the food to a purely nitrogenous component. Such attempts, instead of nourishing the tissues indicated, will so unbalance the rations as to disarrange the whole metabolic process, and thus injure and weaken the very tissues they are designed to support.

It seems, therefore, advisable to prepare a manual which may be used in conjunction with works on dietetics and on physiology and hygiene and yet of a character not especially designed for the expert.

The American public is now so well educated that any average citizen is fully capable of understanding scientific problems if presented to him in a non-technical garb.

It is, therefore, not difficult to see that the great army of manufacturers and dealers in food products, as well as the still greater army of consumers, are able to receive and to utilize information concerning food products which is of common interest to all. A dissemination of knowledge of this kind will guide the manufacturer in his legitimate business and protect the public against deceptions such as those mentioned above.

In the evolution of society, economy and efficiency indicate that specializations should be made as completely as possible. For this reason it is advisable that foods of a certain character be manufactured and prepared for consumption on a large scale, so that due economy and purity may be secured. On the other hand there are many other kinds of foods which, by reason of their properties, cannot be prepared on a large scale but must be produced near or at the place of consumption. Milk is a type of this class of foods. It is altogether probable, therefore, that the consumption of manufactured foods will not decrease but increase even more rapidly than the number of our population.

In order that the people may be able to judge of the quality and character of products of this kind, information readily available appears to be highly desirable.

In the other case of the utilization of raw materials, it is equally important that the people of this country understand their nature and their functions in the digestive process. The great nutritive value of our food is found in the cereals, the meats, the fruits, and vegetables which we consume. A description of foods of this class, the places of their growth, the conditions under which they are matured and marketed, the problems which relate to their storage and transportation, their composition in respect of nutrition and digestibility, the dangers which may accrue from their decay, and the adulterations or sophistications to which they may be subjected are matters of the greatest public importance.

A treatise of this kind in order to be of its full value for which it is intended must be concise, expressed in simple language, in a form easily consulted, and yet be of a character which will be reliable and which will give full information on the subject.

It is a common habit of speech to divide foods into two great classes, namely, foods and beverages. This is not a scientific division, but is one which has been so well established by custom as to render it advisable to divide this work into two portions, one devoted to food in the sense just used and the other to beverages. The first volume of this work devoted to foods will treat of those bodies commonly known under the term “foods,”—namely, cereals, meats of all kinds, milk, vegetables, nuts, and fruits. The second volume will embrace the study of beverages, namely, natural and artificial mineral waters, soda waters, soft drinks, coffee, tea, cocoa, wines, cider, beer and other fermented beverages, distilled beverages of all kinds, and mixtures or compounds thereof.

In connection with the description of the origin of foods and their general characteristics will be given a statement of their chemical composition, especially in relation to nutritive properties. The principal adulterations or sophistications to which the food products are obnoxious will be briefly described, and where simple methods of detecting adulterations are known, of a character to be applied without special chemical knowledge or skill, they will be given.

An attempt is thus made to lay before those interested, in as compact a form as possible, the chief points connected with the production of food, its manipulation, and its use for the nourishment of the body.

It is not the intention of this manual to enter at all into the subject of cooking or the physiology of foods and nutrition. That is a distinct and separate part of this problem and has already been treated in many manuals. In this connection, however, attention may be called to the great importance of proper cooking in the use of food. Raw materials of the best character, prepared and transported in the most approved manner, may be so injured in the kitchen in the process of cooking as to be rendered both unpalatable and difficult of digestion. On the contrary, food materials of an inferior quality, provided they contain no injurious substances, may be so treated by the skilled cook as to be both palatable and nutritious. The desirability of the dissemination of correct principles of cooking is no less than that of giving information respecting the materials on which the art of cookery is exercised. It may be added that the art of cookery at the present time should not be confined to the mere technical manipulation, the application of heat and of condimental substances, but should also have some reference to the actual process of nutrition.

Foods should be prepared in the kitchen, not only of a palatable character and properly spiced but also selected in such a manner as to safeguard one of the chief purposes of food, namely, the proper nutrition of the body and the avoidance of any injury to digestion.

It is commonly admitted that many, perhaps most, of the diseases of the digestive tract to which the American people are so subject arise from the consumption of rations improperly balanced, poorly prepared, or used in great excess. To the intelligent and scientific cook the information contained in this manual will especially appeal.