The Laurel Health Cookery: A Collection of Practical Suggestions and Recipes for the Preparation of Non-Flesh Foods in Palatable and Attractive Ways

most loathsome diseases among them, causes a growing desire among thinking people to take their food at _first hand_, before it has become a part of the body of some lower animal. So, the great food question of the day is--“_What shall we use in the place of meat?_” Nuts, legumes (peas, beans, lentils and peanuts) and eggs contain as do flesh meats, an excess of the proteid or muscle-building elements (nuts and legumes a much larger proportion than flesh), so we may combine these with fruits, vegetables and some of the cereals (rice, for instance) and have a perfect proportion of food elements. It must be borne in mind, however, that _proteid foods must be used sparingly_, since an _excess_ of these foods causes _some of the most serious diseases_. The _bulk_ of our foods should be made up of fruits and vegetables and some of the less hearty cereals and breads. NUTS As nuts occupy the highest round of the true meat ladder, we give a variety of recipes for their use, following with legumes and eggs in their order. With nuts, as with other foods, the simplest way to use them is the best. There are greater objections to foods than that they are difficult of digestion, and in the case of nuts, that objection is overcome by thorough mastication; in fact, they are an aid to the cultivation of that important function in eating. For those who are not able to chew their food, nuts may be ground into butter. Another aid to the digestion of nuts is the use with them of an abundance of acid fruits. Fruits and nuts seem to be each the complement of the other, the nuts as well, preventing the unpleasant effects felt by some in the free use of fruits. “No investigations have been found on record which demonstrate any actual improvement in the digestibility of nuts due to salt.”--_M. E. Jaffa, M. S., Professor of Nutrition, University of California._ Be sure that nuts are fresh. Rancid nuts are no better than rancid butter. Shelled nuts do not keep