The essentials of school diet; or, The diet suitable for the growth and development of youth,

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1891. Excerpt: ... VII. THE VARIOUS ARTICLES OF FOOD REQUIRED FOR YOUTH AT SCHOOL. The great fault in most schools, where there is not a deficiency in quantity of food, is that there is too much sameness--a sameness of material and a sameness of cooking--whereas, even if the sameness of material were necessary, which I do not admit, a little more variety in cooking would obviate the difficulty to some extent, and make the food more appetizing. The ingenuity of school-cooks should be encouraged; for from the hard work they have, and the responsible position they hold, they should command good salaries, and parents and pupils expect, and are entitled to obtain, more variety in cooking and feeding. It only requires a little more forethought on the part of the caterer; and it is precisely this which makes the difference between a good house-master and an indifferent one. On the other hand, in some schools, the food arrangements are everything that could be desired, and bear witness to the care and forethought expended, and furnish evidence, too, that the points upon which I am insisting are not beyond the capacity of all schools. The question seems to me to resolve itself into that of competence or incompetence for the work that is implicitly undertaken. I do not ask that luxuries should be supplied to youth at school; the boys are better without them. But I do insist again here that boys have a right to plenty of food, of the appropriate kind for growth and development, which shall be cooked and served in an appetizing way; and not the "short commons," cooked and served in the rough-and-ready Gothic fashion, and often accompanied by the assertion that anything is good enough for boys. It seems to be forgotten that these boys are being moulded into the future men of the nation;...