Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Nutrition, Health, Mathematics, Education, Reason

    Laments the fact that 'the great, portion of our working population [...] have so little time to eat, not to say prepare, the food they earn' and their 'unwholesome diet and irregular hours of eating have produced indigestion, disordered stomachs, diseased stomachs' and expensive doctors' bills (89). Advocates cookery as a 'branch of education'. Draws an analogy with mathematics, which most adults would not study even were they informed that their 'well-being' depended on it, but which is 'daily being taught' to boys 'without the slightest difficulty' or 'interference with their other duties'. Notes that while mathematics is 'only useful in some out of the many employments and vocations of mankind', cookery 'concerns every human being born'. Insists that everyone should have knowledge of the 'nutritious properties' of a variety of foods and how best they should be consumed. Attacks those who take 'bad physic' to treat 'biliary derangement'. (90) Urges that knowledge of 'botany, chemistry, physiology' and the 'medicinal properties of various vegetables [...] should be instilled as the foundation or groundwork for the reformation of our style of living' (91). Concludes by upholding the importance of 'reason' in the preparation of food (92).