THE
SUFFRAGE
COOK BOOK
COMPILED BY
MRS. L. O. KLEBER
PITTSBURGH
THE EQUAL FRANCHISE FEDERATION
OF WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
MCMXV
The Equal Franchise Federation
of Western Pennsylvania
Mrs. Henry Villard
AND
Mrs. J. O. Miller
Introduction
There are cook books and cook books, andtheir generation is not ended; a generation thatbegan in the Garden of Eden, presumably, for ifMother Eve was not vastly different from herdaughters she knew how to cook some things betterthan her neighbors, and they wanted to knowhow she made them and she wanted to tell them.
Indeed, it has been stated that the very firstbook printed, a small affair, consisted mainly ofrecipes for "messes" of food, and for remediesfor diseases common in growing families.
Whether the very first book printed was acook book or not, it is quite true that amongthe very oldest books extant are those telling howto prepare food, clothing and medicine. Someof these make mighty interesting reading, particularlythe portions relating to cures for allsorts of ills, likewise of love when it seemed anill, and of ill luck.
And who wouldn't cheerfully pay money,even in this enlightened day, for a book containing[6]recipes for just these same things? For inspite of our higher civilization, broader education,and vastly extended knowledge, we still believein lucky days, lucky stones, and luckyomens.
These formed no inconsiderable part of theold time cook book, and no doubt would constitutea very attractive feature of a modern culinaryguide. However, hardly anyone would confessto having bought it on that account.
In these later times professors of the culinaryart tell us the cooking has been reduced toa science, and that there is no more guess workabout it. They have given high sounding namesto the food elements, figured out perfectly balancedrations, and adjusted foods to all conditionsof health, or ill health. And yet the worldis eating practically the same old things, and inthe same old way, the difference being confinedmainly to the sauces added to please the taste.
Now that women are coming into their own,and being sincerely interested in the welfare ofthe race, it is entirely proper that they shouldprescribe the food, balance the ration, and tellhow it should be prepared and served.
Seeing that a large majority of the sicknessthat plagues the land is due to improper[7]feeding, and can be prevented by teaching thesimple art of cooking, of serving and of eating,the wonder is that more attention has not beengiven to instruction in the simpler phases of theculinary art.
It is far from bei