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Arts-Based Research
in Education

Presenting readers with definitions and examples of arts-based educational

research, this text identifies tensions, questions, and models in the field
and provides guidance for both beginning and more experienced prac-
tice. As arts-based research grows in prominence and popularity across
education and the social sciences, the barriers between empirical, institu-
tional, and artistic research diminish and new opportunities emerge for
discussion, consideration, and reflection. This book responds to an ever
increasing, global need to understand and navigate this evolving domain
of research. Featuring a diverse range of contributors, this text weaves
together critical essays about arts-based research in the literary, visual,
and performing arts with examples of excellence in theory and practice.
New to the Second Edition:

• Additional focus on the historical and theoretical foundations of

arts-based educational research to guide readers through the devel-
opment of the field since its inception.
• New voices and chapters on a variety of artistic genres, including
established and emerging social science researchers and artists who
act, sing, draw, and narrate findings.
• Extends and refines the concept of scholartistry, introduced in the
first edition, to interrogate excellence in educational inquiry and ar-
tistic processes and products.
• Integrates and applies theoretical frameworks such as sociocultural
theory, new materialism, and critical pedagogy to create interdisci-
plinary connections.
• Expanded toolkit for scholartists to inspire creativity, questioning,
and risk-taking in research and the arts.

Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor is Professor of TESOL and World Language

Education at the University of Georgia, USA.

Richard Siegesmund is Professor of Art+Design Education at Northern

Illinois University, USA.
Arts-Based Research
in Education

Foundations for Practice

Second Edition

Edited by
Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor
and Richard Siegesmund
Second edition published 2018
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018 Taylor & Francis
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to be identified as the authors of the editorial material,
and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Routledge 2008
Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Publication Data
Names: Cahnmann-Taylor, Melisa, editor. | Siegesmund,
Richard, editor.
Title: Arts-based research in education: foundations for
practice / edited by Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor and Richard
Siegesmund.
Description: Second edition. | New York: Routledge, 2018. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017039774 | ISBN 9781138235175 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781138235199 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781315305073 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Education — Research — Methodology. | Art
in education— Philosophy.
Classification: LCC LB1028 . A68 2018 | DDC 370.7/2— dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017039774

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Cover Image: Microbe 5, by Erin McIntosh

 1992 South Park Elementary School
In dedication to teachers and students, past and present,
who made it imperative to be both a researcher and artist in
the f ield of education.
—poem by Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor

The unbearable uncertainty of purple inked

mimeographed fingers, broken chalk, bars
   crisscrossing cloudless LA skies, urine

fogging corridors, Santa Monica fires

ashing lots, sleepless third-grade eyes
  that petrified twenty-year-old commuting, – car stalled

– late for work – one small deaf ear to a teacher’s

temper. And I taught P.E., art,
   music, language arts, watched the union rep

prop feet on fourth grade desks and say

we should let them teach themselves
  with what they pay us. At first, I confused

disability with disrespect, marched

past principals to one university
   after another where I could learn

to forgive myself for driving more than one

dear student to tears.
Contents

Acknowledgments x
About the Editors xii
About the Contributors xiii

1 Introduction 1
Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor and Richard Siegesmund

2 Celebrating Monkey Business in Art Education and Research 12

Madeleine Grumet

3 Putting Critical Public Pedagogy into Practice:

Reorienting the Career Path of the Teacher-Artist-Scholar 19
Yen Yen Woo

4 Art, Agency, and Inquiry: Making Connections between

New Materialism and Contemporary Pragmatism
in Arts-Based Research 32
Jerry Rosiek

5 Wild Imagination, Radical Imagination, Politics, and the

Practice of Arts-Based Educational Research (ABER) and
Scholartistry 48
Donald Blumenfeld-Jones

6 Being Pregnant as an International PhD Student:

A Poetic Autoethnography 67
Kuo Zhang
viii Contents

7 What Is an Artist-Teacher When Teaching Second Languages? 82

Yohan Hwang

8 Ethnographic Activist Middle Grades Fiction: Reflections

on Researching and Writing Dear Mrs. Naidu 91
Mathangi Subramanian

9 Misperformance Ethnography 99
Monica Prendergast and George Belliveau

10 Songwriting as Ethnographic Practice: How Stories

Humanize 115
Kristina Jacobsen

11 The End Run: Art and the Heart of the Matter 128
Dana Walrath

12 Expanding Paradigms: Art as Performance and

Performance as Communication in Politically
Turbulent Times 137
Petula Sik-Ying Ho, Celia Hoi-Yan Chan, and Sui-Ting Kong

13 HAPPENINGS: Allan Kaprow’s Experimental,

Inquiry-Based Art Education 147
Charles R. Garoian

14 Turning Towards: Materializing New Possibilities

through Curating 163
Brooke Hofsess

15 The Abandoned School as an Anomalous Place of

Learning: A Practice-led Approach to Doctoral Research 174
Natalie LeBlanc

16 Thinking in Comics: An Emerging Process 190

Nick Sousanis

17 For Art’s Sake, Stop Making Art 200

Jorge Lucero
 Contents ix

18 Finding the Progress in Work-in-Progress: Liz Lerman’s

Critical Response Process in Arts-Based Research 212
John Borstel

19 A Researcher Prepares: The Art of Acting for the

Qualitative Researcher 228
Kathleen R. McGovern

20 Learning to Perceive: Teaching Scholartistry 241

Richard Siegesmund

21 Four Guiding Principles for Arts-Based Research Practice 247

Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor

Index 259
Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the many individuals and institutions

who have allowed us to further ABR dialogues. First, our gratitude
for the nurturing qualitative research community at the University of
Georgia that supported the first edition of the book and continues to
provide a context for exploring ABR with students and colleagues. In
particular, our thanks to Kathleen DeMarrais, who initially advanced
our first ABR book proposal to Routledge and the Willson Center for
Humanities and the Arts. Colleagues at the Northern Illinois Univer-
sity School of Art and Design have been critical friends as well. The
ABR communities that have formed at the annual meetings of the
A merican ­
­ Educational ­Research Association (AERA), the American
A nthropological ­
­ Association (AAA), the 2013–2015 Iberian confer-
ences on A ­ rts-Based and Artistic Research, the International Congress
for Qualitative ­Inquiry (ICQI), and now the European Congress for
Qualitative Inquiry (ECQI) have created critical forums for the growth
of ideas around ABR and its application to education. Norman ­Denzin,
who organizes the ICQI conference, has been a tireless leader in ad-
vancing the field and has provided us with repeated opportunities to
test our ideas and develop our thinking. Progress on this book was
achieved while serving as Fulbright scholars to Belgium and Mexico. We
thank our hosts Karin Hannes at KU Leuven and Marlo López Gopar
at UABJO Oaxaca, respectively. Other invitations came from Ricardo
Marin Viadel at the University of Granada, the Research Institute of
the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ho Sik Ying from the
University of Hong Kong, Todd Fletcher from the University of Arizona/
Resplandor program in ­Guanajuato, Mexico, Kelly Guyotte at the Uni-
versity of Alabama, and Kakali Bhattachayra at Kansas State University.
We are indebted to the support from our publisher, Routledge, and its
parent company, Taylor and Francis, in moving forward with the second
edition. We started this journey with Naomi Silverman and worked with
her over the last decade up until her retirement. Karen Adler has stepped
into Naomi’s shoes and has assisted us, along with the supporting staff
 Acknowledgments xi

at Routledge, in seeing the project through to completion. Melisa sends

gratitude to Lisa De Niscia from Whitepoint Press for publishing her
ethnographic poetry in the book, Imperfect Tense. Of special note,
we also want to thank UGA doctoral student and chapter contributor
Kathleen McGovern for her tireless work as an assistant editor, helping
to bring this book to completion.
Most importantly, we are grateful for the support of our partners and
families who have forgiven our absences, encouraged our presences, and
helped sustain us in our hybrid lives in the arts and social sciences.
About the Editors

Melisa “Misha” Cahnmann-Taylor, Professor

of Language and Literacy Education at the
University of Georgia, is the author of a book
of poetry, Imperfect Tense (White Point Press,
2016), and co-author of two previous books
in education: Teachers Act Up: Creating Mul-
ticultural Learning Communities Through
Theatre (2010) and Arts-Based Research in
Education, first and second editions (2008).
Winner of grants from the National Endow-
ment for the Arts, Fulbright, Beckman foun-
Photo by Sara Wise. dation, and Resplandor, her work appears in
many literary and scholarly journals including Georgia Review, A ­ merican
Poetry Review, and Mom Egg. She posts events and updates at her blog
http://teachersactup.com.
Richard Siegesmund is Professor of Art+
Design Education at Northern Illinois Uni-
versity. An elected Distinguished Fellow
of the National Art Education ­Association
(NAEA), he has received Fulbright awards
for arts-based research (ABR) to both ­I reland
and Belgium. His research into arts-based
learning has been supported by grants from
the United States Department of E ­ ducation
and the NAEA Research Commission.
­Recently, he has also been an artist-in-­
residence at the Kala Art Institute, Berkeley,
California. His scholarship deals with the transdisciplinary potential of
ABR methodo­logies within social science, aesthetics as a philosophy of
care, and visual literacy as a fundamental human skill.
About the Contributors

George Belliveau is Professor of Theatre/Drama Education at the Uni-

versity of British Columbia, Canada. His research interests include
research-based theatre, drama and social justice, drama and L2 learn-
ing, drama across the curriculum, drama and health research, and
Canadian theatre. He has written or edited six books, including a
coedited one with Graham Lea, Research-based Theatre: An Artistic
Methodology (Intellect, 2016).
Donald Blumenfeld-Jones focuses on aesthetics-ethics-­education-ABER.
He has three books in these areas: Curriculum and the Aesthetic
Life (Peter Lang), Ethics, Aesthetics and Education (­Palgrave-Pivot),
and Teacher Education for the 21st Century (IAP). He founded/­
directed ARTs (Arts-Based Reflective Teaching), an elementary
­education teacher preparation program based on these ideas.
John Borstel is a writer, teacher, administrator, and artist at the cross-
roads of photography, performance, and text. As Director of Crit-
ical Response Initiatives, he continues his 24-year association with
­choreographer Liz Lerman. John’s writing has appeared in Youth
Drama Ireland, Generations, Parterre Box, and multiple projects for
Animating Democracy.
Celia Hoi-Yan Chan is Associate Professor at the University of Hong
Kong in social work and has made important contributions to the
­advancement of social work practice, research, and education
through developing evidence-based social work practice, Integrated
Body-mind-spirit intervention, and collaborative research. She also
specializes in psychotherapy on reproductive loss.
Charles R. Garoian is Professor of Art Education at Penn State ­University,
author of Performing Pedagogy: Toward an Art of Politics (1999), and
coauthor of Spectacle Pedagogy: Art, Politics, and Visual C
­ ulture (2008)
and The Prosthetic Pedagogy of Art: Embodied Research and Practice
(2013), all published by The State University of New York Press.
xiv About the Contributors

Madeleine Grumet recently retired from the University of North ­Carolina

at Chapel Hill, where she served as Professor and Dean of Education.
Her field is curriculum theory with emphasis on arts and humanities
education, teacher education, and feminist theory. She is the author
of Bitter Milk: Women and Teaching and coauthor of Toward a Poor
Curriculum and Curriculum in Today’s World.
Petula Sik-Ying Ho is Professor in Social Work & Social Administra-
tion at the University of Hong Kong. Her current projects include
books, articles, documentary films, and multimedia theatre for
­understanding political participation and personal life as well as the
social ­consequences of the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong.
Brooke Hofsess is an art educator at Appalachian State University
­immersed in aesthetic and poetic approaches to inquiry contemplat-
ing teacher education and renewal. Her research has received ­honors
from the National Art Education Association and the American
­Educational Research Association. She is the author of Unfolding
­Afterglow: Letters and Conversations on Teacher Renewal (2016).
As a bilingual poet and TESOL professor, Yohan Hwang studies the
potential of poetry in understanding of second-language education
as both art and science. Specifically, his research interest relies on
finding roles poetry plays in (re)construction of bilingual identity and
“poetic habit of mind” in TESOL teacher preparation and practice.
Kristina Jacobsen is Assistant Professor of Music at the University of
New Mexico in Albuquerque, where she also holds affiliations in
Anthropology (Ethnology) and American Studies. A cultural anthro-
pologist, Kristina is a touring singer/songwriter, co-facilitates the
UNM Honky Tonk Ensemble, and fronts the all-girl, Merle Haggard-­
inspired honky tonk band, Merlettes.
Sui-Ting Kong is Assistant Professor in the School of Applied ­Social
Sciences at Durham University. She has a lasting interest in meth-
odological innovation, and theorizing intimate partner violence and
practices of intimacy. Her current research focuses on coproduction
of ­knowledge with users and carers for developing post-separation
domestic ­violence service and culturally appropriate end-of-life care.
Natalie LeBlanc is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of
­British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, where she recently completed her
PhD in Curriculum Studies, specializing in Art Education. Her research
examines the potential of art, exploring the intersections between art
and research, art and philosophy, and art making and teaching.

Fifty words about Jorge Lucero: Through the permission of concep-

tual art, he now sees the potential of being in the academy. Jorge’s
 About the Contributors xv

interested in the pliability of the seemingly concretized, especially

­institutions like school, religion, art, and family. He edited an an-
thology about collage and pedagogy. He professes at the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).

Kathleen R. McGovern is a College of Education Research Award

Scholar in TESOL and World Languages at the University of Georgia.
Her career has encompassed second-language teaching and research,
as well as working and studying as an actor and director of theatre.

Monica Prendergast, Associate Professor of Drama/Theatre Education,

Department of Curriculum & Instruction, University of Victoria.
Research interests: drama-based curriculum and pedagogy, applied
drama/theatre, and arts-based research. Monica’s books include
­Applied Theatre, Applied Drama (both with Juliana Saxton), Teaching
Spectatorship, Poetic Inquiry, Staging the Not-yet, Drama, ­Theatre
and Performance Education in Canada, and Poetic Inquiry II.

Jerry Rosiek holds appointments in the Departments of Education

­Studies and of Philosophy at the University of Oregon. He is a qual-
itative research methodologist and scholar of teacher education. His
latest book, a national award winner, examines the hidden curricular
effects of the new racial segregation in US public schools.
Nick Sousanis is an assistant professor of Humanities & Liberal ­Studies
at San Francisco State University. He is the author of Unflattening,
originally his doctoral dissertation, written and drawn entirely in
comics form, published by Harvard University Press in 2015. His
comics have appeared in Nature and The Boston Globe. More at
www.spinweaveandcut.com.
Mathangi Subramanian is an educator and writer who believes stories
have the power to change the world. Her novel Dear Mrs. Naidu
(Young Zubaan) won the 2016 South Asia book award and was
shortlisted for the Hindu-Goodbooks prize. She holds a doctorate in
communication and education from Columbia Teachers College.
Dana Walrath, a writer, artist and anthropologist, likes to cross b
­ orders
and disciplines with her work. She used stories and art to teach
­medical humanism at the University of Vermont’s College of Medicine.
Passionate about the power of art for social change, her creative work
spans graphic memoir, to verse novel, to art installation and serves as
a form of activism.
Yen Yen Woo is associate professor of education at Long Island
­University. Her scholarly interests include public pedagogies and cur-
riculum studies. She is an international, award-winning filmmaker,
having written, produced, and directed “Singapore Dreaming.” Her
xvi About the Contributors

current project is “Dim Sum Warriors,” a graphic novel, now an

­international stage musical. http://dimsumwarriors.com/about-us/.
Kuo Zhang is a PhD student in TESOL & World Language Education at
the University of Georgia. She has a book of poetry in both ­Chinese
and English, Broadleaves (Shenyang Press, 2009). Her poem “One
Child Policy” was awarded second place in the 2012 Society for
­Humanistic Anthropology Poetry Competition.

Cover Artist
Erin McIntosh works in colorful abstractions that explore flux. She holds
B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees from the University of Georgia and exhib-
its throughout the southeast. A former elementary art educator, she is
currently Assistant Professor at the University of North G
­ eorgia. Her
paintings are represented by Gregg Irby Gallery, Atlanta.
Chapter 1

Introduction
Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor and Richard Siegesmund

Since the first edition of Arts-Based Research (ABR) in Education

(2008), there has been continued and growing interest in pursuing
­alternative forms of data representation, including poetry, story, theatre,
and visual image as means to increase attention to complexity, feeling,
and new ways of seeing. Outside of education, ABR proliferates in nu-
merous social science fields, attracting those more and less experienced
both in the arts and the social sciences who raise new, interdisciplinary
questions for the field. As an indication of ABR expansion, numerous
organizations and conferences have emerged: the Center for Imagina-
tive Ethnography, The International Conference and Society on Artistic
Research, and Arts.Creativity.Education Research Group are just a few
that have appeared over the last decade. Conferences, blogs, MOOKS,
performances, textbooks, and journal articles appear widely and in a
variety of social science organizations. Today, there are two Special In-
terest Groups (SIGs) of the American Educational Research Association
that specifically focus on ABR, with other SIGs and divisions presenting
ABR papers. This institutional support demonstrates the proliferation
of interests within the social sciences. This is further confirmed by the
increasing number of book series on the topic of ABR that have been
launched by publishers including Springer, Palgrave, Leftcoast Press
(now merged with Routledge), and Sense Publications. With this much
growth, a second edition introducing readers to additional voices and
perspectives in the ABR field seemed in order.
But, what do we call this field, as it takes place in education as
well as numerous other disciplines where the study of social life takes
place, where multiple names and titles for this type of research have
arisen? Some labels emphasize “art” (e.g., Arts-Based Research (ABR),
­Art-Based Educational Research (ABER), Scholartistry, and Arts-­
Informed Research) to include all creativity (e.g., dance, music, visual
art, poetry). Others are more particular to the autonomous fields of arts
production, e.g., Artistic Research, where Socially Engaged Practice is
generating its own literature and methods. As with qualitative methods
2 Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor and Richard Siegesmund

in general, some find inquiry to be a more appropriate word than re-

search. In addition, specific arts disciplines have been adapted, such as
visual sociology, ethnographic performance, or poetic anthropology.
While we often refer to the work presented here as ABR, we embrace
these new references to expand how we conceptualize the field. As pro-
fessors of education, we specifically address ABR’s relevance for a wide
range of educational concerns that include early childhood and K-16+
education, adult education, medical practice, and other nonschool fields.
Increasingly, scholars feel compelled to take on arts-based methods
rather than follow the directives of institutional bureaucracies that de-
fine the parameters of how research or art should or should not be con-
ducted. Although some academic circles still view ABR skeptically, ABR
is the logical continuation of the shift to qualitative inquiry in the social
sciences that began half a century ago. Furthermore, no longer are the
social sciences that sole reserve of individuals who employ skills in quan-
titative analysis or those employing qualitative skills emulating hard sci-
ence paradigms. New scholars entering the social sciences, many of whom
now possess extensive previous training in the arts, accelerate this change.
In the first edition, Behar (2008) addressed how, previously, scholars
who were artists felt the need to separate these two worlds, distinguish-
ing scholarly practice from artistic engagement. The last ten years have
seen this artificial wall collapse as young and veteran scholars fearlessly
explore academic and artistic border crossing. Today, young scholars en-
tering the field may not even be aware that such a wall once existed. As a
result, new scholars with artistic leanings are uninhibited as they break
old taboos, blending and juxtaposing these two realms of social science
and art into new fluctuating, contiguous relationships. Inspired by the
methodologies of both the social sciences and the arts, these scholars
invent a variety of innovative apparatuses that bring continually reas-
sembling and mutating forms into appearance. These tools for producing
visibility allow scholars to inscribe ideas. In turn, these new inscriptions
open fresh discussions and yet other forms of inscription that allow inno-
vative possibilities to enter our ever-expanding conceptual frameworks.
In short, ABR enriches our understanding and deepens our ability to
productively, ethically, and holistically navigate through the world.
Despite these advances, ABR is still far from conventional, especially
in the United States. With the recent “What Works Clearinghouse”
(WWC) guidelines, federal funding agencies continue to strictly de-
fine “credible and reliable evidence” for educational decision-making
­(Institute of Education Sciences, n.d.). Arts-based rendering of learning,
which may include narratives, poetry, or performance, will never meet
WWC criteria, and thus ABR will not be recognized by United States
government funding agencies or publications that adhere to their strict
definitions of “evidence” in the social sciences.
 Introduction 3

Nonetheless, ABR is finding acceptance worldwide, and many arts-

based scholars are receiving substantial research support in terms of
publication outlets, funding, tenure-line positions, and audience. A re-
cent review of the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council search engine for “arts-based research” yielded a list of 45 mul-
tiyear funded projects since 2009. The publishing house for Australian
Qualitative Research has an entire journal, “Creative Approaches to
Research,” dedicated to mergers between artistic and scientific schol-
arship. Even in the United States, both editors of this text have turned
to alternative US funding agencies for ABR project support, such as the
US Fulbright commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.
In sum, while many detractors and critics question the pairing of “art”
and “research,” there is also increasing global activity where the creative
turn is thriving. We have personally contributed to these international
conversations and interest in other nations. We selected some of the
scholars whom we have met through these experiences in this edition,
and yet space and design limitations do not allow us to include all the
many thrilling creative scholars producing high-quality ABR around the
world. We hope this book contributes to a virtual space to meet, discuss,
and challenge one another as we continue to build the field.
The second major trend over the past decade that has brought ABR in-
creasing attention comes not from the social sciences, but from the fine
arts. Parallel to the emergence of ABR within the social sciences, the fine
arts have also increasingly sought to define their practice as research. This
has produced a new—and often competitive—literature to social science-­
oriented ABR (jagodzinski1 & Wallin, 2013; O’Donoghue, 2009; Sullivan,
2010). While there is a long tradition of conceptualizing fine arts practice as
research, a more insidious propulsion, currently driven by neoliberal forces
within the European Union, has led to the consolidation of previously stand-
alone national art schools into research universities. This has produced, by
political necessity, the recasting of arts practice as research and brought fine
arts practice directly into competition with the social sciences for research
funding. Concurrent with this, the European Union Bologna Accords calls
for the PhD in Studio Practice as the terminal degree for artists who seek to
hold positions in higher education. This supplants the current acceptance
of the Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) as the terminal degree in studio practice.
Conferences such as the annual Iberian conferences (2013–2015) on Arts-
Based and Artistic Research demonstrate the growing sense of urgency to
define issues and sort these two competing paradigms in order to see where
they are mutually inclusive and where they pursue different agendas. A pos-
itive outcome of this recasting of the arts in competition with social-science
research is the recognition that artists always include empiricism in their
work from the study of color, line, chord, and choreography to the study of
history, literature, psychology, and education.
Another random document with
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 Nitrogenous Foods
As previously stated, in a mixed diet meat and eggs are the chief
sources of nitrogenous foods. Next to these come the legumes.

Meat is almost all digested in the stomach by the

Meat gastric juice, which changes it into peptone. It is
needless to say that it should be thoroughly
masticated that there may be no delay in the prompt action of the
gastric juice upon it. If any part passes into the intestine undigested,
the process is continued by the trypsin of the pancreatic juice. The
peptone is absorbed as peptone and after it passes through the
inner coating of the intestines, it is changed back to protein and
carried by the blood and lymph to all tissues of the body, where it is
used for growth and repairs. As stated, any excess of protein above
that needed for growth and repair, is oxidized in the blood, yielding
energy and heat, and the waste is eliminated through the kidneys
and the bile. The red blood corpuscles, which are nitrogenous, are
broken down in the liver and discharged through the bile.
TABLE IV—ANIMAL FOODS
Water Protein Fat Ash Fuel Value Per
Carbohydrates
Food Materials Per Per Per Per Pound
Per Cent
Cent Cent Cent Cent Calories
Beef, Fresh 54.0 17.0 19.0 ...... O.7 1,105
Flank 54.0 17.0 19.0 ...... 0.7 1,105
Porterhouse 52.4 19.1 17.9 ...... 0.8 1,100
Sirloin steak 54.0 16.5 16.1 ...... 0.9 975
Round 60.7 19.0 12.8 ...... 1.0 890
Rump 45.0 13.8 20.2 ...... 0.7 1,090
Corned beef 49.2 14.3 23.8 ...... 4.6 1,245
Veal:
Leg cutlets 68.3 20.1 7.5 ...... 1.0 695
Fore quarter 54.2 15.1 6.0 ...... 0.7 535
Mutton:
Leg, hind 51.2 15.1 14.7 ...... 0.8 890
Loin Chops 42.0 13.5 28.3 ...... 0.7 1,415
Lamb 49.2 15.6 16.3 ...... 0.85 967
Ham:
Loin chops 41.8 13.4 24.2 ...... 0.8 1,245
Ham, smoked 34.8 14.2 33.4 ...... 4.2 1,635
Sausage:
Frankfurter 57.2 19.6 18.6 1.1 3.4 1,155
Fowls 47.1 13.7 12.3 ...... O.7 765
Poultry:
Goose 38.5 13.4 29.8 ...... 0.7 1,475
Turkey 42.4 16.1 18.4 ...... 0.8 1,060
Animal Viscera:
Liver (sheep) 61.2 23.1 9.0 5.0 ...... ......
Sweetbreads 70.9 16.8 12.1 ...... 1.6 ......
Tongue, smoked
35.7 24.3 31.6 ...... 8.5 ......
and salted
Brain: 80.6 8.8 9.3 ...... 1.1 ......
Fresh Fish
Bass large-
mouthed Black, 41.9 10.3 0.5 ...... 0.6 215
dressed
Cod steaks 72.4 16.9 0.5 ...... 1.0 335
Shad roe 71.2 23.4 3.8 ...... 1.6 595
Whitefish,
46.1 10.2 1.3 ...... 0.7 245
dressed
Preserved Fish:
Halibut, salted,
46.0 19.1 14.0 ...... 1.9 945
smoked and dried
Sardines, canned 53.6 24.0 12.1 ...... 5.3 955
Salmon, canned 59.3 19.3 15.3 ...... 1.2 1,005
Mollusks:
Oysters, solid 88.3 6.1 1.4 3.3 0.9 235
Round clams 80.8 10.6 1.1 5.1 2.3 340
removed from
shell
 Mussels 42.7 4.4 0.5 2.1 1.0 140
Crustaceans:
Lobster, in shell 31.1 5.5 0.7 ...... 0.6 130
Crab, in shell 34.1 7.3 0.9 0.5 1.4 185
Shrimp, canned 70.8 25.4 1.0 0.2 2.6 520
Terrapin, turtle,
17.4 4.2 0.7 ...... 0.2 105
etc.

In the composition of meat, of course there is more or less fat,

varying from two to forty per cent, according to the animal and to the
condition at the time of killing.
It is possible to combine the fat and the lean of meat so as to meet
the requirements of the body without waste. About ninety-seven per
cent of the meat consumed is assimilated by the system, while a
large part of the vegetable matter consumed is excreted as refuse.
The compounds contained in the animal foods are much like those of
the body, therefore, they require comparatively little digestion to
prepare them for assimilation—this work having been done by the
animal—while the vegetable compounds require much change by
the digestive system before they can be used in the body.
Fish and sea foods are, many of them, rich in protein, as seen by
the above table. Note that sardines contain the largest proportion of
protein and next to these, shad roe.
There is a prevalent idea that fish is brain food. In so far as fish is
easily digested, it builds brain tissue, but no more so than beef, or
any food containing a goodly proportion of protein, easily digested,
absorbed, and assimilated.
Lobsters are difficult of digestion and they contain little nutrition, so
they are not valuable as a food.
Oysters, raw, are easier to digest than when cooked. Oysters
should not be eaten during the spawning season from May to
September.
Roasted flesh seems to be more completely digested than boiled
meat, but raw meat is more easily digested than cooked. Roasted
chicken and veal are tender, easily masticated, and easily and
rapidly digested in the stomach. This is one reason why the white
meats are considered a good diet for the sick-room, especially in the
case of stomach difficulty. Fat meats remain in the stomach a much
longer time than lean meats; thus, gastric digestion of pork, which is
largely fat, is especially difficult. Fried pork, in which the fat is heated
to a very high degree, is very difficult of digestion. (See page 197).
The chief objection to pork, however, is that hogs are scavengers
and live upon all sorts of refuse. Another objection is that in
preparing hogs for the market, the effort of the farmer is to force the
feeding and get them as fat as possible. This excess of fat may
result in degeneration of the meat tissue. The latter objection does
not hold, however, for hogs carefully fatted for home consumption, or
for hogs which run in the forests and live upon nuts, as do the beech
fed hogs of the south.
The best meats are from young animals which have been kept fat
and have not been subjected to any work to toughen the muscles.
Preserved and canned meats should be eaten with the utmost
caution, not only because of the inferior meat used in the preparation
of these foods, but also from the fact that they may become putrid
after being canned.
The proportion of albuminoids, gelatinoids and extractives in meat
vary with different meats and with different cuts of the same meat.
The albuminoids of meat include the meat tissue, or the muscle
cells. These constitute by far the greater part of the meat.
The gelatinoids are the connective tissue forming the sheath of the
muscle and of bundles of muscles, the skin, tendons, and the casein
of bone. Gelatines are made from these and, if pure and prepared in
a cleanly manner, they are wholesome.
Gelatin is distinguishable in rich meat soups, which jelly upon
cooling.
While the gelatinoids are not muscle, they keep the muscles from
being consumed when starches, sugars, and fats are lacking, and, in
this sense, may be considered more in the nature of carbohydrates.
 The extractives consist of a substance within the lean meat,
known as creatin. This creatin is not a food; it is an appetizer, and
gives to cooked meats, broths, etc., their pleasing flavor. In case of
anaemia where it is necessary to build up red blood corpuscles, it is
desirable to have the patient take the blood of beef, the thought of
which is usually repellant, but it may be made very palatable if it is
heated sufficiently to bring out the extractives, or flavor, and then
seasoned.
Unless the beef extracts on the market contain the blood tissue in
addition to the extractives, they are not particularly nourishing and
are only valuable in soups, etc., as appetizers.
One reason why meat soups constitute the first course at dinner is
because the extractives stimulate the appetite and start the flow of
gastric juices. Bouillons contain no nourishment, because the
proteins have been coagulated by the vigorous boiling, but they may
be used as a basis for vegetables, rice, or barley to give them flavor.
The best method is to make one’s own soup from the connective
tissues (gelatinoids) and meat tissue.

Eggs consist chiefly of two nutrients,—protein,

Eggs and fat (ten per cent), combined with water,
phosphorous, and ash. Eggs are a wholesome
source of protein and are, therefore, classed as nitrogenous foods.
The fat and the iron are in the yolk, which is about one-third fat.
The yolk also contains phosphorous and some ash. The white is
practically free from fat but contains sulphur, phosphorous and a
very little ash. The white and the yolk contain almost equal quantities
of protein.
The white of the egg is said to be pure albumen; the chief ash
constituent is common salt. The total phosphorous in the white of the
egg is equivalent to about two per cent phosphoric acid and the total
phosphorous in the yolk is equivalent to one per cent.
 The dark stain made by eggs on silver is due to the sulphur
contained in them. The iron in the egg is valuable to assist in building
red corpuscles.
The large part of the egg, as other proteins, is changed, mostly in
the stomach, into peptone, absorbed as peptone and then changed
back again into protein after absorption. That not digested in the
stomach is changed in the intestine, as is the case with other
proteins.
Eggs are, no doubt, excellent articles of food for nutrition and for
tissue building. They contain more water than cheese, but are more
concentrated than milk or oysters. They have practically the same
relative value in the diet as meat, and make a very good substitute
for meat. Egg yolk in abundance is often prescribed where it is
necessary to supply a very nutritious and easily assimilated diet.
One of the best methods of preparing eggs, which is especially
valuable for those having delicate stomachs or for those who need to
build up red blood corpuscles with the iron in the yolk, is in egg
lemonade or orangeade. Thoroughly beat the egg, add the juice of
half a lemon or orange, sugar to taste, and fill the glass with water.
The citric acid in these fruits partly digests the egg, changing it into
egg albumin,—the egg becomes limpid, no longer stringy. From this
condition the gastric juice quickly changes it to peptone.
Grape juice, cream, and cocoa may be used in place of lemon or
orange, in order to give variety where it is necessary to take many of
them, but the grape juice acid does not partially digest the egg as the
juice of the lemon does.
Eggnog is another means of taking raw eggs.
One method which any housewife can use to test the freshness of
eggs is to drop them into a strong, salt brine made of two ounces of
salt to a pint of water. A fresh egg will at once sink to the bottom.
After the third day the surface of the shell will be even with the
surface of the water and with increasing age they will rise still higher.
There is a prevalent opinion that if an egg is boiled hard it is
difficult of digestion, but this depends entirely upon the mastication. If
it is masticated so that it is a pulp before swallowed, a hard boiled
egg is digested as readily as a soft boiled one. If it is not thoroughly
masticated, then an egg should not be boiled longer than three to
four minutes, or should be put into boiling water and allowed to
remain in the water for six minutes without actively boiling. The latter
method cooks the egg through more evenly. Another method of
cooking the yolk evenly with the whites is to put the egg in cold
water, let it come to a boil, and then again immerse in cold water. Or
the egg may be put in cold water, let come almost to a boil, removed
from the stove, and let stand ten to twelve minutes in the hot water.
Any one of the last three methods cooks the white and the yolk
evenly.
 Carbo-Nitrogenous Foods
Under this class come cereals, legumes, nuts, milk, and milk
products. In these foods the nitrogenous and carbonaceous
elements are more evenly proportioned than in either the
carbonaceous or nitrogenous groups. The different food elements in
this group are so evenly divided that one could live for a
considerable length of time upon any one food. Some animals build
flesh from nuts alone, while the herbivorous animals live upon
cereals and plants.

Under cereals, used by man for food, come

Cereals wheat, oats, rye, barley, rice, and corn. As will be
noted by the table below, cereals contain a large
proportion of starch and are therefore to be used largely for heat and
energy. Rice contains the largest proportion and next to rice, wheat
flour.
TABLE V—CEREALS
Carbohydrates
Water Protein Fat Per Starch etc. Crude Fiber Ash Per
Food Materials
Per Cent Per Cent Cent Per Cent Per Cent Cent
Wheat 10.4 12.1 2.1 71.6 1.8 1.9
Rice 12.4 7.4 0.4 79.2 0.2 0.4
Oats 11.0 11.8 5.0 59.7 9.5 3.0
Rye 11.6 10.6 1.7 72.0 1.7 1.9
Breads and
Crackers:
Wheat bread 32.5 8.8 1.9 55.8 ..... 1.0
Graham
34.2 9.5 1.4 53.3 ..... 1.6
bread
Rye bread 30.0 3.4 0.5 59.7 ..... 1.4
 Soda 8.0 10.3 9.4 70.5 ..... 1.8
crackers
Graham
5.0 9.8 13.5 69.7 ..... 2.0
crackers
Oatmeal
4.9 10.4 13.7 69.6 ..... 1.4
crackers
Oyster
3.8 11.3 4.8 77.5 ..... 2.6
crackers
Macaroni 13.1 9.0 0.3 76.8 ..... 0.8
Flours and
Meals:
Flour, wheat 12.5 11.0 1.0 74.9 ..... 0.5
Corn Meal 15.0 9.2 3.8 70.6 ..... 1.4
Oatmeal 7.6 15.1 7.1 68.2 ..... 2.0

There is no part of the world, except the Arctic regions, where

cereals are not extensively cultivated. From the oats and rye of the
north, to the rice of the hot countries, grains of some kind are staple
foods.
“An idea of the importance of cereal foods in the diet may be
gathered from the following data, based upon the results obtained in
dietary studies with a large number of American families:—Vegetable
foods, including flour, bread, and other cereal products, furnished
fifty-five per cent of the total food, thirty-nine per cent of the protein,
eight per cent of the fat, and ninety-five per cent of the
carbohydrates of the diet. The amounts which cereal foods alone
supplied were twenty-two per cent of the total food, thirty-one per
cent of the protein, seven per cent of the fat and fifty-five per cent of
the total carbohydrates—that is, about three-quarters of the
vegetable protein, one-half of the carbohydrates, and seven-eighths
of the vegetable fat were supplied by the cereals. Oat, rice, and
wheat breakfast foods together furnished about two per cent of the
total food in protein, one per cent of the total fat, and four per cent of
the carbohydrates of the ordinary mixed diet, as shown by the
statistics cited. These percentage values are not high in themselves,
but it must be remembered that they represent large quantities when
we consider the food consumed by a family in a year.”[7]
 If one’s work calls for extreme muscular exertion, the cereals may
be eaten freely, but if one’s habits are sedentary, and the cereals are
used in excess, there is danger of clogging the system with too much
glycogen, or converted starch. Indeed, for one whose occupation is
indoors and requires little muscular activity, a very little cereal food
will suffice; the carbohydrates will be supplied, in sufficient quantity,
in vegetables. Mineral matter is supplied in sufficient quantity in
almost all classes of foods.
The power of the system to throw off food, over and above the
needs of the body, is a wise provision of Nature, because where
foods are not supplied in the proper proportions, a more liberal diet
enables the system to select such foods as it needs from the
abundance.
Cereals and legumes supply nutrients cheaper than any class of
foods; therefore a vegetarian diet involves less expense than the
mixed diet. Meat, eggs and milk, which usually supply the proteins,
are the most expensive foods, and where these are eliminated, a
large proportion of proteins should be supplied by the legumes.

Wheat. Perhaps no food is as commonly used as wheat, in its

various forms. It is composed of:
First—The nitrogenous or protein compound, chiefly represented
in the cerealin and the gluten of the bran.
Second—The carbon extracts,—the largest contributor to the flour.
Third—The fats, occurring chiefly in the germ of the grain.
Fourth—The phosphorous compounds, iron and lime, found in the
bran.
The kernel of wheat consists of the bran or covering, which
surrounds the white, pulpy mass of starch within. In the lower end of
the kernel is the germ.
 Flour. In the old time process of making flour the wheat was
crushed between stones and then sifted, first, through a sieve, which
separated the outer shell of the bran; then through bolting cloth,
which separated the white pulp from the inner bran coating. It was
not ground as fine as in the present process, thus the gluten,
phosphorous, and iron (valuable foods) were, in the old process,
nearly all left out of the white flour. The second bran coating, left by
the second sifting, was not so coarse as the outer shell but coarser
than the inner. Care was not formerly observed in having the grain
clean before grinding, the bran containing chaff and dirt, so that it
was not used as food but was considered valuable for stock and was
called “middlings.”
The modern process of crushing the wheat between steel rollers,
crushes it so fine that the white flour of to-day contains more of the
protein from the inner coat of the bran than the white flour of the old
process; hence, it is more nutritious.
Bran. Objection is sometimes made to bran because the cellulose
shell is not digested, but bran contains much protein and mineral
matter and, even though it is crude fiber, as stated above, this fiber
has a value as a cleanser for the lining of stomach and intestines,
and for increasing peristalsis, thus encouraging the flow of digestive
juices and the elimination of waste. In bread or breakfast foods, it is
desirable to retain it for its laxative effect.
The bran has three coats,—the tough, glossy outside, within this a
coat containing most of the coloring matter, and a third coat,
containing a special kind of protein, known as cerealin. The two
outer layers contain phosphorous compounds, lime, and iron. All
three coats contain gluten.
Of course there is more waste in bread made with bran and in
consequence, there is a smaller proportion of the nutrition in graham
bread. It is held by some, however, that more of the nutrition is
digested than in white bread.
Gluten flour is made of the gluten of wheat. It is a valuable, easily
digested food, containing a large proportion of protein.
 Whole wheat flour does not contain the whole of the wheat, as the
name implies; it, however, does contain all the proteins of the
endosperm and the gluten and oil of the germ, together with all of the
starch. As a flour, therefore, it is more valuable than the white flour,
containing more nitrogenous elements.
Graham flour is the entire wheat kernel; with the exception of the
outermost scale of the bran. It contains the starch, gluten,
phosphorous compounds, iron and lime. It is the most desirable of
the flours because, containing the bran, it assists in digestion and
elimination, and the phosphorous, iron and lime are valuable for
body building.
Nutri meal is much the same as Graham flour, the chief difference
being that the bran is ground finer. The wheat is ground between hot
rollers, the heat bringing out the nutty flavor of the bran. It contains
all of the nutrition of the wheat.
Bread. As must be implied from the above, the “whole wheat,”
nutri meal, or graham flours are necessary if bread is to be a
complete food.
There is perhaps no form of prepared food which has been longer
in vogue. It has been known since history began. It probably
maintains and supports life and strength better than any single food.
The ease with which it is digested depends very largely upon its
porous condition. When full of pores, it is more readily mixed with the
digestive juices.
The pores in bread are produced by the effort of the gas, released
by the yeast, to escape. When mixed with water, the flour forms a
tenacious body which, when warm, expands under the pressure of
the gas from the yeast, until the dough is full of gas-filled holes. The
walls of the gluten do not allow the gas to escape, and thus the
dough is made light and porous. The more gluten the flour holds, the
more water it will take up in the dough, and the greater will be the
yield of bread; hence, the more gluten, the more valuable the flour. If
the bread is not porous, the fermentation is not complete, and the
bread is heavy.
 Yeast is a plant fungus. In its feeding, the plant consumes sugar,
changing it into alcohol and carbonic acid gas. If the bread contains
no sugar the yeast plant will change the starch in the flour into sugar
for its feeding. Many housewives, realizing that the bread begins to
“rise” quicker if it contains sugar, put a little into the sponge. Unless a
large quantity of sugar is put in, the yeast will consume it and the
bread will not have an unduly sweet taste.
As the yeast causes fermentation, alcohol forms in the dough. This
is driven off in the baking. If the bread is not thoroughly done, the
alcohol continues to ferment and the bread turns sour. Bread is not
thoroughly baked until fermentation ceases. It is claimed that
fermentation does not entirely cease with once baking; this is the
basis of the theory, held by some, that bread should be twice baked.
The average housekeeper bakes an ordinary loaf one hour.
Time must be given for the products of fermentation to evaporate,
in the cooling of the bread, before it is eaten and it is not ready to eat
for eight to ten hours after baking. Hot or insufficiently cooked bread
is difficult of digestion, because it becomes more or less soggy upon
entering the mouth and the stomach, and the saliva and gastric
juices cannot so readily mix with it.
The best flour for bread is that made from the spring wheat, grown
in cooler climates, because it is richer in gluten than the winter
wheat. The winter wheat flour is used more for cakes and pastries.
Bread made from milk, is, of course, richer and more nutritious
than that made from water and bread made from potato water
contains more starch; both of these retain their moisture longer than
bread made with water.
Mould, which sometimes forms upon bread, is, like the yeast, a
minute plant. It is floating about everywhere in the air, ready to settle
down wherever it finds a suitable home. Moisture and heat favor its
growth, hence bread should be thoroughly cooled before it is put into
a jar or bread box and the bread box should be kept in a cool place.
Rye bread contains a little more starch and less protein than
wheat bread. It contains more water and holds its moisture longer.
 Biscuits. The objection to eating hot bread, does not hold for
baking powder or soda biscuits, if well cooked, because these cool
more rapidly and they do not contain the yeast plant; hence, they do
not ferment as does the bread.
Baking powder is made from bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
and cream of tartar. When these are brought in contact with
moisture, carbon dioxid is formed, and, in the effort to escape, it
causes the dough to expand and become light. The reason that the
cook attempts to bake her biscuits, or anything made with baking
powder as quickly as possible, after the baking powder comes in
contact with the moisture, is that the dough may have the full effect
of the expansion of the gas. If the room in which she mixes her
dough is cool, or if her biscuit dough is left in a cool place, this is not
important, as heat and moisture are both required for full
combustion.
Macaroni and spaghetti are made from a special wheat flour rich in
gluten known as Durum. They contain about seventy-seven per cent
starch, little fat and little protein. They may take the place of bread,
rice or potato at a meal.

Rice is a staple cereal in all tropical and temperate climates. It

requires special machinery to remove the husk and the dark, outer
skin of the kernel. It is seldom eaten within three months after
harvesting and it is considered even better after two or three years. It
requires thorough cooking.
Unhusked rice is called paddy.
Wild rice is used by the North American Indians. The seeds are
longer, thinner and darker, than the tame rice. It is coming into favor
as a side dish, but it is served more particularly at hotels in soup and
with game.
As previously stated, rice contains a larger proportion of starch
than any other cereal and the smallest proportion of protein. Next to
rice, in starches, comes wheat flour; yet whole wheat or graham flour
contain half as much again of protein.
Because of the quantity of starch in flour, potatoes and rice, it is
obvious that one should not eat freely of more than one of these at
the same meal, else the digestive organs will be overworked in
converting the starch into sugar and the liver overworked in
converting the sugar into glycogen and back again into sugar; and
the liver will be overloaded in storing it up. By far the best plan is to
eat but one cereal at a meal.
Rice contains no gluten, hence it cannot be raised in bread.

Corn (maize) is a native of America and has been one of the most
extensively used cereals. Corn bread and corn meal mush were
important foods with the early settlers, partly because they are
nutritious and partly because the corn meal was easily prepared at
the mill and was cheap. The germ of the corn is larger in proportion
than the germs of other grains, and it contains much fat; therefore it
is heating. For this reason, it is strange that corn bread is so largely
used by inhabitants of the southern states. It is a more appropriate
food for winter in cold climates.
Because of the fat in the germ, cornmeal readily turns rancid, and,
on this account, the germ is separated and omitted from many
cornmeal preparations.
Hulled corn, sometimes called lye hominy, is one of the old-
fashioned ways of using corn. In its preparation, the skin is loosened
by steeping the corn in a weak solution of lye, which gives it a
peculiar flavor, pleasing to many.
Cornmeal mush is a valuable breakfast food.
Pop corn. The bursting of the shell in popping corn is due to the
expansion of the moisture in the starch, occasioned by the heat.
 Green sweet corn does not contain the same proportion of starch
as cornmeal, it being, in its tender state, mostly water. It is laxative,
because it is eaten with the coarse hull, which causes more rapid
peristalsis of the intestines.

The claims made for various advertised

Breakfast Foods breakfast foods would be amusing if they were not
intended to mislead. Nearly all of them have
sufficient merit to sell them, if the advertiser confines himself strictly
to the truth, but the ever pertinent desire to excel, which is one great
incentive to progress, leads to exaggeration. For example: Claim is
sometimes made that they contain more nutriment than the same
quantity of beef. Reference to above table does not bear out such
statement; they contain more starch but less protein. It is also
claimed by some advertisers that breakfast foods are brain and
nerve foods. The idea that certain foods are brain and nerve foods is
erroneous, excepting that any tissue building food (protein) builds
nerve and brain tissue as it builds any other tissue. There is a
prevalent idea that fish and celery are brain food, but there is no
scientific basis for the theory.
The grains commonly used for breakfast foods are corn, oats, rice,
and wheat. Barley, and wild rice, millet and buckwheat are used in
some sections but not enough to warrant discussion here. Barley is
used chiefly for making malt and pearled barley for soups.
The following table, from one of the bulletins published by the
United States Department of Agriculture, is interesting from an
economical standpoint.
Table VI.
Comparative cost of digestible nutrients and available energy in
different cereal breakfast foods.
Amount for 10 cents
Food Materials Price Cost Cost of Total Protein Fat Carbohydrates Energy
 per of one 1,000 wgt. of
pound pound calories material
of of
protein energy
Oat
preparations:
Oatmeal, raw 3 0.24 1.7 3.33 0.42 0.22 2.18 5,884
Do 4 .32 2.3 2.50 .31 .16 1.64 4,418
Rolled oats,
6 .48 3.4 1.67 .21 .11 1.08 2,938
steam cooked
Wheat
preparations:
Flour,
4 .40 2.6 2.50 .25 .01 1.61 3,790
Graham
Flour, entire-
5 .46 3.1 2.00 .22 .03 1.36 3,188
wheat
Flour, patent 3.5 .35 2.1 2.86 .29 .03 2.10 4,700
Farina 10 1.12 6.2 1.00 .09 .01 .73 1,609
Flaked 15 1.69 9.3 .67 .06 .01 .46 1,005
Shredded 12.5 1.62 8.2 .80 .06 .01 .57 1,217
Parched and
7.5 .88 4.9 1.33 .11 .02 .94 2,050
ground
Malted,
cooked and 13 1.43 8.5 .77 .07 .01 .53 1,175
crushed
Flaked and
11 1.21 7.2 .91 .08 .01 .62 1,389
malted
Barley
preparations
Pearled
7 1.06 4.6 1.43 .09 .01 1.04 2,165
barley
Flaked,
15 1.83 9.6 .67 .05 .50 1,051
steam cooked
Corn
preparations:
Corn meal,
3 .44 1.8 3.33 .23 .06 2.48 5,534
granular
Hominy 4 .62 2.4 2.50 .16 .01 1.97 4,178
Samp 5 .78 3.0 2.00 .13 .01 1.57 3,342
Flaked and 13 1.73 7.5 .77 .06 .01 .60 1,335
 parched
Rice
preparations:
Rice,
8 1.48 4.7 1.25 .07 .94 1,855
polished
Flaked, steam
15 2.31 9.8 .67 .04 .51 1,026
cooked
Miscellaneous
foods for
comparison:
Bread, white 6 .74 5.0 1.67 .14 .02 .87 2,009
Do 5 .62 4.2 2.00 .16 .02 1.04 2,406
Crackers 10 1.10 5.3 1.00 .09 .08 .71 1,905
Macaroni 12.5 1.08 7.5 .80 .09 .01 .58 1,328
Beans, dried 5 .28 3.5 2.00 .35 .03 1.16 2,868
Peas, dried 5 .26 3.4 2.00 .38 .02 1.20 2,974
Milk 3 .94 9.7 3.33 .11 .13 .17 1,030
Do 3.5 1.09 11.3 2.86 .09 .11 .14 885
Sugar 5 2.8 2.00 2.00 3,515
Do 6 3.4 1.67 1.67 2,940

The less expensive breakfast foods, such as oatmeal and

cornmeal, are as economical as flour, and, as they supply heat and
energy in abundance, as shown by above table, they should be
supplied in the diet in proportion to the energy required. They are
easily prepared for porridge, requiring simply to be boiled in water,
with a little salt.
For invalids, children and old people, breakfast foods prepared in
gruels and porridges are valuable as they are easily digested. All
should be thoroughly cooked so as to break the cells enclosing the
starch granules.

Predigested Foods. Some foods are claimed to be partly

digested and thus valuable for those with weak stomachs, but
breakfast foods are largely starch and the gastric juices are not
active in the digestion of starch. It is digested by saliva and the
ferment diastase in the intestines. (Diastase is a ferment of saliva
and pancreatic juice, which changes starch into dextrin and maltose,
in which form it is more easily acted upon by the intestinal juices.)
Experiments with “predigested” foods do not show a larger
proportion of dextrin, however, than would naturally be produced by
the heating of the starch, as these foods are being cooked at home.
The natural cooking at home makes starch more or less soluble, or
at least gelatinized. As a result of these experiments, therefore the
“predigested” argument is not given much weight.
Predigested foods, excepting in cases so weak as to be under the
direction of a physician, are not desirable. Nature requires every
organ to do the work intended for it, in order to keep up its strength,
just as she requires exercise for the arms or legs to keep them
strong. If an organ is weak, the cause must be found and corrected,
—perhaps the stomach or intestines need more blood which should
be supplied through exercise; or perhaps the nerves need relaxation;
or the stomach less food; or food at more regular intervals.
Another argument against predigested foods lies in the fact that
dentists hold that the chewing of coarse food is necessary to keep
the teeth strong. For this strengthening of the teeth, children are
given dry crackers and dry toast each day.
In the so-called “predigested” or “malted” preparations, malt is
added while they are being cooked. Malt is a ferment made from
some grain, usually from barley, the grain being allowed to germinate
until the ferment diastase is developed.
There is no doubt that a number of foods, containing malt are
valuable in the hands of physicians to assist in converting starch into
dextrin or sugar, where diastase is not formed in sufficient quantity,
just as pepsin is an aid in the digestion of protein,—but eaten
indiscriminately, there can be no question that it is more important for
the stomach and intestines to perform their natural work and thus
keep their strength through normal exercise.
While they are not “predigested,” as claimed, they are, as a rule,
wholesome and nutritious. They are cleanly, and made from good,
sound grain and they contain no harmful ingredients. Some contain
“middlings,” molasses, glucose and similar materials, but these are
in no way injurious and have value as foods. The dry, crisp, ready-to-
eat foods are especially advantageous because of the mastication
they require,—this mastication insuring plenty of saliva being mixed
with them to aid in digestion. A dish of such dry breakfast food, well
masticated, together with an egg, to furnish a larger proportion of
protein, makes a wholesome breakfast.

Cracked Wheat. In America wheat is seldom used whole. In

England the whole grain, with the bran left on, is slightly crushed and
served as cracked wheat or wheat grits.
Wheat is also rolled, or flaked, or shredded. The majority of wheat
breakfast foods contain a part of the middlings and many of them
bran. Farina and gluten preparations do not contain these, however.
The preparations of the various breakfast foods are a secret of the
proprietors. The ready-to-eat brands are cooked, then they are either
rolled or shredded, the shredding requiring special machinery to tear
the steamed kernels; later they are dried, and, finally packed,
sometimes in small biscuits. Many preparations are baked after
being steamed, which turns them darker and makes them more
crisp. Some preparations are steamed, then run through rollers,
while still wet, and pressed into flakes or crackers.

Oatmeals are the most nutritious cereals. The oat contains more
fat than other grains and a larger proportion of protein. It is,
therefore, the best adapted to sustain life in the proportion of nutrient
elements. On account of the fat, oats are especially well adapted for
a breakfast food in winter. Another advantage oatmeal, or rolled oats,
have as a breakfast food is in their laxative tendency, due to the
coarse shell of the kernel.