Food Guide for War Service at Home: Prepared under the direction of the United States Food Administration in co-operation with the United States Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Education, with a preface by Herbert HooverUnited States Food Administration
History
Food Guide for War Service at Home: Prepared under the direction of the United States Food Administration in co-operation with the United States Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Education, with a preface by Herbert Hoover
United States Food Administration
World War, 1914-1918 -- Food supply -- United States
The war, with the need for every ounce of food and the increasing
transportation difficulties, has brought the process into prominence.
The dehydrated products, if properly stored, seem to keep a long time.
Their saving in freight and shipping is plain, when it is remembered
that the fresh vegetables and fruits often contain over 90 per cent
water, and the dried from 8 per cent to 10 per cent. Ships are too
precious to be used for carrying unnecessary water. Our Government has
placed orders for several thousand tons of dehydrated potatoes for the
Army and may use other dried products as they can be obtained.
Canada has sent abroad within the past 3 years over 50 million
pounds of dehydrated vegetables, about two-thirds of which was the
vegetable-soup mixture and one-third dried sliced potatoes. When
reconstituted this would make about 400,000,000 pounds of vegetables.
Germany has been drying her vegetables and fruits far more than we. In
1917 she had over 2,000 commercial plants, and an elaborate system of
distributing all the available fresh material to the different plants
to avoid waste.
Individuals and communities with gardens or wherever fresh products
can be obtained should not be dependent upon commercial agencies.
AS FAR AS POSSIBLE EVERY FAMILY AND EVERY NEIGHBORHOOD SHOULD BE
SELF-SUPPORTING. HOME AND COMMUNITY CANNING AND DRYING ARE IMPORTANT
DUTIES. CAN AND DRY THE SURPLUS. STORE UP ENOUGH TO CARRY THROUGH THE
NEXT WINTER. FOLLOW EXPERT ADVICE AS TO METHODS. USE THE GREATEST CARE
TO PREVENT SPOILAGE. WHEREVER POSSIBLE UNITE WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS IN
COMMUNITY CANNERIES AND DRYERS SO THAT EVERY ONE CAN HAVE THE BENEFIT
OF THE BEST EQUIPMENT AND THE MOST SKILLED SUPERVISION.
A GREAT DEAL WAS DONE IN 1917; MILLIONS OF CANS WERE PUT UP AND GREAT
WASTE PREVENTED. BUT IN 1918 MORE MUST BE DONE. MORE VEGETABLES MUST
BE RAISED AND MORE MUST BE CANNED. A GREAT RESERVE FOR THE WINTER IS
MORE NECESSARY THAN EVER.
CONCLUSION
Almost a year of food control in this country has passed and the great
new experiment in democratic administration of the nation's food is
succeeding. The method of well-directed voluntary co-operation, much
more characteristic of our food control than of any other country's,
can be judged by its results to date. We have sent abroad six times
the wheat that we had believed was in the country for export. We have
exported vastly increased shipments of the other cereals, of beef and
pork, of fats and condensed milk. With Canada, we are supplying 50 per
cent of the Allies' food, instead of barely 5 per cent, as before the
war. Meanwhile our own population has been taken care of. No one has
gone hungry because of the shipments of food out of the country. The
price of the most important food, bread, has been kept stable--a new
experience in time of war.
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