The following menus have been obtained from housewives who were glad
to share in an effort toward better understanding between foreign-born
groups and agencies either of adjustment or for case work. This small
body of material is illustrative of the kind of information that is
easily available to the agency and that would illumine the treatment
of the families under care.
The menus given are those actually used by housewives of different
nationalities during the periods indicated. A list of recipes will be
found in another volume of this Study.[82]
BOHEMIAN
These menus were given by a Bohemian woman whose methods of cooking
have changed very little in America. She has learned new ways of
preserving vegetables and fruits, but uses those methods only when
they seem to her more inexpensive than her earlier practices. In other
respects the diet is said to be typical of the diet of a Bohemian
family of moderate income in Moravia.
BREAKFAST
Oatmeal with milk.
Coffee, bread with butter or jelly.
There is always fruit in the house and the child of five is given
bread and jelly at ten o'clock in the morning.
LUNCH
Usually a meatless soup is served for lunch, or a simple dish of rice
or vegetables. Eggs cooked in various ways, milk, bread, butter, and
jelly, and baked porridge called "kashe" made from farina, rice or
millet, cooked with milk and sugar and butter, are also used at lunch.
DINNER
The dinner menus do not vary much. Soup made from meat stock is eaten
every week day except Wednesday, when there is roast meat and no soup.
On Sunday both soup and a roast are served. The meat from the soup is
served with a variety of sauces and gravies. Dumplings are used often
when Americans would serve potatoes. Rice and noodles are also used
instead of potatoes. Such vegetables as beans, spinach, carrots,
cabbage, kohl-rabi, sauerkraut, and salads are sometimes eaten with
the meat instead of the sauce with dumplings. The following are
typical menus:
Soup.
Meat with sauce and dumplings.
Apple sauce or preserves.
Coffee. Bread and butter.
Soup.
Meat with sauce and potatoes.
Stewed fruit.
Coffee with homemade raised tarts.
Soup.
Meat, beans, sauerkraut.
Apple sauce.
Coffee. Bread and butter.
CROATIAN
The following menus represent the diet of a Croatian family of
moderate income. The family came from a village near Zara, and the
influence of the Italian customs upon the food habits of the
Dalmatians is indicated in the use of polenta.
August 6, 1919:
BREAKFAST--5 A.M.
One cup of coffee with one or two slices of bread. Coffee is
made very strong, the cup filled two thirds full of hot milk;
the coffee and some cream added.
SECOND BREAKFAST--9 A.M.
A soft-boiled egg, with bread.
One cup of coffee.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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