_Pastry._ Pastry is usually difficult of digestion because the fat it contains interferes with the proper solution of the starch. The objectionable features apply to such pastry as is made by rubbing fat into flour, as in pie crust, crust for meat pies, apple dumplings, etc. It does not apply to most puddings. Butter or fat is used in cakes, cookies, etc., but it is not rubbed into the flour; it is mixed with sugar and eggs which hold it in suspension until the flour is acted on by the liquids. The coating of the starch granules with fat prevents them from coming in contact with liquids. The fat does not furnish sufficient water to enable the cells to swell and dissolve the cell wall and so coats the starch granules as to prevent them from absorbing water in mixing, or saliva in mastication. This coating of fat is not removed until late in the process of digestion, or until the food reaches the intestines. The same objection applies to rich gravies, unless the flour is dissolved in water and heated before being mixed with the fats. Pastry and biscuits require a somewhat hotter temperature than bread, because the process of cooking consumes less time. * * * * * [Sidenote: Cooking of Vegetables] Since the root vegetables contain a large proportion of carbohydrates, they should be well cooked, in order that the crude fiber may be broken and the cells fully dissolved. Most vegetables are unpalatable and indigestible unless, by the cooking process, the starch granules are broken. Vegetables are best cooked in soft water as lime or magnesia, the chemical ingredients which make water “hard,” make the vegetables less soluble. Vegetables and fruits become contaminated with the eggs of numerous parasites from the fertilizers used; hence they should be thoroughly washed. The objections to frying are as strong in regard to vegetables as to meats. The coating of fat retards digestion, as shown on page 195. The objection to frying does not hold so strongly in the case of vegetables, such as potatoes, if fried _slowly_ in fat that is not overheated, or to griddle cakes cooked slowly without smoke. It does apply, however, if the fat is sufficiently heated to smoke. The coating of vegetables and cereals with fat prevents the necessary action of saliva on the starch globules. As previously stated, starch digestion is begun in the mouth and continued for a short time in the stomach, while the fats are not emulsified until they reach the intestine.