386. In every line of cooking the question that should be considered is, “How shall the food be prepared in the most natural and inexpensive manner?” And there should be careful study that the fragments of food left over from the table be not wasted. Study how, that in some way these fragments of food shall not be lost. This skill, economy, and tact is a fortune. In the warmer parts of the season, prepare less food. Use more dry substance. There are many poor families, who, although they have scarcely enough to eat, can often be enlightened as to why they are poor; there are so many jots and tittles wasted.—Manuscript 3, 1897
(CD 258.1)
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387. With many, the all-absorbing object of life—that which justifies any expenditure of labor—is to appear in the latest style. Education, health, and comfort are sacrificed at the shrine of fashion. Even in the table arrangements, fashion and show exert their baleful influence. The healthful preparation of food becomes a secondary matter. The serving of a great variety of dishes absorbs time, money, and taxing labor, without accomplishing any good. It may be fashionable to have half a dozen courses at a meal, but the custom is ruinous to health. It is a fashion that sensible men and women should condemn, by both precept and example. Do have a little regard for the life of your cook. “Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”Matthew 6:25.
(CD 258.2)
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In these days, domestic duties claim almost the whole time of the housekeeper. How much better it would be for the health of the household, if the table preparations were more simple. Thousands of lives are sacrificed every year at this altar,—lives which might have been prolonged had it not been for this endless round of manufactured duties. Many a mother goes down to the grave, who, had her habits been simple, might have lived to be a blessing in the home, the church, and the world.—Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 73, 1890
(CD 258.3)
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388. The large amount of cooking done is not at all necessary. Neither should there be any poverty-stricken diet either in quality or quantity.—Letter 72, 1896
(CD 259.1)
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389. It is important that the food should be prepared with care, that the appetite, when not perverted, can relish it. Because we from principle discard the use of meat, butter, mince pies, spices, lard, and that which irritates the stomach and destroys health, the idea should never be given that it is of but little consequence what we eat.—Testimonies for the Church 2:367, 1870
(CD 259.2)
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390. It is wrong to eat merely to gratify the appetite, but no indifference should be manifested regarding the quality of the food, or the manner of its preparation. If the food eaten is not relished, the body will not be so well nourished. The food should be carefully chosen and prepared with intelligence and skill.—The Ministry of Healing, 300, 1905
(CD 259.3)
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391. I would pay a higher price for a cook than for any other part of my work.... If that person is not apt and has no skill in cooking, you will see, as we have in our experience, the stereotyped breakfast,—porridge, as it is called,—we call it mush, baker’s bread, and some kind of sauce, and that is all with the exception of a little milk. Now those after eating in this kind of way for months, knowing what will appear before them at every meal, come to dread the hour which should be interesting to them, as the dreaded period of the day. I suppose you will not understand all this until you have experienced it. But I am really perplexed over this matter. Were I to act over the preparation in coming to this place, I would say, Give me an experienced cook, who has some inventive powers, to prepare simple dishes healthfully, and that will not disgust the appetite.—Letter 19c, 1892
(CD 259.4)
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