Concord Register

New-York American

Qualities of the Animal and Vegetable Food commonly used in Diet.

BEEF.

When this is the flesh of a bullock of middle age it affords good and strong nourishment, and is peculiarly adapted to those who labor, or take much exercise. It will often sit easy upon stomachs that can digest no other kind of food; and its fat is almost as easily digested as that of veal.

VEAL.

is a proper food for persons recovering from indisposition, and may be given to febrile patients in a very weak state; but it affords less nourishment than the flesh of the same animal in a state of maturity. The fat of it is lighter than that of any other animal, and shows the least disposition to putrescency. Veal is a very suitable food in costive habits; but of all meat, it is the least calculated for removing acidity from the stomach.

MUTTON,

from the age of four to six years, and fed on dry pasture, is an excellent meat. It is of a middle kind, between the firmness of beef and the tenderness of veal. The lean part of mutton, however, is the most nourishing and conducive to health; the fat being hard of digestion. The head of the sheep, especially when divested of its skin, is very tender; and the feet, on account of the jelly they contain, are highly nutritive.

LAMB

is not so nourishing as mutton; but it is light, and extremely suitable to delicate stomachs.

PORK

affords rich and substantial nourishment; and its juices are wholesome when properly fed, and when the animal enjoys pure air and exercise. But the flesh of hogs reared in towns, is both hard of digestion and unwholesome.—Pork is particularly improper for those who are liable to any foulness of the skin.—It is almost proverbial, that a dram is good for promoting its digestion; but this is an erroneous notion; for though a dram may give a momentary stimulus to the coats of the stomach, it tends to harden the flesh, and of course to make it more indigestible.

SMOKED HAMS

are a strong kind of meat, and rather fit for a relish than for diet. It is the quality of all salted meat that the fibres become rigid, and therefore more difficult of digestion; and when to this is added smoking, the heat of the chimney occasions the salt to concentrate, and the fat between the muscles sometimes to become rancid.

MILK

is of very different consistence in different animals; but that of cows being the kind used in diet, is at present the object of our attention. Milk, where it agrees with the stomach, affords excellent nourishment for those who are weak, and cannot digest other aliments. It does not readily become putrid, but it is apt to become sour on the stomach, and thence to produce flatulence, heart-burn, or gripes, and in some constitutions a looseness. The best milk is from a cow at three or four years of age, about two months after producing a calf. It is lighter, but more watery, than the milk of sheep and goats; while, on the other hand, it is more thick and heavy than the milk of asses and mares.

On account of the acid which is generated after digestion, milk coagulates in all stomachs; but the caseous or cheesy part is again dissolved by the digestive juices, and rendered fit for the purpose of nutrition. It is improper to eat acid substances with milk, as these would tend to prevent due digestion of it.

CREAM

is very nourishing, but on account of its fatness, is difficult to be digested in weak stomachs. Violent exercise after eating it, will in a little time convert it into butter.

BUTTER.

Some writers inveigh against the use of butter as universally pernicious; but they might with equal reason condemn all vegetable oils, which form a considerable part of diet in the southern climates, and seem to have been beneficially intended by nature for that purpose. Butter, like every other oily substance, has doubtless a relaxing quality, and if long retained in the stomach is liable to become rancid; but, if eaten in moderation, it will not produce those effects. It is, however, improper in bilious constitutions. The worst consequence produced by butter, when eaten with bread, is that it obstructs the discharge of the saliva in the act of mastication or chewing; by which means the food is not so easily digested. To obviate this effect, it would be a commendable practice at breakfast, first to eat some dry bread, and chew it well, till the salivary glands were exhausted, and afterwards to eat it with butter. By these means such a quantity of saliva might be carried into the stomach, as would be sufficient for the purpose of digestion.

CHEESE

is likewise reprobated by many as extremely unwholesome. It is doubtless not easy of digestion; and, when eaten in a great quantity, may overload the stomach; but if taken sparingly, its tenacity may be dissolved by the digestive juices, and it may yield a wholesome, though not very nourishing chyle.—Toasted cheese is agreeable to most palates, but is rendered more indigestible by that process.

FOWLS.

The flesh of birds differs in quality, according to the food on which they live. Such as feed upon grain and berries, afford, in general, good nourishment; if we except geese and ducks, which are hard of digestion, especially the former. A young hen or chicken is tender and delicate food, and extremely well adapted where the digestive powers are weak. But of all tame fowls, the capon is the most nutritious.

TURKIES, &C.

Turkies, as well as Guinea or India fowls, afford a substantial nutriment, but not so easy of digestion as the common domestic fowls. In all birds, those parts are the most firm, which are most exercised; in the small birds, therefore, the wings, and in the larger kinds, the legs, are commonly the most difficult of digestion.

WILD FOWLS.
The flesh of wild birds, in general, though more easily digested, is less nourishing than that of quadrupeds, as being more dry, on account of their almost constant exercise. Those birds are not wholesome which subsist upon worms, insects, and fishes.

EGGS.
The eggs of birds are a simple and wholesome aliment. Those of the turkey are superior in all the qualifications of food. The white of eggs is dissolved in a warm temperature, but by much heat it is rendered tough and hard. The yolk contains much oil, and is highly nourishing, but has a strong tendency to putrefaction; on which account, eggs are improper for people of weak stomachs, especially when they are not quite fresh. Eggs boiled hard or fried are difficult of digestion, and are rendered still more indigestible by the addition of butter. All eggs require a sufficient quantity of salt to promote their solution in the stomach.

FISH,
though some of them be light and easy of digestion, afford less nourishment than vegetables, or the flesh of quadrupeds, and are, of all the animal tribes, the most disposed to putrefaction. Salt water fish are, in general, the best; but when salted, though less disposed to putrescency, they become more difficult of digestion. Whitings and flounders are the most easily digested. Acid sauces and pickles, by resisting putrefaction, are a proper addition to fish, both as they retard putrescency, and correct the relaxing tendency of butter, so generally used with this kind of aliment.

OYSTERS AND COCKLES
are eaten both raw and dressed, but in the former state they are preferable; because heat dissipates considerably their nutritious parts as well as the salt water, which promotes their digestion in the stomach: if not eaten very sparingly, they generally prove laxative.

[To be continued.]