Each meal should be a unit in itself, but at the same time the meals should be planned for several days at a time, so as to avoid repetition and uneven-ness of quantity. It might be possible to obtain from oatmeal and macaroni alone a good part of the food elements necessary, but a meal consisting of these two foods and nothing else would be unsatisfactory. Variety stimulates the appetite. It is also well to consider the harmonious blending of flavor, color, texture, and temperature of foods. It is more satisfactory on a cold day to begin a meal with a hot dish such as soup instead of chilled grapefruit. So also we would not like to repeat similar flavors in the same meal. If we serve a tomato bisque soup, a tomato sauce with the meat course or a tomato salad is to be avoided. There are some dishes which seem to go together naturally, such as peas with lamb chops, currant jelly with venison, cheese with cold apple pie, and bacon with liver. Some other dishes, which we find in constant use, however, are not such wise combinations as these. In chicken or lobster salad we have so much fat in connection with protein material that the salad is difficult to digest. The same is true with bacon and eggs. Grid-dle cakes also as usually eaten with a large amount of butter and syrup are not a food for a person with a delicate digestion, since the starch is so rapidly cooked that it is not cooked thoroughly.

Variety essential

Breakfast varies in heartiness with the habits of the family, but customarily is practically the same, morning after morning, in the same family. Where there are school-children, it is important to see that they start off in the morning with a suitable breakfast eaten without haste or worry. The simplest breakfast is known as the Continental one, which consists merely of toast or hot bread and a hot drink, tea coffee, or cocoa. To this fruit is frequently added, making a very satisfactory breakfast for an adult who does not expect to have a busy morning. For busier people, however, a dish of cereal should be added to this breakfast. The cereal by rights should make up the main part of the meal for adults as well as for children. If the third group, the starch one, is well represented and is eaten, as is usually the case, with milk or cream, no other form of protein food is necessary at breakfast. We should have our five groups represented, fruit from the first, milk from the second, cereal and toast or breadstuffs from the third, butter on the toast and cream on the cereal from the fourth, and the fifth, which might be easily omitted, is usually present in the sweetening of the coffee or cocoa and is also represented in the fruit. If eggs can be afforded, they are a pleasing way of introducing more building material for growing children, but are not absolutely necessary if a glass of milk is drunk and a big dish of cereal is eaten.

Breakfast

Americans are very apt to err on the size of their breakfast. There are many men like the one who insisted that he ate a light breakfast, and when asked what it usually was, said, "Fruit to begin with, then a dish of cereal with cream, then a chop or two or a piece of steak with toast or hot muffins and coffee, and, oh, yes, usually some griddle cakes or waffles to end off with." Such a man would certainly need to walk to his office before starting in with a hard day's work, but the man who can afford such a breakfast is apt to ride to town in his limousine and then wonders why he has dyspepsia or bilious attacks.

The other light meal of the day, whether it is luncheon or supper, is usually the meal in which leftovers are used. Here again group three, or the starchy foods, may be the basis if there is plenty of variety in the other meals. There are many forms of cereals which can be used to give a variety and not resemble breakfast. Boiled rice, served either with cream and sugar, with maple syrup, or with maple sugar, makes a good basis for such a meal. So also would a large dish of creamed macaroni and spaghetti with or without cheese, and varied sometimes by being made with tomato instead of milk. Fried cornmeal mush, French toast, and even griddle cakes or waffles might be used occasionally for this meal for the older young people and adults. They would, of course, not be given to children. Other dishes which may well find a place at this meal are creamed soups, hearty salads, cheese dishes, nut loaves, or stuffed eggs when used with fresh greens or fruit and plenty of breadstuffs. If milk is introduced in some form or other at this meal either as soup or in the scalloped dish or in the pudding, we should be quite satisfied that the boys and girls coming from school were getting a suitable lunch.

Luncheon and supper

The hearty meal of the day, whether at noon or at night, is usually made up of all five groups. The problem is more difficult to handle in those families where the school-children should have their hearty meal in the middle of the day and the busy father of the family should have his at night. It really amounts to serving two dinners a day, although by a judicious use of cold meat, together with plenty of hot dishes for the children at noon, and by putting salads instead of a heavy dessert with the roast at night, it can be worked out satisfactorily for both. It is not necessary to have many dishes, as all the groups may be represented in four dishes or even less. This is the meal at which it is customary to serve meat, but other protein foods, fish, cheese, or the pulses, might easily be used to take its place occasionally. The starch group is present in the form of potato, macaroni, rice, and breadstuffs. One green vegetable is usually served but it would be well to add another or a simple salad. If fruit is used for dessert as well, the mineral salt group would be well represented. The other two groups are found in the oil on the salad, in the gravy with the meat, and in the pudding or other sweet dish that is used for dessert. There is usually enough fat served in one form or another at dinner so that it is not necessary to have butter on the table at this meal.