Amazing Facts About Food

    The Food Scientist tells us: "A deficiency of iron, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and the other mineral salts, colloids and vitamines of vegetable origin leads to numerous forms of physical disorder."

I yearn to bite on a Colloid
    With phosphorus, iron and Beans;
I want to be filled with Calcium, grilled,
    And Veg'table Vitamines!

I yearn to bite on a Colloid
    (Though I don't know what it means)
To line my inside with Potassium, fried,
    And Veg'table Vitamines.

I would sate my soul with spinach
    And dandelion greens.
No eggs, nor ham, nor hard-boiled clam,
    But Veg'table Vitamines.

Hi, Waiter! Coddle the Colloids
    With phosphorus, iron and Beans;
Though Mineral Salts may have some faults,
    Bring on the Vitamines.

Unknown

The identity of this poet is not known. Their works, which are often of significant historical or cultural value, have been attributed to 'Unknown'. This designation is commonly used when the creator of works, ranging from ancient texts to more modern writings, remains anonymous or uncredited. Despite the lack of personal details, the impact and importance of these works endure, offering insight into the eras and cultures from which they originated.

Unknown

Nursery Rhyme. CCIV. Riddles.

Unknown , Simple Poetry

Nursery Rhyme. CCCLII. Games.

Unknown , Simple Poetry

Nursery Rhyme. CVI. Proverbs.

Unknown , Simple Poetry

Nursery Rhyme. CXCVI. Riddles.

Unknown , Simple Poetry

English

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Diet

There was a young lady named Perkins,
Who had a great fondness for gherkins;
    She went to a tea
    And ate twenty-three,
Which pickled her internal workin's.

Unknown

The Cusine

The woman who looks upon man as a sinner
Unsaved as to soul, and uncertain in heart,
Should learn how to cook, and prepare him a dinner,
And serve it with talent, refinement, and art.
Full many a question is solved by digestion.
Bad morals are caused, oftentimes by bad cooks,
And many a riot results from poor diet -
Conversion may lie in the leaves of cook books.

About the dull stalk of the thorntree of duty
Plant flowers of fragrance and vines of good taste.
Surround the coarse needs of the body with beauty,
Make common things noble, make vulgar things chaste.
Put art in housekeeping, nor think culture sleeping
Because the base animal, man, must be fed.
Delsarte should be able to speak in the table -
'Expression' may lie in a light loaf of bread.

...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The Mind's Diet

No life worth naming ever comes to good
If always nourished on the selfsame food;
The creeping mite may live so if he please,
And feed on Stilton till he turns to cheese,
But cool Magendie proves beyond a doubt,
If mammals try it, that their eyes drop out.

No reasoning natures find it safe to feed,
For their sole diet, on a single creed;
It spoils their eyeballs while it spares their tongues,
And starves the heart to feed the noisy lungs.

When the first larvae on the elm are seen,
The crawling wretches, like its leaves, are green;
Ere chill October shakes the latest down,
They, like the foliage, change their tint to brown;
On the blue flower a bluer flower you spy,
You stretch to pluck it - 'tis a butterfly;
The flattened tree-toads so resemble bar...

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Mrs. Merdle Discourseth Of Hygiene And Fish Sauce.

But this is concocted by rules so complete;
Though piquant, is healthy and easy digested;
And if you will note it as slowly we eat,
The contents I'll give for our friends interested.

Imprimus: in fish stock, an onion we stew,
And anchovy essence two spoonfuls we add;
With butter, horse-radish, and lemons a few;
Mushrooms, too, in ketchup is not very bad;
And pickle of walnuts with onions chopped fine,
To which there is added some old sherry wine.

My doctor, so queer, when I suffer distress,
Inquires what I've latterly foolishly eaten,
And swears that to swallow this 'horrible mess,'
Would entitle a dog like a dog to be beaten.

But la! such a doctor knows nothing of women's complaints,
And talks Latin nonsense about 'regular diet;'
And thinks ...

Horatio Alger, Jr.

Hom[oe]Opathic Soup

    Take a robin's leg
(Mind, the drumstick merely);
    Put it in a tub
Filled with water nearly;
    Set it out of doors,
In a place that's shady;
    Let it stand a week
(Three days if for a lady);
    Drop a spoonful of it
In a five-pail kettle,
    Which may be made of tin
Or any baser metal;
    Fill the kettle up,
Set it on a boiling,
    Strain the liquor well,
To prevent its oiling;
    One atom add of salt,
For the thickening one rice kernel,
    And use to light the fire
"The Hom[oe]opathic Journal."
    Let the liquor boil
Half an hour, no longer,
    (If 'tis for a man
Of course you'll make it stronger).
    Should you now desire
That the soup be flavoury,
    Stir it once around,
With a stalk...

Unknown

Diet

    A Colonel, who used to assert
    That naught his digestion could hurt,
    Was forced to admit
    That his weak point was hit
    When they gave him hot shot for dessert.

Unknown