Food

[A.S. foda, from fed an, to feed; Ger. futter.] That which is fed upon; whatever is eaten by animals for nourishment; whatever supplies nutriment to plants; aliment; nutriment; sustenance; victuals; provisions; meat. - Anything that augments, sustains, supportą keeps up, or nourishes. "Music, manly food ." Shaks. Food and Drink. (Physiol.) Those solid and liquid substances which are used either for sustaining animal life or for the purpose of reproducing the ever-wasting ti ues and fluids of animal bodies. Of the elementary bodies, only a small proportion enters into the constitution of animals; and the substances included in this small proportion are the only ones required to be present in food and drink. Out of about sixty elements, only oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, sulphur, chlorine, phosphorus, sodium, pota ium, calcium, magnesium, iron, and fluorine are absolutely nece ary. Albumen, fibrine, and caseine, which occur both in animals and vegetables, together with vegetable gluten, furnish oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon. Animal flesh, eggs, milk, corn, and various other vegetable productions contain one or more of these principles. Food containing a large proportion either of sugar, starch, or organic acids, introduces carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen largely into the system. Oleaginous alimentary substances contain carbon, with a little oxygen and hydrogen. This cla of substances includes fat, suet, butter, oily seeds, such as nuts, and fatty foods, such as liver, . Flesh, blood, and bones used as food supply phosphorus to the system; the flesh of fishes is particularly rich in phosphorus, and in the shape of phosphates it exists in the juices of many edible vegetables. Sulphur is introduced into the system from the fibrine of flesh, from albumen, from the caseine of milk, gluten, . Chlorine and sodium exist in nearly every variety of animal food, and, in the shape of common salt, are taken separately with nearly all kinds of food. Pota ium is found in various kinds of food, both animal and vegetable, in milk, in the juice of flesh, and in nearly all inland plants. Calcium is not only obtained from animal and vegetable food, but also from drinking-water, which usually contains sulphate and carbonate of lime in solution. Magnesium is generally found along with calcium; and traces of fluorine have been observed in milk, blood, . These simple bodies, however, are not capable of being directly a imilated and converted into ti ue; they must be previously in combination; and their a imilation depends upon certain chemical decompositions and physiological proce es. The number of elementary substances in combination differs: thus, water contains two elements-oxygen and hydrogen; sugar, starch, fat, . contain three; caseine of milk contains five; and albumen and fibrine contain six. Baron Liebig, who has given much attention to this subject, has divided all kinds of food into two cla es - those substances which do contain nitrogen, and those which do not. The first cla , which is sometimes called nitrogenous or album i nous, is useful in forming blood, flesh, .; it is, in fact, nutritious food. The second, or non- nitrogenous cla , a ists the respiratory organs. Thus, in very cold climates, where more exercise is required in order to sustain the vital heat, more oxygen is respired, and consequently more carbon is required in the food. Hence, it will be observed that in such countries as Siberia, Lapland, ., large quantities of non-nitrogenous substances, such as fat, oil, ., are used by the inhabitants as food; in the temperate zone a moderate mixture of nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous food is used while in the tropics, and also in countries cla ed as semi-tropical, fruits and vegetables form the principal food. Although the theories of Liebig have not remained undisputed, his works on the subject are considered of very high value. (See Liebig's Researches on the Chemistry of Food .) In the preparation of food for eating, much depends upon the way in which it is cooked. As all the nutritious juices of meat are soluble in cold water, it is nece ary, when preparing boiled food, to place the meat in boiling water in the first place. This coagulates the alburn en on the surface, thus forming a crust or shell, which prevents the escape of the nutritious juices. If, however, the object is to make soup, the meat should be put into cold water, and gradually raised to the boiling-point. In roasting and broiling meat, the first application of heat should be vigorous and rapid, in order to coagulate the albumen and form a crust, and so retain the juices, as in boiling. In the proce of roasting, the cellular ti ue is converted into soluble gelatine, and the fat is melted out of its component cells. Baked meat is le digestible than either roast or boiled, as it contains more empyreumatic oil. Frying is the most unwholesome form of cooking, as it is mostly performed with the a istance of heated oil or fat, which is decomposed during the operation. Smoking, pickling, and salting meat not only harden the animal textures, but, in the case of salting, the food is rendered le nutritious, as a large quantity of albumen, soluble phosphates, lactic acid, potash, creatine, and creatinine are abstracted in the brine. Very few vegetables are roasted; they are, as a general rule, boiled. Those which contain saccharine matter, such as carrots, beet-roots, parsnips, ., are best cooked by steam, as boiling water di olves out a large quantity of their nutritious ingredients. Vegetables, however, which contain much starch, as potatoes, should be boiled. By boiling, the granules of the starch are IMG:content-0214.jpg:[graphic] The American Dictionary and Cyclopedia ruptured and partially di olved, and any volatile oils which may be present are expelled. All kinds of filesh are not equal with regard to their nutritive value. Veal, for instance, is totally different from beef. It contains a smaller quantity of the alkalies, and there is 15 per cent. more phosphoric acid than is nece ary for the formation of salts; it contains, also, a little of the fibrine of flesh, and proportionately more of the fibrine of blood, which is le digestible than the former. Veal is rich in gelatine, which is not nutritious, and seldom contains any quantity of fat; it also contains very little iron. -To deceive; to impose upon; to cheat; as, to fool one out of his money. Fool, n. [Fr. fouler , to pre or crush. See FOIL.] A compound of gooseberries scalded and crushed, with cream; -commonly called gooseberry - fool . Fool'ery, n. Habitual folly; attention to trifles; ab- surdity; as, " foolery , sir, doth walk about the orb like the sun." ( Shaks .) - An act of folly or weakne ; an object of folly; as, "it is mere foolery , to multiply dis- tinct particulars." ( Watts .) "To believe in fooleries ." Raleigh. In all these points it is the reverse of beef. Hard-boiled Fool'hardihood, n. Same as foolhardine . eggs have little or no nutritive power: and the same Fool'hardily, adv . With foolhardine . may be said of boiled fish, the soup of which is generally Fool'hardine , n. Mad rashne ; courage without thrown away. In order to make up the nece ary de- sense.