IN THE U.S. ARMY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 83, 4 October 1941, Page 13

IN THE U.S. ARMY

WOMAN FOOD CONSULTANT

ADVICE SOUGHT ON DIET

An unusual assignment has been given an American woman, Miss Mary I. Barber, who recently became army food consultant, assisting the Quartermaster Corps of the United States army in planning meniis, states the "Melbourne Age." . . Miss Barber, a graduate of Columbia University, is president of the American Dietetic Association. During the last world war she was adviser to American housewives in the preservation of foodstuffs, and for the past ten years she has worked with the army at cooking schools and helped to plan menus with mess sergeants. MENUS SUBMITTED. Part of her work is concerned with reviewing sample army menus and visiting' army posts to see the food available for the troops. In 8000 army messes, menus are drawn up for 30-day periods, and then, after review by corps area headquarters, these are sent to Washington to the quarter-master-general and to Miss Barber for final approval. Miss Barber considers that bonebuilding food is needed by the young men in the army, many of them not yet of full growth. They needed meat, she told a recent interviewer, and they got it twice, and sometimes three times, a day. She said, too, that every man was given half a pint of fresh milk each day, as well as his share of the evaporated milk used in cooking. While quite an amount of canned food was used in the army, the aim was also to include as many fresh . egetables and fruits as possible. Ice dream and pie were favourite puddings, while beans, which entered army menus early because they were filling, easy to keep and transport, still retained

their place because scientific investigation had proved that they were a very satisfying food. COOK BOOK REVISED. Miss Barber stressed the importance Of good cookitig and preparation. She is at present revising the Army Cook Book, and. illustrating the modern army outlook is an -alteration .that has been made in the introduction to the latest" volume. The 1935 edition stated that "Cooking is not difficult. Any person of average intelligence can cook a satisfactory meal, provided he takes an interest and follows r. a re* cipe." The new edition simply states, "It takes a person of intelligence to cook."