“O stay me with rice and with porridge
O comfort me sweetly with grits!
Baked beans give me plenty of courage,
And cracked wheat enlivens my wits.”
No one should adopt an impoverished diet.
Bring me my breakfast—oatmeal and boiled eggs.—A. T. Stewart, the millionaire.
Carlyle, catching a glimpse of Macaulay’s face, once remarked, “Well, any one can see that you are an honest, good sort of a fellow, made out of oatmeal.”
Dr. Johnson, who entertained a great dislike for the Scots, and lost no opportunity of saying bitter things against them, once defined oats as “in Scotland food for Scotchmen; but in England, food for horses.” He was well answered by the indignant Scotchman, who replied, “Yes, and where can you find such men as in Scotland, or such horses as in England?”
Most grains require prolonged cooking, and slow cooking is preferable to fast. They are frequently served in the form of mush, and too often in an underdone state. Thorough cooking not only breaks up the food, but partially digests the starch contained in it.