Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 1.djvu/135

 the white bread altogether. It may be said that the above observations are unauthenticated and useless coming from a person who cannot pretend to any knowledge of chemistry or medicine. Well, they are not unauthentic. Only the authorities have not been quoted. That what has been written above is the general opinion of doctors can be seen by reading the many vegetarian pamphlets published by the Vegetarian Society. It must be repeated here that the aim of this guide is not to supersede other useful books and to give all the information, its aim is to supplement, to give information not hitherto given and to direct where the proper information can be had. We assume then that food is to be selected for three meals from the vegetable kingdom. The meals consist of breakfast at 8.30 a.m., dinner at 1 p.m., and supper at 6.30 p.m. A good breakfast may be made of oatmeal porridge--a splendid dish especially in winter. In almost every household, they have this porridge for breakfast in winter. Thousands of Scotch people live on oatmeal. It tastes like wheat and is sweeter. The preparation is very simple. You can stir one ounce of oatmeal into a sufficient quantity of water and put it on the oil stove. If it is fine oatmeal, the porridge would be ready in 20 minutes. If it is coarse, it would take 30 minutes. It can be eaten with sugar and milk or stewed fruit. Stewed fruit is fruit cooked in water with a little sugar. The porridge may be made entirely in milk or milk and water. Made in milk it tastes better. This breakfast would cost as follows :

Oatmeal Milk Fruit (currants or raisins) Bread Butter

oz 1 1 /2 pint 2

d 1 /4 1 1 /2 1 /2 3 /4

3d. Breakfast may consist of bread (1d), butter (1d) and cheese (1/2 d). It may consist of toast and milk (3d), toast, jam and tea (3d), bread and butter and fruit (3d), maize, musc and fruit (2d) bread and apples 1 /2l b (4d per 1b) (3d), bread, butter and cocoa (3d), bread, butter and marmalade (21/2d), et ad lib. Soup and bread and fresh fruit or rice and milk and sugar would make a good dinner. Soup made of potatoes, onion and haricots costs 11/2d. Rice, milk and sugar would cost 2d or less and bread 1d. This dinner, then, can be had for 41/2 d. And if you are