伊文思圖書館致北京大學校長（1918）

伊文思圖書館致校長函
眼授教育，己公認為最善之教授方法矣。因難得合宜之影片，且其價太重，中國大學數學校，遂未採用此法。使影片能租用，則其價可大減矣。
下列各種影片，係分組排列，可照下列價目，或租用一星期，或購買（郵費另加）。敝公司用郵局包裹法寄出，當退回時，亦請用此法。若稍有破壞，租用者當收到時，應立行報告敝公司，否則租用者須負責也。影片退回時，如有破壞，租用者亦須負責。為預防破壞起見，請嚴密包裹，如收到時也。影片類別如後。

一醫學類。（人類生理學，共一百六十五片。）
二宗教類。
三教育類。（每影片，均有解說，故全組可成對於一事之演講。）
　　1 石油。此組共二十影片。指示如何開井，如何製油，及如何輸出之情形。租用，全組租價二元。購買，價值二十元。
　　2 火車頭之製造。全組共二十三片。借用，二元，買，二十三元。
　　3 紙之製造。全組共十八片。租，二元。買，十八元。
　　4 針之製造。共十三片。租，一元二角五分。買，十三元。
　　5 棉花之製造。共二十一片。租，二元。買，二十一元。
　　6 麻之製造。共十三片。租，一元五角。買，十三元。
　　7 絲之製造。共四十八片。指示中西造絲之法。借，三元。買，四十八元。
　　8 羊與羊毛。共十五片。租，一元五角。買，十五元。
　　9 牛。共十二片。租，一元。買，十二元。
　　10 皮之製造。共十一片。租，一元。買，十一元。
　　11 糖之製造。共二十八片。租，二元。買，二十八元。
　　12 中西穀類出產及保存之法。共二十三片。租，二元。買，二十三元。
　　13 咖啡之出產。共九片。租，一元。買，九元。
　　14 煙葉之種植。共七片。租，一元。買，七元。
　　15 竹之種植及用途。共七片。租，一元。買，七元。
　　16 挨及高麗日本等地陶器之製造。共十四片。租，一元二角五分。買，十四元。
　　17 玻璃及瓶之製造。共七片。租，一元。買，七元。
　　18 煤之開採。共三十六片。租，三元。買，三十六元。
　　19 鐵與鋼之製造。共三十一片。租，三元。買，三十一元。
　　20 金礦之開採。共十二片。租，一元二角五分。買，十二元。
　　21 銅。共六片。租，一元。買，六元。
　　22 各種飛機。共三十一片。租，三元。買，三十一元。
　　23 蟻與其生活。共三十一片。租三元。買，三十一元。
四雜類。內有各種地圖及特別片子（每片租價一角買價一元）
又敝公司不久將收到新影片，彼時當另開單通知。前單中之醫學類影片，已賣完。其他雖間有賣完者，然不久，就要到新的。
下列三組影片，想先生必甚注意。如欲租用，請早日通知。
（一）中國城市之衛生。（三十六片）
（二）蠅之殺人。（三十二片）
　以上二組，乃中華衛生教育聯合會所製成者。附有中西文之演講，租用每星期各三元。
（三）林肯之生活。（二十五片）
租用二元五角。

資料來源：《北京大學日刊》，第210號，1918年9月23日，第4-5版。

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上海伊文思公司來函
北京大學總務處收發課
執事先生公鑒啟者敝公司教育圖書目錄業已出版，茲特檢紮兩包，計二百九十六本，交由火車運上附去（M. 7406）提單一紙，乞即遣价向路局提取，代為分派。曷勝企禱，專此泐達祇項
年禧
十一年十二月二十九號
（該公司書目係贈送本校教職員每人一本，現已寄到，本日由收發課分送。編者附白。）

資料來源：《北京大學日刊》，第1149號，1923年1月8日，第2版。

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The Oriental Cook Book 西法食譜

Mrs. W. S. Emens comp. The Oriental Cook Book: A Guide to Marketing and Cooking (Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1889. A Chinese edition, entitled 西法食譜 bound in Chinese style was published by APMP simultaneously. Shanghai: Kelly & Walsh, 1898 2nd ed., 1905 3rd ed.). 

Source: HathiTrust. Signed by James Dyer Ball, who published The English-Chinese Cookery Book, containing 200 receipts in English and Chinese 西國品味求真 (Hong Kong: Kelly & Walsh, 1890). To be discussed.

The following table of content is from 1898 edition:

Marketing 論菜市上的東西
Groceries 論雜貨
Care of Food 論小心保守食物
Soups  論湯
Fish 論煮魚的法則
Meats 論煮肉的法則
Poultry and Game 論煑雞類與野味
Entrée 論小炒
Dressings for Salads 論撒勒突醬
Salads 論撒勒突
Meat and Fish Sauces 論魚與肉的汁
Force-meat and Garnishes 論做肉粉與裝花的法則
Vegetables 論煑蔬菜的法則
Pies 論派愛
Puddings 論樸定
Sauces for Puddings 論樸定的掃司
Dessert 論小吃
Ice Cream 論氷及立
Water Ices 論氷凍汁
Cakes 論糕
Icing for Cakes 論挨愛星的做法
Short Cake 論[手裊]克開脫
Dumplings 論屯潑令
Muffins, Griddle Cakes, Fritters and Pancakes 論馬非音、煎餅、弗立偷、薄餅
Breakfast and Tea 論早點與晚點
Economical Dishes 論省儉的東西
Bread 論饅頭
Preserving 論糖食
Pickles and Ketchup 論酸果與醬
For the Sick 論病人吃的東西
Drinks 論喝的東西
How to do Various Things 論做雜物的法則
Bills of Fare 論菜單
Glossary 論註解

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A few scholars endeavoured to discuss the 1889 Chinese edition but were unable to obtain a copy of the English-and-Chinese versions in hand leaving them with unanswered questions and untenable conclusions.


The preface to the first edition tells us the sources as follows:
The following recipes have been selected mainly from Miss Parloa's New Cook Book. Selections from other standard cook books and recipes from friends have also been used. The translator has endeavored to adapt the book to local requirements; but the ability to translate from English in Chinese led her to undertake the task, rather than experience in cookery.

The cook book is intended to not only English readers but also Chinese cooks to expatriates. It reads:
The Chinese text will be readily understood by a native cook of average intelligence. Names of articles for which there is no equivalent in Chinese, and of certain dishes are designated by characters which sound like the French or English terms.

She goes on by providing a few examples. Peh-teh-yeu (白塔油) for butter , Ka-lang-ts (加蘭子) for currants. So a glossary is added for easy reference. 

The preface was not signed. Had a reader of the North-China Daily News browsed the "new and standard books" advertisements of Kelly & Walsh, booksellers and publishers, in late January and early February of 1890, the reader will known that it was compiled by Mrs. W. S. Emens. The price of the book was $3. It was also being sold in London by Trübner for 15s (Trübner's Record, A journal devoted to the literature of the east, third series, vol. 2, no. 1, May 1890, p. 64).

According to Woman's work for woman (vol. 10, no. 12, December 1895), Mrs. W. S. Emens (Mr. W. S. Emens being U.S. Vice Consul-General, Interpreter, and Assessor at Mixed Court, Shanghai) was the eldest daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Farnham of Shanghai and passed away in Chefoo. Although she was not an appointed missionary, it reads, "living in China and well versed in the Chinese tongue, she was in a position to be very useful among the people" (p. 322).

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We learn from the publishers’ preface that this invaluable work has been out of print for nearly two years, and Messrs. Kelly and Walsh, Ld., will undoubtedly earn the gratitude of hundreds of housewives by sending out a second edition of it. It comes in a handsome dress of yellow and black, and is very well and clearly printed. The recipes it contains have stood the test of years, and if any Chinese cook cannot understand them, it is not the fault of the translator, but of the cook’s ignorance. No lady who keeps house in China can afford to be without this book, which has been a guide, philosopher, and friend to hundreds, and will continue its services to thousands more.

(source: NCH, May 23, 1898, p. 882)

sources of 造洋飯書 Foreign Cookery in Chinese

造洋飯書 Foreign Cookery in Chinese  (Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1866, 1885, 1909) was written by the American missionary Martha Foster Crawford of the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. The content is as follows (details to be added later):

目錄
廚房條例
湯
魚
肉
蛋
小湯
菜
酸果
糖食
排
面皮
朴定
甜湯
雜類
饅頭
餅
糕
雜類

I decoded that part of the content is from Eliza Leslie's, aka Miss Leslie, cookery books, which were highly popular and affordable in mid-nineteenth-century U.S.A. Three of her books can be downloaded from Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project. Miss Leslie was more than a cook book writer but an author of etiquette and domestic management books as well.

Decoding mission to be continued...

In defense of food

a draft written in 2010...

How much do you on your meals in a typical workday? Less than $10 for a sausage bun in the morning? Below $30 for a McDonald combo? Between $30 and $40 for a set dinner in a fast food restaurant? No more than $80 a day. Fantastic. Not too soon. Think about the food you eat and the way you eat. Is this life? Pathetic. After all, food is not the smartest place to economize. 

Can you distinguish food and food products? Pick up a pack of chips on your desk or a loaf of bread, cottony soft and snowy white ones, from any supermarkets, and try to read the food labels. You find it hard. Right? Can you recognize and/or pronounce the ingredients on the it at all?

Michael Pollan's In defense of food: the myth of nutrition and the pleasures of eating (London: Allan Lane, 2008) provide you with answers and food for thought.

As Pollan explains, the book starts out with seven words and three rules. Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Eat meat as a side dish than as a main. (1)

you should probably avoid products that make health claims. Why? Because a health claim on a food products is a strong indication it's not really food, and food is what you want to eat. (2)

three pernicious myths: that what matters most is not the food but the "nutrient"; that because nutrients are invisible and incomprehensible to everyone but scientists, we need expert help in deciding what to eat; and that the purpose of eating is to promote a narrow concept of physical health. After all, food is considered as a matter of biology, thus we must try to eat "scientifically". (p. 8)

Pollan writes that the most important fact about any food is not its nutrient content but its degree of processing. We should simply avoid any food that has been processed to such an extent that it is more the product of industry than of nature. "[W]hole foods and industrial foods," Gyorgy Scrinis says, "are the only two food groups I'd consider including in any useful food 'pyramid.'" (p. 143)

The book is divided into three chapters. Pollan unfolds his discussion by an interesting introduction, An Eater's Manifesto.

Chapter One: The Age of Nutritionism. From foods to nutrients; Nutritionism defined; Nutritionism comes to market; Food science's golden age; The melting of the lipid hypothesis; Eat right, get fatter; Beyond the pleasure principle; The proof in the low-fat pudding; Bad science; Nutritionism's children.

Chapter Two: The Western Diet and the Diseases of Civilization. The aborigine in all of us; The elephant in the room; The industrialization of eating, which comprises of five sections: From whole foods to refined; From complexity to simplicity; From quality to quantity; from leaves to seeds; From food culture to food science.

Chapter Three: Getting Over Nutritionism. Escape from the western diet. Eat food: food defined. Mostly plants: what to eat. Not too much: how to eat.

One of the problems with the products of food science is that they lie to your body. Foods that lies leave us with little choice but to eat by the numbers, consulting labels rather than our senses. (p. 149)

The last chapter is the most interesting part and provides straight straightforward rules of thumb about food.

• Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. (doesn't sound scientific but listening to old wisdom merits some reflection) Don't eat anything incapable of rotting.
• Avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable, c) more than five in number, or that include d) high-fructose corn syrup.
• Avoid food products that make health claims. (What can you choose after all?) All plants contain antioxidants, all so-called scientific studies on plants are guaranteed to find something on which to base a health oriented marketing campaign. (emphasis original)
• Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle, where processed food products dominate.
• Get out of the supermarket (and the convenience store, and the fast-food outlet) whenever possible. (rather obvious)
• Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.
• You are what what you eat eats too. (what do the caged chickens eat?)
• If you have the space, buy a freezer. (to freeze quality meat in bulk)
• Eat well-grown food from healthy soils.
• Eat wild foods when you can.
• Be the kind of person who takes supplements.
• Eat more like the French, or the Italians, or the Japanese, or the Indians, or the Greeks. the foods a culture eats and how they eat them. Cuisines can have purely cultural functions; they're one of the ways a society expresses its identity and underscores its differences with other societies.
• Regard nontraditional foods with skepticism.
• Don't look for the magic bullet in the traditional diet. there is no magic in food.
• Have a glass of wine with dinner.
• Pay more, eat less. (pay more, eat more is rather commonplace) Quantity vs quality. The better the food, the less of it you need to eat in order to feel satisfied.
• Eat meals. (too simple? too hard?) It is at the dinner table that we socialize and civilize ourselves and our children, teaching ourselves and them manners and the art of conversation.
• Do all your eating at a table.
• Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does.
• Try not to eat alone.
• Consult your gut.
• Eat slowly.
• Cook and, if you can, plant a garden. to escape the culture of fast food and the values implicit in it: that food should be fast, cheap, and easy; that food is a product of industry, not nature; that food is fuel, and not a form of communion, with other people as well as with other species - with nature.