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19th century foods also served as medicines

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From: Chicago Sun-Times
Date: 19980225
Author:CHARLES PERRY

In Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, Jo was always taking blancmange to her frail neighbor, Laurie. In Emma, Jane Austen's heroine tried to send arrowroot to her apparently ailing friend, Jane Fairfax.

Blancmange and arrowroot were both 19th century invalid foods, considered particularly digestible and strengthening for the sick. But they were more than that: Back when there were few effective drugs and bed rest was the only treatment, invalid foods were practically medicines.

Even as late as the 1930s, many cookbooks had a chapter with some title like "Sickroom Foods." These days, ...

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