From the PREFACE.WHILE it is a fact that few countries can boast a better or more varied supply of vegetable produce than Great Britain, it is none the less true that we are only just awaking to the vast possibilities of vegetable cookery. Too often are we prone to regard the vegetable kingdom as existing merely as an adjunct to the world of meat and fish, - to look on vegetables simply as an accompaniment to a joint or as a garnish for an entrée. This national neglect of vegetables among food products has resulted, naturally, in less attention being paid to the cooking of them than their intrinsic qualities deserve and require. Of the hundreds of Cookery books in existence, there are but very few devoted exclusively to Vegetable Cookery, in spite of the fact that this branch of the cuisine offers considerably greater possibilities than the ordinary cook is aware of. Believing, therefore, that there is a distinct need for a book dealing with the cooking of vegetables on modern lines, I have attempted to supply it, the object of the work being twofold.First, I desire to bring into greater prominence vegetables which are nutritious and appetizing, but which have somehow escaped popularity. There is no doubt that, both in its genius for adaptation and its skill in the preparation of comparatively little known vegetables, the Continent is far in advance of us. In many private and in public establishments, there is too often a weary monotony in the vegetable dishes which a wider culinary knowledge would have obviated.In this book will be found a large number of Continental and other recipes for vegetable cookery which should prove valuable to cooks and housewives who desire more frequent changes in this department of the table.Second, the object of the book is to show how vegetables can be made tempting and nourishing as food, in relation to diet and health. Whilst I cannot claim to be a convert to the tenets of strict vegetarianism, I iully admit that the people of this country consume an inordinate amount of meat, and that the health of the community at large would be very much improved if the consumption of meat were lessened, and that of vegetables increased. I am firmly convinced, too, that if the right methods are adopted to render vegetables more pleasing, palatable, and nourishing, they are sure to become more popular. So many healthful and body-building properties belong to well-cooked vegetables, and so delicious are they when prepared in the proper way, that it is both cheating the stomach and the palate to go on treating them in the haphazard, savorless manner unfortunately so common with the majority of English cooks. 1 have endeavored, therefore, in the following pages, to deal fairly exhaustively with a wide range of vegetables, so as to provide those who abstain from animal food, for whatever reason, with a greater variety of dishes, most of which may, with advantage, be served as meat substitutes.