It seems strange to many that there can be anything _better_ than
butter for cooking, or of greater utility than lard, and the advent of
Crisco has been a shock to the older generation, born in an age less
progressive than our own, and prone to contend that the old fashioned
things are good enough.

[Illustration]

But these good folk, when convinced, are the greatest enthusiasts.
Grandmother was glad to give up the fatiguing spinning wheel. So the
modern woman is glad to stop cooking with expensive butter, animal
lard and their inadequate substitutes.

And so, the nation's cook book has been hauled out and is being
revised. Upon thousands of pages, the words "lard" and "butter" have
been crossed out and the word "Crisco" written in their place.

A Need Anticipated

Great foresight was shown in the making of Crisco.

The quality, as well as the quantity, of lard was diminishing
steadily in the face of a growing population. Prices were rising. "The
high-cost-of-living" was an oft-repeated phrase. Also, our country was
outgrowing its supply of butter. What was needed, therefore, was not
a _substitute_, but something _better_ than these fats, some product
which not only would accomplish as much in cookery, but _a great deal
more_.

When, therefore, Crisco was perfected, and it was shown that here
finally was an altogether _new_ and _better_ fat, cookery experts were
quick to show their appreciation.

In reading the following pages, think of Crisco as a _primary_ cooking
fat or shortening with even more individuality (because it does
greater things), than all others.

Man's Most Important Food, Fat

No other food supplies our bodies with the _drive_, the vigor, which
fat gives. No other food has been given so little study in proportion
to its importance.

Here are interesting facts, yet few housewives are acquainted with
them:

Fat contains more than twice the amount of energy-yielding power or
calorific value of proteids or carbohydrates. One half our physical
energy is from the fat we eat in different forms. The excellent book,
"Food and Cookery for the Sick and Convalescent," by Fannie Merritt
Farmer, states, "In the diet of children at least, a deficiency of fat
cannot be replaced by an excess of carbohydrates; and that fat seems
to play some part in the formation of young tissues which cannot be
undertaken by _any other constituent of food_...."

The book entitled "The Chemistry of Cooking and Cle