Life, 1906-08-09 · page 13 of 20
Life — August 9, 1906 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes early 20th-century anxieties about food safety and nutrition fads. Mr. Pendleton refuses his wife's "baker's bread" due to a *Life* magazine advertisement warning it's "ruinous to digestion," then rejects tomatoes (linked to a medical article about meningitis). He demands hamburger steaks instead, only to be mocked for his inconsistency—he previously ate such foods without concern. The satire targets the era's emerging consumer culture: how modern advertisements and pseudo-scientific health claims manipulate the public into constant dietary worry and contradiction. The two cartoon vignettes below humorously contrast why people marry—bravery versus familiarity—suggesting marital choices are equally irrational as food choices.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LPRPEF THE LUXURY OF FOOD R. PENDLETON sat down to his dinner with a sigh of satisfaction. {t had been a hard day and he was in need of physical sustenance. Yet, as he glanced about the table, a feeling of vague uneasiness swept over him. “I thought we were not going to use baker’s bread any more, Mary,” he said, somewhat testily. ‘You know we agreed after reading that advertisement the other day in the Monthly Magazine that we would have the girl bake at homie after this.” “Her bread wasn’t very good this week, dear, so I sent over to the bakery for a loaf.” “Well, soggy bread made out of white flour is ruinous to the digestion,” replied Mr. Pendleton, ‘‘I know it because that advertisement said so.” Mrs. Pendleton made no reply. She was busy dishing some sliced tomatoes. Mr. Pendleton glanced at the delicious. crimson slices somewhat skeptically. SME LOVED HIM, FOR HE WAS SO BRAVE; YES, IN THAT LINE QUITE PEERLESS. ME MARRIED THIS WIDOW WITH SEVEN KIDS— BY GOSH! WAS NOT THAT FEARLESS ? “Let’s see, I was reading somewhere an article by some one who said tomatoes caused spinal meningitis.” Mr. Pendle- ton pushed away the dish his wife had placed before him, distastefully. “Who wrote the article?” queried his wife, patiently. “Oh, it was authoritative, all right— some doctor wrote it,” responded her husband. The look on his face indicated that he was through eating tomatoes for the rest of his life, no matter how many he had previously devoured with immunity. - “Try some of this nice hamburger steak,” said Mrs. Pendleton, calmly. She was not a woman to lose her temper simply because one thing on her table was criticised. “Heavens, Mary!” exclaimed Mr. Pendleton. ‘Certainly you don’t expect me to eat hamburger steak, or sausage, or things like that!” “Why not, John? We have some- times had such things; frequently, in fact.” WHY THEY MARRIED “Yes,” returned the horrified master of the house, “‘but never again. I have been reading ‘The Bungle.’” “T had forgotten all about that,” said Mrs. Pendleton, sweetly. ‘Well, dear, at least you can eat some of those nice strawberries and cream?” “I'm afraid not,” replied Mr. Pen- dleton, helplessly. ‘I was reading some- where that strawberries caused insanity and that not one cow out of fifty gives healthful milk.” Mrs. Pendleton looked thoughtful. “Oh, I know, John, we will have some of that nice Wheata Eata, the new break- fast food. It will go well with our coffee.” “No, Mary, I’m afraid breakfast food will have to be tabooed hereafter. The latest authorities say it is really weaken- ing on the nervous system and is not at all healthful. And, of course, you know that coffce is simply a rank poison.” “Then I'll have the girl make some Herbina. It is the new drink, designed to take the place of coffee.” BERT MAD KNOWN GLADYS FROM CHILDILOOD, YROM THE DAY OF THE DOLL AND MUD-PIE; WHEN THE TIME CAME, OF COURSE THEY GOT MARRIED, AS ONE PUTS ON ONE'S COAT OR ONE'S TIE! comicbooks.com