It is now recognized that peas, beans, and lentils - everything that grows in a pod — have the nitrogenous elements that we have believed we could only get from a meat diet, and that they furnish these in large, quantities and at much less expense than when we get them from meats. To offset this has been the time required for their cooking and the consequent expense. In a family of vegetarians the bean soups are indispensable. The famous swimmer, Annette Kellerman, who eats no meats because she must keep supple, especially recommends the thick soups — the cream soups and the purees. Beans and peas are the most common foundation for these. They must be soaked beforehand as usual. The common recipes say soak overnight but one of the leading cooks in the United States says soak for forty-eight hours, in order to bring out their full flavor. Under the latter circumstances of course the water needs to be very pure, or changed once or twice, and they should be covered to keep out any dust. All the flavorings and vegetables are put in with the beans or peas or lentils, when the soup is started on the stove — there should be two quarts of water to a pint of beans, a quarter less for Lima beans — and they should remain in the cooker from nine to twelve hours.