Quantity Cookery: Menu Planning and Cooking for Large Numbers

a diet very different in quality and quantity from that of the telephone operators in a city exchange. In institutions serving set menus, with little or no choice, special attention should be given to dietetic principles. Examples of such institutions are college dining halls or dormitories, hospitals, benevolent "homes," boarding houses, fraternities and clubs. For those who have had little or no training in dietetics and who yet have the responsibility of planning menus, it may be said that if ample variety is provided, with emphasis on fruits and vegetables, the dietetic requirements will probably be met. The sequence of foods in the menu is important. Where several courses are to be served, and it is the aim of those planning the menu to keep the appetite stimulated, acids, meat extractives and warm foods should be served first. Cloying foods such as sweets, very cold foods and foods which are satisfying tend to depress the appetite and hence have no place in the first course of a meal, except for luncheon where the menu may be very simple. In institutions which have fixed menus, it is especially desirable that the meal, no matter how simple, be so planned that it may be served in courses. Children especially are likely to hurry through their meals, and the serving of food in courses prevents too rapid eating. It is true, of course, that extra service requires more labor, and so may not prove possible, even though desirable. The responsibility for maintaining a constant variety in food calls for the continued exercise of initiative, the determination to avoid monotonous repetition, a mind open to new foods and new methods of preparation and systematic marketing trips in order to keep in touch with seasonal changes. Perhaps the most frequent criticism of institutions is on the lack of variety in meals. Hotels, clubs and tea rooms can draw trade by serving out-of-season foods when they first appear in the market. Institutions whose purchases are limited by a budget should make the most of seasonal foods when the market is at its height and the food