THE COMMUNITY KITCHEN

Thames Star, Volume LII, Issue 13818, 7 October 1918, Page 1

THE COMMUNITY KITCHEN

Tihe growing seriousness of the servant problem and the increasing, activities of women outside the household point to community cooking as an inevitable factor in our modern day existence*. f According to the May issue of The Forecast-, community kitchens, wherever they have sprung up, have not' only aided materially in, the conservation ,of food and fuel, but in iriany cases have made a home life possible where without them the professional duties of the mother would ha,ve doomed the family to an existence in hotels and boarding houses'. In telling how the plain is, carried out, The Forecast says: "In New York City there are now two agencies, both national in their vim&, which are engaged in this work. "The American Cooked Food Service, was opened at No.. 213 West Seventy-ninth street on, February J. with an equipment. for serving 250 people, and at the time of writing 'has. a waiting list of 1,500. "Service includes dinner, or dinner ■and luncheon, and breakfast may be added lat«r if the demand warrants it. -Purple is the distinctive colour of the service, and the meals arrive in an elegant purple motor oar driven by a. liveried chauffeur, who delivers two purple containers, one about two feet high and a. foot in diameter, the other considerably smaller. In the larger container are the hot things, each course' in an aluminium, bowl. These bowls," which are arranged in the order in which the contents are to be served, the soup at the top, the dessert at tihe ■bottom, are clamped together and fitted into a thoroughly insulated cylindrical shell. I "The smaller container holds salad and any other cold dish that the . meal may include. i "Bills of fare for the following day are sent with each night's dinner, to be checked and returned with the container when called for th© next morning. | "The- meals are prepared ,by trained dietitians, who see to it that they .contain the proper pro- ' portions of proteins, * carbohydrates, fats and mineral salts., thereiby con- , serving food, since a perfectly balanced ration goes farther than an! ill-balanced one, as all stock-raisers know, and preventing underfeeding in times when the private cook might economise unwisely. "Three grades of service are available, dinners being provided at from 35 cents to 50 cents and Idol. per person, and luncheons at from 25 to 35 and 75 cents, v: "The lowest price service approximates the cost of the raw food-stuffs-■■ to - the retail buyer, the advantage of wholesale 1 buying and large-scale overations nearly offsetting the cost of the preparation and delivery, as the consumer saves fuel, kitchen equipment and labour, whether the paid lalboiir of a. jervant or the unpaid, but equally 'costly, labour of thfe housewife. I "The cost is actually Tess than that of tsh 1© privately prepared meal. The more elaiborate. service is lower in price than that of most restaurants and hotels.—^San Francisco Examiner.