T X U57 UC-NRLF 1^- o :>4 hk.^^ COUNCIL OF NATIONAL DEFENSE WOMAN'S COMMITTEE ,^l^^^ ^GENCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS WITHOUT PROFIT A SURVEY OF THEIR DEVELOPMENT WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THEIR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC EFFECT Prepared by IVA LOWTHER PETERS, Ph. D. Under the direction of THE FOOD PRODUCTION AND HOME ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT OP THE WOMAN'S COMMITTEE COUNCIL OF NATIONAL DEFENSE WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFHCE 1919 (/(. S . COUNCIL OF NATIONAL DEFENSE " WOMAN'S COMMITTEE . l>^/^f' ^ Ij^-^^ h/\.^^ AGENCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS WITHOUT PROFIT A SURVEY OF THEIR DEVELOPMENT WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THEIR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC EFFECT Prepared by IVA LOWTHER PETERS, Ph. D. Under the direction of THE FOOD PRODUCTION AND HOME ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT OF THE WOMAN'S COMMITTEE COUNCIL OF NATIONAL DEFENSE f WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1919 U^7 WOMAN'S COMMITTEE, COUNCIL OF NATIONAL DEFENSE, DEPARTMENT OF FOOD PRODUCTION AND HOME ECONOMICS. Mrs. Stanley McCormick, chairman. Miss Helen W. Atwater, executive chairman. ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON SURVEY OF AGENCIES FOR SALE OF COOKED FOODS WITHOUT PROFIT. Mrs. Mauy H. Abel, Writer on Home Economics subjects; Home Economics Director, Maryland Food Administration. Miss Helen W. Atwater, Specialist in Home Economics, United States Department of Agriculture. Dr. Sophonisba Breckinridge, Professor, Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy, Chicago, 111. Dr. Lucile Eaves, Director, Research Department^ Women's Educational and Industrial Union, Boston, Mass. Dr. Vernon Kellogg, Professor, Leland Stanford University; Uiwted States Food Adndnlstration. Miss Mabi.e HvnE Kiitredge, Writer and organizer of model housekeei>ing enterprises, public kitchens, etc., New York City. Dr. C. F. Langworthy, Chief, Office of Home Economics, United States Department of Agriculture. Dr. KuBY Green Smith, Division of Women's Work, Extension Work North and West, United States Department of Agriculture. 2 ^ 6A A TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page. Introductory statement 5 General purpose of the survey 7 Pre-war experiments in communal feeding — 9 The national kitchens of Great Britain 25 The American situation 44 Conclusions—, CO Appendix A. — Study of equipment for a central kitchen, by the Women's Educational and Industrial Union of Boston G5 Appendix B. — Schedules of equipment used by New York School Lunch Connnittee, Association for the Improvement of the Condition of the Poor 74 Appendix C. — Schedule of standardized cooking appliances; taken from Handbook of National Kitchens and Restaurants, National Kitchens Division, (British) Ministry of Food, July, 1918 77 3 ivi237963 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2006 with funding from Microsoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/agenciesforsaleoOOunitrich INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT, The survey here reported was decided upon by the Woman's Com- mittee of the Council of National Defense in the spring of 1918, and the plan for it was developed by an advisory committee of persons known throughout the country for their understanding of the economics of nutrition. At the time when it w^as undertaken, no one could foresee how food conditions might develop in the United States, and an intelligent policy for national preparedness demanded the collection of reliable information regarding the practical methods and economic results of group or community cooking wherever it had been tried. Although the outcome of the war has now changed the international food situation and there seems less danger of an acute shortage in this countr}^, food conditions are still far from normal. We may yet be called on to share a large proportion of our supplies with less fortunate nations, and prices are still so high that the adequate feeding of many families remains a serious problem. Questions of domestic labor are also becoming more rather than less complicated, both in homes which depend on servants and where the woman who formerly kept house for her own family is now em- ployed outside. Moreover, the general interest in all these questions is much greater than formerl}^, while reliable information is very scarce. It has, therefore, seemed wise to publish this report, though the original purpose in making it no longer holds. It is realized fully that the material here presented does not cover the whole subject of the preparation of food outside of the home. Such a complete survey would have involved investigations beyond the functions and means of the Woman's Committee. No effort has been made to include restaurants, even those on a cooperative or community basis, except when they are closely connected with enter- prises which sell cooked food to be consumed elsewhere. Commer- cial canning factories, bakeshops, delicatessen shops, etc., have also been disregarded together with community canning kitchens, cooper- ati^e exchanges for home-cooked foods, etc., though the advisory com- mittee is probably unanimous in the belief that if properly con- trolled as to sanitation and price, some of these offer great promise of relief in this country. The study is limited to noncommercial agencies which strive to remove or lessen the routine iDreparation of 5 6 INTRODUCTORY. three meals a day in the individual home without weakening the privacy and unity of the family group. The attempt has also been made to include practical information as to organization, manage- ment and equipment so that anyone considering the establishment of such an enterprise might profit by previous experience. In collecting the information here summarized, Mrs. Peters has had access not only to the published documents in the various Gov- ernment libraries, but also to unpublished material in the files of the United States Food Administration, for whose help and courtesy special acknowledgement should be made. Similar acknowledgement is due to Mrs. Abel for the use of her unique collection of reports, descriptions, and personal notes concern- ing the earlier enterprises in this country and abroad. Without this otherwise inaccessible material many sections of the survey would have been impossible. The committee is also greatly indebted to the Woman's Educa- tional and Industrial Union of Boston and the New York School Lunch Committee of the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor for i)ermission to print the hitherto unpublished ma- terial given in Appendices A and B. Miss Kittredge and Dr. Kellogg have gone abroad on special mis- sions since the survey was begun and have been unable to pass judg- ment on the report before its publication. Mrs. Peters also left for overseas service before the manuscript was ready for the press. The final editing (including the formulation of the conclusions) was therefore done by Miss Atwater, who has had immediate direction of the survey from the beginning. Katharine D. McCormick, (Mrs. Stanley McCormick) , Chairman^ Department of Food Production and Home Economics^ Woman's Committee^ Council of National Defense, January, 1919. AGENCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS WITHOUT PROFIT. A SURVEY OF THEIR DEVELOPMENT WITH PARTICULAR REFER- ENCE TO THEIR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC EFFECT. GENERAL PURPOSE OF THE SURVEY. As a result of the shortage of food, fuel, and labor occasioned by the great war, nearly all European countries have had recourse to agencies already in existence which had for their purpose the prepa- ration of food in bulk, or have established such agencies on a national scale. The oldest of these agencies were on a charitable or semi- philanthropic basis; some of the large.st were cooperative; others were commercial. But all have undergone change to meet the present emergency. The impression is prevalent that mass feeding of some kind, such as cooperative housekeeping, communal kitchens, or some modified form which will result from experimentation on a large scale, will be retained as a permanent institution after the war. It has been seen by social economists for the past century that the use of such agencies, by taking the kitchen out of the home, would affect not only. the cost and quality of the food consumed, but also such questions as those of domestic labor, woman in industry, and would occasion accompany- ing changes in the economy of the household. Sporadic attempts to establish agencies for the preparation of food for home consumption have been made in the United States, but for the most part with no lasting success, save in the case of such com- mercial enterprises as delicatessen shops. The attempts at coopera- tive housekeeping, of which a record was faithfully kept over a long period by Mrs. Mary Hinman Abel, founder of the New England Kitchen, were chiefly interesting in the light they threw on the psychology of the American people. In a review of the history of the Montclair Cooperative Society, a cooperative venture which was brought to a close by the war, its president, Mr. Emerson P. Harris,^ called attention to the fact that two fundamental conditions to the success of cooperation almost never exist in the United States — effi- 1 Cooperation, the Hope of the Consumer, by Emerson P. Harris, New York, 1918. 7 8 AGENCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. ciency and perseverance on the part of tlie cooperators and efficient supervision and management. It remains to be seen whether the necessities of the present crisis will lessen our excessive individualism and socialize us to a point where w^e can live in more closely united communities. If agencies for communal cooking are introduced into the United States as a result of the necessity for conserving food and fuel, or of reducing cost, it will be of importance to know Avhether they should be considered as a valuable permanent addition to our national life. The way in which they should be established will depend somewhat upon the answer to this question. Such an answer can be given only after a study of different types of communal feeding. Inasmuch as the development of these types has differed in the various countries in which they have arisen or taken root after introduction from other countries, a brief descriptive and historical surve}^ of these agencies has been undertaken in order to make a fair comparison of the methods used. This study wdll first consider the pre-war development of communal agencies for the preparation of food to be consumed in the home. Inasmuch as Great Britain has, as a war measure, established a sys- tem of national kitchens, unprecedented in success and development,' the second part of the survey will consist of a study of the British national kitchens. The third part will undertake to present the situa- tion in the United States up to November, 1918. PRE-WAR EXPERIMENTS IN COMMUNAL FEEDING. Pre-war experiments in communal feeding lead back in two lines, one, that of cooperative effort, and the other, that of charitable relief. One form of cooperation which took its rise in the early nineteenth century has had a marvelous development from a small beginning. The direct line of the great English Cooperative Societies, among the largest purveyors of food in the world, leads back to Robert Owen (1771-1858), wealthy factory owner, social reformer, and Utopian dreamer. Owen opened a store in his model factory colony at New Lanark where the people could buy goods of the soundest quality at little more than cost price. In the later elaboration of his theories, he advocated colonies of about 1,200 persons each, who were to be fed from a public kitchen. Owen believed that this method of feeding families would go far toward solving many of the problems of women. His teaching of the necessity of conscious seeking after the welfare of the community, in contrast with the prevailing " laissez- faire " philosophy, his belief in self-supporting communities, and his vision of a new moral and industrial order have left an impress on all classes. Cooperative societies persisted in England from the time of Owen, with more or less success. Between 1828 and 1840 they reached some 400 or 500. One of these societies had already been formed in Roch- dale, in Lancashire, before the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers, in 1844, furnished an administrative method. Appalling need combined with a great idealism in " the hungry forties " brought about the bril- liant invention of " dividends on purchases." When the increase in number of cooperative stores on the Rochdale plan brought into ex- istence the Cooperative Wholesale Societies, the venture. was made into the field of prepared foods. In 1873 the " C. W. S." started the making of biscuits and sweets. To-day it owns cocoa and chocolate works, preserve, candied peel and pickle works, lard refineries, but- ter factories, bacon curing, dry-salting and spice-grinding plants, etc. The society has creameries in Ireland, tallow and oil factories in Australia, bacon factories in Denmark and Ireland, 3,386 acres of tea plantations in Cejdon, fruit farms in various parts of England, and great preserving establishments. It owns in the Spanish raisin district a packing house which employs 600 persons in picking, pack- 105584"— 19 2 9 10 AGENCIES FOE THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. ing and shipping fruit. It owns the largest flour mills in Great Britain. It is the largest single buyer of Canadian wheat, and has recently purchased 10,000 acres of wheat land in Saskatchewan. An authority on the subject makes the statement that the English Co- operative Wholesale is the largest food supply establishment in the world. All of the European countries had proved fertile ground for the growth of the cooperative movement before the outbreak of the great war, cooperative buying societies frequently developing some form of cooperative feeding under the pressure of high prices. Impoverished Ireland between 1889 and 1911 formed 931 societies for butter mak- ing. Of Denmark, as of Ireland, it has been said that it owes its rebirth since its destructive w^ar with Prussia in 1863-61 to agri- cultural cooperation. Danish cooperative dairies export butter to the most remote lands. In Sweden, the movement started among the in- dustrialists. Norway reports a cooperative bakery. A Christiania society runs 14 groceries and 3 dairies. Official Germany tried to discourage the spread of cooperative stores. It was a usual procedure in both Germany and Austria to give members of the stores the choice of retiring from, or expul- sion from, an}^ senior military club to which they might belong.* But in spite of this opposition, German coop)erative societies have a membership of one-half that of England. According to a French report,* there were in Germany in 1917, 2,300 societies buying goods at cost and expending 500,000,000 francs. Harris says^ that the society at Hamburg gained 15,500 members during the 3^ear 1916-17. Among the other activities of this society are butcher shops, bakeries, and delicatessen shops. The Government has enlisted the assist- ance of these societies in the work of establishing public kitchens, "which became a necessity in 1916. The question of collective feed- ing was raised directly in the budget committee of the Landtag of Prussia on November 21 and 23, 1916, and the president of the food office intimated that communal feeding might become obli- gatory.* Austria was the last of the great European countries to develop cooperation. But in 1867, under the stress of the same crisis which led Dr. von Kiihn to inaugurate the Vienna Volkskiichen (see p. 17), the societies gained a foothold which they have never lost. The war has seen the formation of the great Victualling Union of War 1 Hans :Munor in " The Cooperative Movement Abroad," International Cooperative Bul- letin, IW8. a Gilles Noimand, La guerre, le commerce frangais et les consommateurs. Taris, 1017. " Cooperation, the Hope of the Consumer. New York, 1918, p. 230. * Noel Amaudru, Les Culsiaes collectives en AU^magne, Bulletin de la Societe Scientifi scheme will even provide for keeping warm small quantities of food bought by individuals ♦ * *. The good will of the people was needed when it came to a change in the national habits of feeding the community. The advantage and utility of national kitchens lay in the fact that they would — (1) Secure economy' in food and in use of fuel, considerably reduce waste of foods; secure economy in soap, towels, crockery, and other kitchen necessities. (2) Secure a reasonably adequate supply of food at comparatively low prices; place within the reach of the working classes wholesome food instead of "makeshift" meals; and obviate many of the difficulties of buying, with its attendant waiting and disappointment. (3) Release many women from the ardudusness of domestic life, and perhaps enable some of them to take up war employment. (4) Free the shops of many customers whose demands are unorganized, thus creating distributing difficulties. (5) Afford equal opportunities for all classes to obtain nutritious food pre- pared on modern hygienic principles. (6) Afford opportunities for reducing the staffs of retailers, refreshment house proprietors, etc., and reduce consumption of paper, etc., used in parcel distributions ; and allay discontent in munitions areas. (7) Individual cooking was waste of labor, health, material, and energy. A thousand homes with a thousand gas and coal fires resulted in a multiplicity of operations essentially wasteful. In the same interview, Mr. Spencer suggested that cooperative effort between the local authorities and eating house proprietors in large provincial towns might lead to a big system of " national res- taurants." (This forecast is interesting in view of the fact that the restaurant movement was still growing when the armistice was signed. See p. 42.) It was expected that in the new ventures which were to combine kitchen and restaurant, 25 per cent of the food cooked would be consumed on the premises and 75 per cent be taken away. It was hoped that the public would come to use the kitchens as they use municipal trams, gas, and electricity. The first public order concerning national kitchens was issued February 25, 1918. It had become evident that the food regulations resulted in hotels and restaurants reducing the quantity and quality of food given to their customers, but without any reduction in prices ; in some instances prices were actually increased.^ Seeing that this situation was likely to become an actual hardship the ministry of » London Times, Feb. 5, p. 9. * National Kitchens and Restaurants in England, by Phillip B. Kennedy, London, July 19, Commerce Reports No. 185, Aug. 8, 1918. 30 AGENCIES FOE THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. food took tlie step to assist tlie public. This first order, " Defense of the realm act, 1918, No. 223," enabled the food controller to establisli national kitchens. This was supplemented by local authorities food control order No. 2, 1918, of February 25, and statutory rules and orders of February 26, 1918. Later, the ministry of food issued a booklet explaining to local authorities the procedure to be followed in establishing national Idtchens.^ Under the new order, the number of kitchens has increased rapidly. In November, 1917, there were in existence 161 central kitchens; in March, 1918, 250, and in July, about 1,000 national kitchens. Only tlie thTee or four kitehens opened as experiments were under tlie di- rect management of the ministry. The original agreement between the local authorities and the minis- try of food with reference to the financing of the kitchens was, that 25 per cent of the initial capital outlay would be given by the min- istry, 25 per cent lent, and 50 per cent was to be raised by the local authority, which was empowered by the local government board to charge to the rates any necessary expenses. But in response to repre- sentations for an alteration regarding this grant, the Treasury agreed in June, that instead of a grant of 25 per cent followed by a possible loan of 25 per cent, the imperial exchequer would grant a loan free of interest for th« full amount of the approved capital outlay on the establishment of a kitchen, such loan to be repaid by the local au- thority by 10 annual installments, the amount to be secured by a stat- utory mortgage which the local authority would be authorized to give.2 In May, 1918, it was announced that a districting scheme had been formulated for the establishment of national kitchens, the dis- tricts to coincide with the areas of the Food Commissioners. A divi- sional director was to be held responsible for carrying out the national policy in each district. The kitchen at Poplar was to be taken as a model.* Inasmuch as the Poplar kitchen has been one of the most successful of the British national kitchens, the description of it may prove of value. The Bow swimmings baths, Eoman Eoad, Poplar, were taken for the purpose, and the most interesting of the innovations connected with it was that a restaurant was arranged at which food from the kitchen could be eaten. It will be remembered that the original pur- pose of the kitchens was to provide food to be eaten in the home. But it had been found necessary to provide for people who had to 1 Handbook of National Kitchens and Restaurants, National Kitchen Division, Ministry of Food, London, 1918, ' Municipal Journal, No. 1326, June 28, 1918, p. 687. 'London Times, May 29, 1918. AGENCIES FOR THE SAIJ3 OF COOKED FOODS. 51 eat at hotels and restaurants, on whom the food regulations had proved to be a particular hardship. The cooking in the Poplar kitchen is done by steam, for which ap- pliances were already installed, and by electricity. The electric cooking apparatus comprises a treble-oven electric range, a tliree^ conipartment baker's oven, a carving table and hot cupboard, seven\1 boiling plates, a couple of grills, etc. Four boilers, eacli with n capacity of 24 gallons, are available for preparing soups, stews, and stock. This kitchen is open 11 :30 a. m. to 1.45 p. m. and 5 to S p. m. It began in March, 1918, to serve about 1,000 portions daily, but in May the portions had increased to 2,300. Not only have residents in this part of Poplar welcomed tlie opportunity of obtaining cheap, well-cooked raeals, but the employees of neighJ^oring works, school teachers, and others go to the kitchen for their midday meal, and a large number of children call at the baths for their dinner on their way home. la many cases women bring their dishes soon after the kitchen has opened, and, by getting dinners ready cooked, save fuel, money, and labor. The daily bill of fare is, generally, as follows: DINNER 11.30 A. M. TO 1.45 P. M. Soup : Id. per half plot Fish pie 8d. Meat roll 4d. Roast beef or mutton, per portion 4d. or Gd. Greens Id. Potatoes Id. Milk pudding l^d. Fig pudding l^d. SUPPEK 5 TO 8 p. M. Fish roll 3d. Shepherd's pie 4d. Cold roast beef 4d. Pickles Jd. Stewed apples and custard l^d. Suet pudding , lid.' This kitchen reported in May, that after provision had been made for cost of management, for estimated rental value, interest on re- demption of capital, renewal of plant and contingent liabilities, a profit could be made with the prices quoted above at the rate of from 40 to 50 per cent per annum. With a system like this, waste can be avoided, a considerable saving effected in fuel and labor, and good nourishing food provided. Expenses are reduced at the Poplar kitchen by the system of service. Tickets for a meal are bought at an office. In exchange for them the food is obtained at a long table and brought with knife and fork and spoon to the tables. Attendants clear the tables of the used plates, cups, and saucers (the cafeteria I London Times, Mar. 27, 1918, p. 8. 32 AGENCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. method). A penny extra is paid for restaurant service. Those who took the food home originally brought their own vessels and were charged the eating-house prices. More recently special containers have been supplied by some of the kitchens, for the use of which the patron makes a small deposit. The equipment of the national kitchens is constantly improving. Since they were begun, large firms have been working on the stand- ardization of the utensils, until now, any good trade journal has ad- vertisements for the equipment of these kitchens. The standard number of patrons is 1,000. The experience and advice of some of the pioneers in the work is interesting and valuable, to show the problems already solved, as well as those awaiting solution. One of the early successful kitchens was that at Reading, which was able to feed 5,000 children sent from London in the winter of 1917-18 to escape the air raids. Central kitchens for the provision of meals for necessitous school children had been established in Heading in 1907. Of the two central kitchens in existence, it was decided to use the principal as the first communal kitchen, which was opened September 3, 1917. It is sit- uated in a thickly populated district and is a part of a disused school building. A large room is divided into a kitchen, 25 by 20 feet, and a boiler room. In a room adjoining 200 children can be fed. There are packing and distributing rooms on the gi'ound floor, and a large store on the upper floor. The original furnishing of the kitchen consisted of three steam coppers of 80, 60, and 55 gallons capacity, respectively. A gas stove was hired from the local gas company. A large teak sink for wash- ing up, and a white glazed sink for the preparation of vegetables, etc., were provided. List of Ktensils. Approximate cost Description. (England, 1918). 2 Lovelock mincers, No. 4 each 34s. 1 potato chipper 20s. 1 bread machine 30s. 1 weighing machine (to 4 hundredweight) £5 10s. 2^ pairs table scales 9s. 6d., 12s. 6d. 1 set of measures per set__ 5s. 2 wrought iron stock pots with taps 28s., 36s. 2 oval iron boilers each 8s. 1 oval tin boiler ' 3s. 6d. 1 fish kettle 6s. 3 1-gallon tin cans each 2s. 24 baking tins do Is. 6d. 4 skips or wash-ups do 3s. 6d. 3 buckets do 2s. 3d. 2 enamel colanders do 2s. 6d. 1 meat saw and cleaver do 3s. AGENCIES FOE THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. 33 Approximate cost Description. (England, 1918). 2 sets of carvers and steel 16s. 1 set of French cook's knives per set 10s. 6d. 6 vegetable knives each 6d. 1 flour scoop 2s. 1 conical gravy strainer 2s. 12 tinned iron and wooden spoons each — 6d. 12 stone jars (7-pound jam jars) do 6d. 6 enameled bins do 6s. 6d. 8 mixing basins do 3s. 6 basins do Is. 3d. 6 pie dishes do Is. 9d. 6 large meat dishes do 9s. This equipment was adequate for meals for 1,000 children, but inadequate for a communal kitchen designed to cater to the public. The following apparatus was therefore added: Description. Cost 1 Portway fuel roasting oven with pyrometer £32 18s. 4d. 1 Wright's pudding steamer £31 2s. 6d. 1 Welbank boilerette — £1 10s. 250 tinned iron pudding basins per dozen__ 3s. 6d. to 5s. 6-gallon soup boilers , 1 10-gallon water boiling urn... Roasting and baking. Suet pudding, potatoes, and other vegetables, etc. For vegetables. For soups For tea making and sundry purposes. 1 hot cupboard with hot top. 1 boiler ^te, with 8 burners and 8 solid-top hot plates . 1 boiler (burning coal, coke, or refuse, with TC^gallon storage tank). cooked food warm. For frying, grilling, toasting, making sauces, gravies, and other sundry work. For keeping trays of food, taken from ovens and steam- ers hot whilst being served. For supplying hot water to feed the electrical steamers, boilers, urns, etc., and for washing purposes. 100 pounds of meat (Tper 3 hours); 54 pounds of bread (each oven, per hour); 360 portions of meat pies; 180 portions milk puddings (per hour); 300 fish cakes (per hour). Each steamer, 80 pounds potatoes (per J hour); 245 dumplings (per f hour); 250 portions suet roll (per | hour); 125 meat puddings (per f hour). 160 pounds of potatoes or similar vegeta- bles (each boiler). About 60 gallons of soup equals 640 | pint portions. Where supplied with hot water at about 130 F. the capacity Is about 320° i pint portions per hour. 600 plates in one batch, or 250 plates, and 40 to 50 dinners in dishes with suitable piling up covers. Qriller will do 6 rounds of toast, 5 min- utes; 12 small chops or steaks (per i hour); a number of utensils can be kept simmering or boiling on the 3 burners. Simply for use adjoining the serving counter; are very strong and will stand any weight. Output. 25 gallons boiling water per hour, or will raise 60 gallons of water to 130* F. In 1 hour. AGENCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. 37 A great deal of careful thought was given to the equipment of the kitchen at Hammersmith, a large one, supplying about 6,000 cus- tomers a week, which probably represents 12,000 to 15,000 consumers. Two factors were deemed of great importance: First, a bill of fare which could be worked to with the least variety of appliances, thus limiting labor and cost while Increasing possible output ; second, the preparation and sale of foods that could be warmed up most successfully without spoiling » ♦ *. The ovens are gas heated and brick lined; a type which Is best for continuous, uniform cooking ♦ * *. The kitchen being large, it was possible to intro- duce a steam-generating boiler for those cooking processes which can be done by steam, consequently the meat boilers are steam-jacketed, the pudding steamers are heated by a supply from the boiler, while the sink water is also heated by steam. Baking, as Indicated, is done by gas-heated ovens which are known as pastry cooks' ovens. The vegetable boilers are gas heated, not steam, and this was due to the less first cost of the gas boiler.* The report just quoted also describes the equipment of the West- minster national kitchen, which is a gas kitchen. It offers a wide choice of cooked foods and has appliances similar to those found in a canteen or middle-class restaurant. A useful form of steam cooker is made of tinned sheet steel, really a simple sheet-met^l cupboard, about 20 by 20 by 24 Inches or larger, with perforated shelves. The special detail is the bottom, which Is formed of an open water pan holding sufficient water for one steaming. Under this bottom a gas ring is set to boil the water. The door must fit well. An aperture at top, usually one-half inch in diameter, lets the steam escape and prevents undue pressure. The steam escapes into the kitchen or may be led away through a pipe. Nothing could be simpler or less expensive to make, and it is quite safe, because steam under pressure Is never required for this work. Another necessary appliance is the hot closet, which may be made of black sheet-iron plates riveted ^n angle-iron framing or similarly stiffened. Hot closets are obtainable from the regular manufacturers, but these are usually of cast plates, and the top is sometimes heated independently to serve as a hot table and to provide accommodation for a bain-marie pan and carving dishes. Where, however, low cost is of importance the simple black sheet-Iron cupboard is found sufficient. A useful size would be 6 feet wide, 2 feet 6 Inches high, 2 feet front to back. If the top is required to be stiff enough to serve as a warm counter or table simple means of staying can be devised. The heating of a hot closet can be readily done by a few No. 2 luminous gas burners. Ten or twelve to a 6-foot closet suffice, for a fairly low temperature is all that is required. Another form of appliance, sometimes partly sunk Into the counter, sometimes independent, is the soup and vegetable warming tins. These need no covers If a quick service is expected. The vessels are of tin, about 20 by 14 inches by 12 inches high, quite plain inside, but arranged with a suitable middle rim or projection outside, so that the lower half, or thereabouts, drops and rests in a pan of hot water. When we turn to a study of the menus of the British kitchens, it becomes clear that their problems of organization and equipment are —mm~— . . . . , . . r— ■^.■i^ A The Ironmonger, Mar. 9, 1918 ; quoted in Commerce Reports, Apr. 16, 1918. 38 AGENCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. vastly different from those of the kitchens on the continent, most of which keep to a menu of broth, stew, or soup, which simplifies the whole process of preparing, cooking, transporting, serving, and ap- portioning the food. Little other equipment is needed at such cen- tral kitchens than mincing or chopping machines and boilers propor- tioned in number and size to the public for whom provision is made ; and these proportions have long since been carefully worked out and standardized by the Volkskiichen. For transportation, large cans or vessels are easily obtainable, and a dipper is about all that is neces- sary at the distributing center. Where ordinary care is used the food will require no reheating, and there is no problem of loss of weight or nutriment. The same conditions hold true of the Italian kitchens. Mr. J. E. Ham, American consul at Turin, in a report to the State Department on the first communal kitchen in Kome, opened Decem- ber, 1917, gives the following facts with reference to the meals and equipment: "There are 4 kettles, with a capacity of 250 liters (75 gallons). The meals consist of a soup of vegetables, 30 centimes ($0.06), and 120 grams (4 ounces) of boneless meat, with vegetables, 90 centimes ($0.18)." The British ministry of food, in the installation of the tiational kitchens set for itself the problem of interfering as little as possible with the food habits of the population, and of making the transition from home cooking to the buying of food ready cooked as easy as possible. While it had under advisement the education of its public in the use of foods of greater nutritive value and in many cases more available than the more familiar foods, it did not make the mistake of Holland in selling at the kitchens the foods already unpopular through tradition or special circumstance. Instead, the kitchens started by serving foods that were appetizing, popular, familiar, and attractive. The menus had to be prepared with a view in the beginning to the preparation and sale of only those foods which could be warmed suc- cessfully without spoiling. It will be remembered that the original plans for the kitchens called only for the sale of foods to be taken away. The modification of this plan by opening restaurants in con- nection with the kitchens has changed the planning of the menus, also the hours during which the kitchens are open. The early kitchens were in most cases open from 11 a. m. to about 2 p. m., but at the present time there is great variation in this matter. In the Hammersmith kitchen a weekly bill of fare is used. A typical menu is : Mutton broth. Id. ; mutton pie, 3d. ; cheese cutlet, 2d.; potatoes. Id.; sirup roll. Id. Except for occasional rissoles, it may be said that the meat is always in pie form, an arrangement which simplifies the choice of appliances, and facilitates cooking, service, and the convenience of the public, which has to carry away AGENCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. 89 and warm up the food. The meat pies are baked in small tins, so that one whole pie goes to each purchaser. A typical menu of such kitchens as those of Westminster, Ealing, and Reading, which provide a wider variety, is as follows: Scotch broth, IJd.; fish roll, 2d.; vegetable pie, 2d.; mince, 4d.; roast meat, 5d. ; potatoes, Id. ; parsnips, Id. ; ginger pudding, 2d. ; plain pudding and sauce, 2d. ; baked rice pudding, l^d. The Halifax tramcar kitchen served the following menu on its first day : f pint soup . Id. Dumpling . Id. Vegetable pie 4d. Potatoes Id. Rice pudding lid. Ginger pudding 2d. A kitchen at Buckingham Palace Road, London, offered in Janu- uary, 1918, the following menu : Vegetable soup Id. Beef stew 3d. Meat pies ^ 2d. Roast joint '4d. and 6d. Steamed potatoes Id. Cabbage Id. Treacle pudding lid. Rice pudding Id. Extra portions of gravy ^ id. The central cooperative kitchen at Holloway, conducted by the Northern Polytechnic and serving 2,500 patrons daily, offered this menu in February: Soup, beef stew, meat pies, roast joint, tripe and onions, baked herrings, potatoes, cabbage, treacle, or rice pudding. The Chelsea national kitchen offers an appetizing and varied bill of fare. There is always a whole fish sold at a higher cost than made-up fish. A midday bill of fare comprised barley soup, IJd.; baked haddock 6d. ; and kedgeree, 3d.; the vegetables were potatoes and braised onions. There were three kinds of sweets and savory rice at 3d. Cold meats are on sale in the evening. These menus give some idea of the kind of food sold, its variety, and the range of prices. They are chosen from menus given at per- haps the darkest period through which England has passed with respect to her food supply, and reflect the care with which the authorities dealt with the food habits of the nation! • The causes of success and failure in the national experiment in communal kitchens made by Great Britain are intimately connected with the question as to their future. The one chief criticism, that they are a step away from family life and in the direction of com- munism, was met at the time of their inception by the answer of 40 AGENCIES J'OR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. their sheer, dire necessity. That the problem of actual food scarcity, for which they were offered as a partial solution, will continue into the after-the-war period has been generally accepted as a fact. There is little doubt that the kitchens have successfully met the temptation to profiteering which arises in times of crisis. An edito- rial writer in the Manchester Guardian, March 12, 1918, said : London is beginning to realize how enormous is tlie profit of the caterer in all but the most humble restaurants. The broad fact is that most restaurants have steadily cut down their portions of unrationed as well as of rationed food, and have increased their prices to a point far beyond that of the commodities. That commercial enterprises could not be trusted to step in to meet the need is shown by the writer in the Quarterly Eeview for January, 1918, when he makes the nice distinction between a " conmier- cially profitable demand " and a " national advantage," and says : Until the standard of life in the more populous centers has been raised to a point at which the demand for ready-cooked meals of satisfactory quality be- comes effective, the private cookshop is likely to concentrate on a few popular but frequently wasteful and comparatively expensive foods. A contributing cause of the failure of some of the earlier kitchens was the use of too much volunteer and untrained help. Workers inex- perienced in such catering did not understand either the proper com- bination of foods to secure an adequate and attractive diet or how to purchase and serve to avoid waste of money and materials. It was evident that this danger was recognized, for the members of the ministry of food repeatedly deprecated the use of volunteer help- ers in their public utterances, and expressly stipulated that the kitchens must " pay their way." It is also often observed by those interested that the presence of volunteer workers " creates an atmos- phere of condescension and patronage." The founders of the Italian, Austrian, and German kitchens advocated their use, as lessening the gap between the social classes. But this way of lessening class-con- flict does not seem to appeal to the Britisher. This is particularly true in kitchens which hope to reach the middle class. The following reasons were given for the non-success of some of the earlier English kitchens : * (1) The expensive system adopted of a central kitchen with distributing depots Instead of having self-contained kitchens. (2) No proper system of deciding the sale prices of the articles sold. (3) The fact that voluntary helpers sell food at depots without the assistance of a paid supervisor. (4) That the tickets used are not properly checked with the number of portions sold. (5) That the portions returned and portions sold do not agree with the total number of portions sent out. » Municipal Journal, June 28, 1918, p. 687. AGENCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. 41 (6) The monotony in menus — too much fried food, using a quantity of fat for cooking and frying purposes, and an insufficient quantity of vegetables, sauces, and gravies. (7) Selling of cold food. (8) That there has been no system of valuing stock each week. Mr. Cox has strongly recommended that the present system of control kitchens be discontinued, and that in place of it a self-con- tained kitchen with a restaurant should be established ; that a store- keeper and cashier should be appointed, whose duty it would be to issue stores daily to the cook in charge, with a statement of their value. Care should also be taken to see that the profit on the food gold be about 33J per cent of the cost of the raw material, and that in no case should it be less than 25 per cent. The writer of an open letter written to the Manchester Guardian attributes some of the hindrances to the success of the national kitch- ens to the ministry ; others are deeply ingrained in the habits of the people; others are matters of organization, administration, and ex- perience. Although this writer looks upon the kitchens as primarily a war measure to provide for a reliable distribution of cheap and wholesome meals, he adds : ^ There may very likely be a permanent place In our social system for the national or municipal kitchen. It may revolutionize the methods of providing family, dinners, and ultimately domestic cookery may have to be reckoned among the lost arts, but with a compensating gain to woman from freedom from toil and worry and monotony in the service of the home. A much copied exchange used in labor papers and entitled " Na- tional Kitchens Popular in England," says ; * The question naturally arises: Wfll these institutions, which are proving of such immense economic value at the present time, survive the war? If we admit that the unparalleled position which woman at the present time occupies in the industrial world may have effects beyond the wildest dreams of specu- lation, it is not difficult to make out a case for. the survival of the national kitchen. It is significanf in this connection that the platform of the Woman's Party in England includes the plank : Food rations, accompanied by the development of communal kitchens, so as to economize domestic labor, reduce food waste, and guarantee to the people the best possible food at the lowest possible prices, cooked in the most skillful way, so that its full nutritive value may be secured. 1 Reprinted in Local Government Chronicle, May 25, 1918, pw 841. 2 The Square Deal, Devoted to the interests of organised labor. VoL IV, No. 18, Aug. 16, 1918. Since the above was written the following note has appeared in the Canadian Food Bulletin (No. 21, Ottawa, December, 1918) : "A scheme for a national kitchen at Bath, England, has been rejected by the city council. It was stated that Ldverpool has closed five such kitchens after losing £1,000 on each." 42 AQBNCIBS FOB THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. The immediate future of the British national kitchens seems to lie in the development of canteen and restaurant facilities. The na- tional restaurant in New Bridge Street, London, to be run as both kitchen and restaurant, was opened as a model. The cooking is done by steam, gas, and electricity, the roasting by electricity, and the boil- ing by gas. It was opened on June 26, 1918, and its immediate suc- cess showed the need for these restaurants in populous neighbor- hoods. Shops, offices, and homes in the vicinity may send and collect their own meals or have them delivered at an extra charge of a penny. Others have since been opened in London, Leeds, Glasgow, Man- chester, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Brighton, Cardiff, Birmingham, and Bristol. The representative of the United States Department of Labor in Great Britain writes of the New Bridge Street restaurant as follows :^ The moderate price restaurant keepers ♦ * ♦ have been much opposed to this undertaking of the ministry of food, claiming that it could not succeed without a Government subsidy, owing to the low prices charged and the large portions served. The figures given in the report for four weeks show, accord- ing to the director, a profit of 70 per cent per annum, and, as has been said, " suggest that it is really possible to supply nourishing food in satisfying quan- tities at low prices and yet obtain a very substantial profit." ♦ ♦ * At none of the other eating places are such large portions served as at the Na- tional restaurant, and at most of them the prices are slightly higher. If there is any difference in the quality of the food served it is all in favor of the Government restaurant. One is much impressed at this restaurant by the class of people who use the place. They are all rather prosperous-looking middle-class people, and I fear the people for whom the place was supposedly designed do not get much benefit from it • ♦ * • The menu for the day, with prices, hangs outside the door. About a dozen people are admitted at a time, and they, having decided upon their order, ask the cashier just inside for checks for the total amount they are to spend ♦ * *. Then one proceeds to the long serving counter and gets whatever one desires on a tray, somewjiat as in our cafeterias, except that each dish is served by an attendant who takes the necessary check in return. The tables are set [by waitresses, who also clear them] with all the- requisite cutlery and drinking water and glasses. The china and cutlery are most satisfactory. The service is rapid, all things considered. On the whole, however, the man- ager might learn much in that respect from a study of- those marvelous Chicago cafeterias • ♦ *. I lunched on soup (2d. [4 cents]), rice pudding (3d. [6 cents]), bread and butter — three slices — (2d. [4 cents]), and coffee (2d. [4 cents]); total, lid. [22 cents], and I have not yet ceased being astonished at the quantity and quality of everything ♦ • ♦. There was almost no noise and no loud talk- ing. Everyone was apparently enjoying his lunch and having a restful break in his day's work, as well. That is more than we can say for ourselves in Washington at lunch time ♦ ♦ ♦. 1 Cost of Food In National Restaurants in London, ]>y N. C. Adams, Monthly Labor Re- rlew, November, 1918, pp. 121-122. See also Municipal Journal, July 12, 1918, p. 729, and article by P. B. Kennedy in Commerce Reports, U. S. Department of State, Aug. 8, 1918, pp. 520-522. AGENCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. 43 Prices In the first-class restaurants and the moderate-priced places in London i are practically the same as in America, but I have never seen a place at home ) where I could get for the money as satisfactory a lunch as I had at this ; restaurant. ^ At about the time of the opening of the first national restaurant the ministry of food announced that it would take over from the \ former contractor the three canteens in the Southampton dock- \ yards and convert them into national kitchens, reequipping the build- i ing with steam and electrical cooking arrangements. There are some 10,000 employees in the yards. As one reviews the history of the British national kitchen move- ment, it becomes evident that it has not been clear sailing, in spite of the courage, enthusiasm, and resourcefulness of the responsible members of the ministry of food. The lessons to be learned may be summarized from the pages of the writer in the monthly review before quoted : | Public kitchens, to be successful, must be opened in the right ' neighborhood. Kitchens must be located in attractive premises, in prominent posi- tions. Kitchens will have to offer such value for the money as to compete effectively with the privately cooked meal. Kitchens will have to study the tastes and prejudices of their pa- trons, introducing unfamiliar dishes gradually. Public kitchens will have to make the most of their advantage as public and patriotic institutions, enjoying the support of the food authorities. They will need the advantage of centralized buying at wholesale prices ; they will need help in the shape of information, in- struction, and advice; and they will need the "good will" attached to their public character. THE AMERICAN STTTJATION. The history of the cooperative movement in America, up to the great war, is an epitome of attempts at the development of agencies which undertook to relieve the housewife of some of the burdens of the individual kitchens. American individualism, the enormous dis- tances covered by the States, the variety of peoples, customs, tradi- tions, and an underlying conservatism which was a part of the social inheritance from Puritanism, are all but a part of the reason for the slow growth of movements which would bind communities closer together. There have been isolated cases of sucessful coopertive stores ; there are successful experiments here and there in cooperative housekeeping; there are to-day small community kitchens which have a degree of success. Miss Fee, supervisor of the kitchens of the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor of New York City, told the writer that at a dietetics conference held recently, when the subject of community kitchens was introduced, to the in- tense surprise of every one it was found that there were present fif- teen women interested in some venture of the sort, none of whom knew of the work of the others. It may be that grim necessity will act as a reagent on the chaos of the present and create a unity which will be essentially American, not something copied from the British national kitchens, still less from the Teutonic Volkskiichen with their " soup kitchen " tradition to alienate the self-respecting working and middle class. All that a preliminary study of this sort can hope to do is to pre- sent such material as is available on agencies which have to do with the preparation of food in bulk for use in the home. There are two forms of commercial ventures which have successfully entered this field of which we shall merely speak in passing. The public bakery has to a very large extent superseded home baking in the larger com- munities. In Europe, many of these bakeries are cooperative; but in the United States they are commercial ventures, more or less suc- cessful from the dietetic point of view. The exigencies of the war caused a deterioration in the output of many of the bakeries because of the difficulty of making bread in quantities with the modified flour. Many war agencies in various cities have ventured into the field pre- viously preempted by the baker. For example, all of the bread for AGENCIES FOR THE SAL.E OF COOKED FOODS. 45 the city canteens maintained by the mayor's committee of women on national defense of New York City is now baked in the city kitchen. Another cooked-food agency which has made itself a part of city life is the delicatessen shop. In cities where apartment-house life is the home life of the mass of the middle class, where there arc many women who work but who prefer to eat at home, the delicatessen shop in its better form has been a boon. It is true, however, that it has not been an unmodified blessing from the standpoint of health or financial economy. While there are no statistics available, there has been enough investigation of the delicatessen trade in some of the large American cities to make it a certainty that much of the food used in certain types of shops is of low grade, bought on tlie verge of spoiling and salvaged with dressings highly seasoned and deco- rated. A study made by a worker for the board of health in one city of the sources of supply for delicatessen shops uncovered the fact that very little high-grade material was used. This is probably equally true of other cities. The food is, therefore, relatively ex- pensive. The study alluded to showed that the delicatessen shops are prospering under war conditions because of the demand for women in labor. That there are large night sales is indicated by the difficulty in getting delicatessen shops to conform to any closing program. When the dealers were asked to close early in order to save light, heat, and food, they made the very interesting remon- strance that their best patrons were those employed late at night. It would seem that any city community kitchen venture should take this statement into account in planning its hours for serving the public, if it desires to reach the public to which the delicatessen shops cater. It would also seem that there could never be a better time to bring the delicatessen shop into line with other agencies in the conservation of food and the preservation of the national health. It can be made a more important institution than it now is if the suspicion of the quality of its product can be removed from the reputable dealers by adequate investigation and supervision, with a consequent standardization of products. No account, however brief, of ventures in the large scale prepara- tion of wholesome food to be consumed in the home would be com- plete without telling the story of the New England kitchen, an experi- ment undertaken in the early nineties " to determine the successful conditions of preparing by scientific methods, from the cheaper food materials, nutritious and palatable dishes, which should find a ready demand at paying prices." According to a statement made by Mrs. Ellen H. Richards in the preface to the story of this kitchen written by its founder, Mrs. Mary Hinman Abel, the success of the kitchen was directly due to Mrs. Abel's hard work as well as to her unusual ability, enthusiasm, and ready tact. In other words, the situation 46 AGENCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. then did not directly call for the kitchen, but the kitchen had to edu- cate its public. The New England kitchen was not founded primarily to pay its way. A fund had been provided ; those who took the fund were left free to work according to their discretion. That it was on its feet financially in two years was owing to its proximity to a school to which it served lunches (see p. 18). The business side of this kitchen venture was never prominent. Mrs. Abel was able to proceed with the venture, according to the terms of the gift, without fij^ving a thought to the cost. The price of the food sold was meant to cover little more than the cost of pro- duction. But the kitchen taught the founder many things about the method for a paying kitchen. As to organization, she advises "a stock company with a board of directors, scientific and medical men, with a delivery system for choice foods, food for invalids, bread, etc." One of the great obstacles to the success of such ventures Mrs. Abel believes to be " the mixed nationalities and varied tastes of the in- habitants of our cities." This kitchen later became a part of the plant of the Women's Industrial and Educational Union of Boston, which has been a pioneer in much scientific work connected with the problems created for women by their absorption into industrial life, and whose recent study of " The Food of Working Women in Boston " shows conclusively how serious a problem is created for the Nation by the underfeeding of so large a percentage of the future mothers of the Nation during the most important period of their lives. Mrs. Abel has kept a record of community ventures in kitchens and cooperative housekeeping over a long period, beginning with the eighties. They are so much alike in their leading features that to tell the story of one or two is to give the substance of all. In one thing they agree — few have been permanently successful. A kitchen in Carthage, Mo., was in operation from September, 1907, to January, 1911. In this case the patrons came to the house in which the kitchen was located for all their meals. Each family furnished its own table, chairs, dishes, linen, silver, and also such table decorations, jellies, pickles, and other " extras " as it desired, thus following its own tastes and standards. The tables were sulii- ciently far apart to permit of intimate conversation at each, a feature which was believed to increase the home-like feeling of the place. This feeling was carefully fostered by the paid superintendent, and much of the success of the venture was laid to her ability to make the members feel that their individual tastes were not disregarded. Its failure was attributed to the steady rise in price of materials and labor. Those members who could not afford to pay the increased cost for keeping up the original standard apparently preferred to do their economizing in the privacy of their own homes. Of course the AGENCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. 47 decrease in membership raised the overhead cost per capita and thus forced an increase in the charges out of proportion to the increase in the cost in food and wages. To provide the original equipment for the kitchen an assessment of $3 per adult and $1/50 per child was made. There y^ere originally sixty members, including 10 or 12 children. This money was used to equip the kitchen, a cheap but large ice box, a cook stove, cooking vessels, serving table, furniture for servants' rooms, and muslin cur- tains for the entire house being provided. For the first three months the weekly price was $3 for adult, $1.50 for child. As the number decreased and the prices of food advanced this amount was increased. When the number decreased to 50, the price of board advanced to $3.50. In the fall of 1909 the number decreased to 45. For the next two years board was $4 a week, $2 for children. In 1910 there was a very bad drought through that part of the country and vegetables and fruits were very high. Potatoes sold all the fall for $8 a bushel. The number of members had fallen off still more and an extra assessment of 20 cents per week, per capita, was made for the last twelve weeks that the place remained in opera- tion. The equipment purchased with the original assessment was in a dilapidated condition at the end of four years. There was nothing of any value but the stove, which was sold at one-half of the price paid for it originally. The curtains and a few things were sold to a second-hand man. The money obtained for these was used to make good the deficit in the final accounts. Another cooperative venture in Evanston, 111., which attracted a good deal of attention, lasted four years. According to this plan, food could be sent to the kitchen from the homes, cooked and returned. Charlotte Talley, writing of "A Cooperative kitchen that is meet- ing a need in its community," says that it took this kitchen two years to develop in the minds of its founders before becoming a reality.^ A society was first organized. Although $1,000 was desired as a working capital, the venture started with $900, 90 persons having taken one share each. A communal dining room was tastefully equipped, but meals were also sent to the homes in automobiles hired for the purpose. Maids were sometimes sent from this kitchen to serve the meals in the homes, and catering was done for entertain- ments. The prices charged for the meals were, for subscribers: Breakfast, $0.25; luncheon, $0.35; dinner, $0.50. Ten cents addi- tional for breakfast and luncheon, and 15 cents more for dinner were charged to nonsubscribers. A fee of 10 cents was charged for de- ^ Journal of Home Economics, toI. VII, August-September, 1815. 48 AGBITOIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS, livery. The food-carrier lused was the Swedish container consisting of a tier of enamel or aluminum dishes which fit into a receptacle like an ice-cream container. This kitchen had five workers: Manager, assistant manager, cook, butler, and waitress. "On a week investigated, 420 persons were served. The per capita cost was $0.31. On this amount the kitchen broke even.'* The writer has no data as to the effect war conditions has had on any of these ventures, with the exception of the Montclair community venture, probably the most successful up to the war of any of the American experiments. War conditions made it necessary for it to go out of business, not, however, without having taught many valu- able lessons in the plan of capitalization and organization which may be used later by others who believe that the marvelous increase in co- operation in European countries will finally have its counterpart in the United States. Improvements were gradually made by the education of dealers through these ventures in the kind of food carrier needed. The kitchens found also that they had to be less educational at the start and cater more to individual tastes. The following story of the brave beginning and untimely end of a conmiunal kitchen in New York in 1918 holds in it much that is suggestive. This venture does not stand alone. The kitchen whose story is to be told was opened by a volunteer workers' organization in a congested district of upper New York, where all nationalities and religions are present. Many of the chil- dren of the neighborhood were known to be suffering from malnutri- tion, and living conditions were bad. It was the purpose of the women interested to cater to the most needy part of the neighborhood. The money for equipment was donated, but it was hoped that the kitchen could be made to pay running expenses. On this basis, it was calculated that from 35 to 40 per cent must be added to the actual cost of the food, in order to make the kitchen pay its way. Rental was $35 a month. A good cook was secured for $12 a week. She was given two meals a day. Her helper was paid $1 a day, with meals. The other helpers, four or five in number, were volunteer workers. The equipment was simple, as it was not intended to provide a wide range of cooked food, but rather to specialize in certain dishes which were well known and liked. Among these were fish cakes, clam chowder, and stews, preferably beef stew with vegetables. Baked apples and prunes were the only desserts prepared. The apples were popularized at three for 5 cents, but it was found neces- sary to increase the price to four for 10 cents. The fish cakes were AGENCIES FOB THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. 49 standardized at three for 5 cents, although money was sometimes lost, which had to be made up on soups and stews. All the buying was done in the neighborhood by the supervisor, who was one of the vol- unteer workers. This was thought best for two reasons— in order to win the friendship of the community and in order to buy in small quantities and spare the expense of storeroom and ice. As little as possible was carried over, so that a small ice box was all that was necessary. Large quantities were never prepared. Even with the fish cakes, which were most in demand, it was found that they were much better when prepared in small quantities and constantly made fresh. In answer to the question whether recipes can be " doubled up " with like results, the workers in this kitchen were emphatic in their negatives. They also said that their customers were as quick to note and complain of any change as customers of higher priced caterers would be. The kitchen opened very successfully, catering to from 130 to 150 women a day. Although it had been intended to reach the more needy women of the neighborhood, the kitchen was embarrassed to find that it was more patronized by the prosperous and thrifty ele- ment. After the venture was well started, however, it was found that a prejudice was growing against it, not because it was a charity, but because the spiritual advisers of the patrons thought it was a "communistic venture." Just whether this was the main cause of its decline is not clear. It was said here, as elsewhere, that a change of cooks might influence the patronage over a long period, emphasiz- ing the fact that the reputation of a kitchen, as of any commercial venture, must be maintained unimpaired. The use of so many vol- unteer helpers is another reason given. Still another was the great fluctuation of prices in the markets and the difficulty in getting some of the most necessary articles. The supervisor of this kitchen said that a similar one could be equipped for $800 to $1,000, provided the gas company would loan a stove. The most expensive article in the equipment was a 30 gallon copper kettle, an indispensable article. An effort to meet the needs of American middle class families has recently been inaugurated under the patronage of some prominent men and women. Its announcements state that the service is : Designed to meet the needs of the great mass of independent homes * ♦ ♦ not organized as a charity, but as a permanent effort at social betterment, on a sound, self-sustaining basis that will yet save the consumer from commercial exploitation.^ The service is designed chiefly for: The business or professional woman living alone, the young family living on a small salary without maid service, the artist in studios, the large family » Prospectus of the American Cooked Food Service, 1 Madison Avenue, New York, N. Y. ^ AGENCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. in which the mother is verging on physical breakdown tlirough the shortage in domestic help, and others ranging from the isolated occupant of the hall bed- room in a rooming house, to families living in private homes and the highest type of apartment houses. In an estimate for the economies of this service it is said : Probably for the majority of patrons the- cooked meals are delivered at the home for the same price that the retail buyer would pay for the raw food stuffs ♦ * * Individual economies come through lessened maid service, saving in food waste, and the fuel and upkeep of the individual kitchen. The first station of this service was opened February 1, 1918, and has been in successful operation ever since. Other stations will soon be opened in cities of varying size. The cooked food is placed at the central station in containers that keep it hot for several hours. Separate containers carry salads, breads, and cold desserts. These containers are delivered by motor ^ service shortly before meal time and called for at regular times there- after. Dinners range in price from $0.50 to $1, luncheons from $0.35 to $0.75. It has been found necessary to charge for the bread service because of the rise in prices. Better rates are given for larger fami- lies where more portions can be delivered in one set of containers, and special arrangements may be made for children's meals, etc. New stations of the American Cooked Food Service, the name of this agenc}^ which aims to extend its service to every part of the coimtry, are financed partly on a cooperative or popular subscription plan, whereby at least GO per cent of the stock required to equip and start a station (a total of from $15,000 to $25,000) is subscribed in the locality. This stock is in shares of $100 each, and may be pur- chased outright in amounts of from one to twenty shares, or, by special arrangements, may be paid for in weekly installments, which it may be possible to save through economies resulting from use of the service. It is stated by the president of the service that the unit of service on which estimates as to equipment, etc., is to be based will be limited to 500, because beyond that number the home-like quality of the food can not be preserved. In case the demand for service exceeds the capacity of the station, stockholders are given the i:)reference. It is believed from the experience already obtained that a center will be financially self-supporting when the full quota of 500 are served.^ The success of this unique experiment will be watched with in- terest by all who hope to see a standardization of the efforts now being made to meet a situation which is new to Americans, so ac- customed to plenty, but now called upon to economize not from purely selfish motives, but in order that we may divide with those iThis account was prepared in December, 1918. AGENCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. 51 who are in sore need. Those interested in methods of relieving the domestic labor shortage will also be anxious to see how far it alle- Adates what in many instances is becoming a hopeless condition. A similar service, but on a much smaller scale, was privately started in 1918 in Burlington, Vt. The containers are made by a local dealer ; they are metal boxes with insulating walls and a door in front into which fit the trays for the different foods. The chief criticism reported of this service was that the menus were vegetarian to ac- cord with the ideas of the founder and manager. It has been is suc- cessful operation for some months. The community kitchen of St. Louis, Mo., is a significant enter- prise born of war-time needs. The following description is com- piled from correspondence and reports in the files of the woman's committee of the Council of National Defense, with which the St. Louis workers were affiliated. This semiphilanthropic venture closely follows the lines of some of the early communal kitchens in England. Although it is still too young to give any basis for prophecy, there is much for other communities to learn from its methods. In carrying out the w^ork of the United States Food Administra- tion, it became evident to the women's central committee on food con- servation in St. Louis that the problems of the city's congested dis- tricts were not the usual ones of the associated charities. They were rather new difficulties born of war conditions and directly con- nected with the present food emergency. An investigation carried on tlirough the winter months of 1917-18 showed that it was im- possible to feed a family of six with an adequate healthful diet on a dolhir a day, supposedly the maximum allowance for food on a weekly income of $15. After the survey that showed the acuteness of the food problem among the working classes, the women's central committee put in tlie field a corps of visiting housekeepers to work with the associated charities. It was found by these workers that " the old problems of ignorance in regard to home management, sorely aggravated in the present crisis, were found to be playing havoc with the health of the community in the poor districts of the city." As the months of the winter went by, the idea of community kitchens as the only economic way to solve some of the problems made a strong appeal to the workers. The increasing number of women in industry with dependent families and their impossible situation in regard to providing proper food for their families, finally confirmed the need for radical measures of assistance. It was decided to establish a chain of community kitchens under tho 52 AGEN^CIES rOK THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. direction of the women's central committee on food conservation as a war measure. At these kitchens an adequate ration was to be pro- vided at a cost on the cash-and-carry plan for that part of the popu- lation at present unable to feed itself either comfortably or health- fully. In announcing the decision to open community kitchens, the com- mittee called attention, first, to the importance of keeping up standards of health in war times; second, the experience of our allies in the necessity of proper feeding for factory workers; "third, but not last in degree of importance or seriousness, comes the tremendous responsibility of fostering the health of the children of to-day, upon whom will fall the enormous burdens of the recon- struction period." Attention was also called to the saving of fuel and foodstuffs. It was estimated that a chain of five kitchens would meet the needs of St. Louis with the food situation as it was in the spring of 1918. The location of the kitchens was to be determined by the poverty of the neighborhood, the presence of factories, especially those employ- ing women, by the proximity of a market, and by the density of population. The kitchens were to be conducted on the following schedule: In the morning from 6.30 to 8.30, cash-and-carry milk, bread, and cereals Avill be for sale. At noon the cafeteria will serve a complete meal in a single dish, of soup, with a roll, and coffee. Soup wagon- ettes will be w^heeled to the factories in the neighborhood, each wagon equipped to serve 80 pints, and carrying in attached con- tainers the same number of 2-ounce rolls. A pint of soup and a roll are sold for 5 cents. From 4.30 to 8 the cafeteria will be open for the evening meal, consisting of meat, a vegetable, a starch, and a dessert. Patrons who desire to carry their meal home will call for it in three buckets — one for meat and vegetables, one for the starch, and one for the dessert. There will be full and half portions, the entire meal to cost per person, 5 cents for the half-portion meal and 10 cents for the full portion. Preparatory work was done in the factories by members of the Consumers' League to enlist the interest and cooperation of the man- agers. It was emphasized that the kitchen was to be a self-sup- porting, self-respecting enterprise, in no way to be considered in the light of a charity. It was to be an efficient way of handling the food problem on a community plan. It was purposed to make the kitchen a neighborhood center for information in regard to questions of diet, of general hygiene, and of better home management. It was arranged to have cooking demonstrations and talks given by the St. Louis home demonstration agents of the agricultural extension service. AGENCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. 53 Tlie money for the establishment of these kitchens was earned through a patriotic food sliow. Of the $5,000 thus acquired, $2,000 was set aside for the experiment. It was agreed to open one kitchen and run it for several months before opening the other four. The business basis agreed upon was as follows: The daily overhead was estimated by adding the salaries, rent, light, fuel, ice, to the actual cost of raw materials, plus insurance and dei)reciation. Depreciation was estimated at 1/365 of the initial in- vestment. To this was added another 1/365 of the initial investment representing the portion of the investment indebtedness to be paid back daily. On some days during the first three weeks of the first kitchen, it was possible to meet this complete proportion. A fault in equipment which made it impossible to take care of the number of people necessary to meet the overhead had to be remedied during the first month. It Avas estimated on the basis of reports of other kitchens, especially those in Great Britain, that an allowance of 30 per cent over the actual cost of materials would cover the overhead and make the kitchen self-supporting. The first kitchen, whose initial equipment cost about $1,000, was opened at 1729-1731 South Seventh Street, in a quaint building in the heart of a factory district. There are ten large factories employ- ing many women in the immediate neighborhood. Four day nurs- eries are filled to capacity in this district, giving proof that the mothers are at Avork in the factories. Social workers state that there Avas no more needy district in the city during the winter, 1917-18. A market is within the block, also a cannery conducted during the sunmier by the Avomen's central committee on food conservation. In the auditorium of a library in the block tAvo cooking schools have been conducted by the committee, one in the spring of 1917 and one this year, f^ith an average attendance of 200 foreign-born women, Poles, Lithuanians, Hungarians, and Germans. The building in Avhich the kitchen Avas opened lends itself admir- ably to the work. The caretaker and his Avife occupy one of the two second floor apartments. The Avife is an unusually intelligent Hun- garian Avho was quick to see that her home should measure up to the standard of cleanliness in the kitchen below. On the opening day slie threAV open her doors without any suggestion on the part of the couimittee,- to the guests of the kitchen. It is hoped that this apart- ruont can be made a model for a family of small means. The other apartment is to be made into an old clothes clinic. On the third floor a large store is used for storage of fumigated clothes, and for groceries and supplies. The basement offers storage for the canned fruits and vegetables to be preserved during the summer for the use of the kitchens. 54 AGE2irCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. Much of the initial equipment was given below cost by those in- terested and, in some cases, as an outright gift. The chuia, shelves, lighting fixtui'es, wash machines, mangles, water heaters, tea-towel <^ryers, and gas steam heaters w^ere donated. The cooking equip- ment consists of two ovens and nine stock pots, heavy copper, stand- ing each on an iron tripod. There are four 10-gallon stock pots, four 10-gallon double boilers, and one 25-gallon soup kettle. The cooking is done in tlie serving room; a large counter shuts off the kitchen end from the cafeteria. The preparation room in the rear is cemented. Here vegetables are cleaned, groceries received, and a lai-ge ice-box located. Uniforms, tea-towels, and dishes are washed in the rear rooms. A model back yard poultry unit has been in- stalled in the back yard by the poultry committee of the production division of the women's central committee on food conservation, A bill board in front of the building announces the menu for the next day. A large painted wooden sign over the entrance reads : The woman in charge of the kitchen has had experience in a similar enterprise abroad. A volimteer worker has charge of the cash register. The women of the neighborhood give much volimteer service. They have hemmed all the dish towels; they have helped with the cleaning; they have washed every utensil and dish that has come into the building. " The purpose from the beginning has been to make them feel that it was their Idtchen and their attitude bears proof that this has been successfully carried out." The seating capacity of the cafeteria is QO^ with room to increase it. Within an hour 120 persons can be served at the tables. It was found that about 50 per cent of the customers were for the cafeteria and 50 per cent cash-and-carry meals. In addition to the service at the kitchen, wagonettes take out meals to factories near by. One of the factories sends a porter for the wagonette, and a woman in Ploover costume is in attendance. The kitchen has more calls for this kind of service than it can supply at present, but will make pro- vision to meet it as soon as it becomes evident that the demand is to be a steady one. One of the workers says: "The only way to find out whether an idea is going to be popular is to make an actual experiment." The cash-and-carry bucket meal is served from the counter. Women leave their buckets on their way to work. The capacity for the evening meal is 250 ; for the noon hour, 480 ; at breakfast 9G0 persons can be served with cerea.1. Since the cooking equipment is in units it is possible to increase the c^ipacity on two weeks' notice. It was a question as to whether it would pay to keep the kitchen open on Sunday, but it was thought better to try it out, so meals were AGENCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. 55 served the first tliree Sundays. There was a loss each time. The kitchen was then closed on Sunday. To quote a worker: "Appar- ently the women employed in factories the week round like to have a thoroughly domestic time on Sunday." This wholehearted and carefully worked out experiment in com- munal kitchens will be watched with great interest. It is too early to venture prophecy as to its permanent value^ except on the basis of our previous studies. It is still an open question in America as to whether the enthusiasm of the volunteer worker can make up for her lack of training. And inasmuch as even trained dietitians and cooks were found in England to be bettered by a special training for national kitchen work, it may be best to utilize the good wdll of vol- unteer workers in the present emergency. It will be well, however, to remember that in the long run it is necessary to use paid workers who are sure to be in their place at fixed hours and who are more amenable to discipline when an experiment is on its way to become an institution. The problem of the feeding of school cliildren has been considered in several American cities, but in no such definite and organized way thixDughout the country as has been done in Germany, and in EnglaiKl since the statistics gathered as a result of the Boer War have brought her face to face with the effects of malnutrition on her population. It had proceeded far enough, however, for such cities as Boston and New York to have well-worked-out plans for central kitchens from which a wholesome meal can be sent to thousands of school children every school day. When the problem of communal Iritchens con- fronted the British ministry of food, it was to the local education boards that they most often looked for equipment and direction, and it was to the dietitians trained for the schools that they looked for the workers in the early national kitchens. It is thei-efore with some relief that we find in our own country that a worker in tho Boston central kitchen has worked out under the supervision of the research department of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union a complete scheme for the equipment of a central kitchen. In- formation is also available concerning the equipment of the central kitchen of the New York School Lunch Committee. These two organi- zations have most kindly allow^ed this material to be printed as ap- pendices to this report. (See Appendix A, pp. 65 to 73, and Ap- pendix B, pp. 74 and 75.) In a recent attempt to study the system by which lunches are sup- plied to school children in New York City, the first discovery made was that there is only one New York City agency serving lunches to school children, the New York school lunch committee, 105 East Twenty -second Street, New York. This committee has no connection 56 AGENCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. with the board of education, except that several years ago the board appropriated $25,000 to assist in providing schools with the necessary permanent equipment, such as sinks, gas ranges, copper boilers, closets, tables, benches, et€. There is a Brooklyn school lunch com- mittee with activities confined to Brooklyn; but neither of these school lunch committees is in any way connected with the other, or with the board of education, except in the single case of the appro- priation specified above. The New York school lunch committee has been in the field longest and has in operation a large central kitchen. This kitchen was fitted up at a total expense of about $20,000, through the kindness of a woman interested in the project, and through the grant by the board of education of an old building once used as a school annex. From this kitchen as a center 25 schools are supplied. With its equipment, however. Miss Elizabeth M. Fee, the supervisor, estimates that it is working at only about one-third its capacity. On this basis, it should be serving 75 of the 208 schools of Manhattan and the Bronx. The need for this service is obvious. In a statement made by the com- mittee it is shown that the seven to ten thousand children reached by the school lunch service are only 5 per cent of the children in need of the service in Greater New York. In a pamphlet on " School Lunches " issued by the New York School Lunch Committee, the following paragraph on "What it Costs " appears :^ The committee has constantly aimed to make the school luncli service self- supporting to the extent of covering the cost of the food and its preparation. The cost of equipment and supervision, it feels, ought not to be paid for by the pupils but by the city as a legitimate charge against education. While the lunch sales have thus far always covered the cost of the food, they have never covered entirely the cost of preparing it. The financial statement for the year 191G-17 shows that the receipts in addition to paying for the food, paid for 60 per cent of the labor costs. It is likely that by a wise extension and cooperation of the work, the remaining 40 per cent of this item could also be covered. Excerpts from the paragraph on "What the Children Eat" are significant in a forecast of what would bo one of the problems of a community venture in cooking in an American community, with its variety of race and religion : Racial and religious tastes and prejudices must be carefully considered in determining the menus offered. In Jewish schools only food which complies with the Jewish religion and tradition is offered ; in a similar way racial prefer- ences are catered to in Italian schools. In schools attended by both Hebrews and Italians, the situation is still further complicated, and the problem is met by offering in the menu both Italian and Jewish dishes. * * ♦ The committee has found that the improperly fed child at first rebels against the kind of food 1 School lunches: Association for Improving the Condition of the Toor, 105 East Twenty -second Street, New York. AGENCIES FOE THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. 57 offered in the school lunch, but that he gradually comes to like it and eventually demands the same kind of food at home. By this rather indirect method the food habits of the entire family are gradually improved. This same society maintains a kitchen on the west side in a district where many of the mothers are at work all day. It was founded by donation and may be called semiphilanthropic in purpose. It cor- responds more closely to the Yolkskiichen than any kitchen we have hitherto described.^ Looking back over the history of group or mass feeding and re- viewing the various experiments, both successful and unsuccessful, with a view to the situation in the United States to-day, there are certain conclusions to be drawn. First of all, America has been a land of plenty, and the wars, famines, and pestilences which have been prolonged enough in their effects in Europe to bring beyond the experimental stage such institutions as Eumford kitchens, Volks- kilchen, cucini popolari, etc., have never come to us. The pressure which will lead to our own experimentation will be not alone the recessity growing out of the war, but something else which is a part of the idealism at the root of the whole-hearted enthusiasm which has energized our war-time efforts. The education of the American people to after-war conditions, in which we may still be responsible for the food of peoples who otherwise would starve, will have much to do in preventing a return to our old laissez-faire attitude toward the world outside America. There are not more than three agencies for the preparation of food for the household outside the home which can be said to have passed the experimental stage in America. Two of them, the bakery and the delicatessen shop, are commercial in character and are managed by their owners with no immediate concern for the public welfare other than that enforced by our laws. The other venture, still much less mature with us than in European countries, is the organization of school feeding. Sucli development of this phase of our national life as can be found in cities like New York and Boston gives some material on which to proceed in community ventures. But it must be emphasized that school lunches are never expected to " pay their way " in the same sense as that in which a middle-class community kitchen must pay its way to be self-respecting. The items in the cost price of the food of a community kitchen must include every detail of a commercial venture except the profit to the enterpriser, with a lessened bill for advertising and distribution. In order that such conscientious experimentation in communal feeding as shall be made in the near future may profit by past mis- 1 Forecast Magazine, May, 1018, 58 AGENCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. takes, there are certain items of practical advice to be gathered from other ventures. Mr. Harris, in his chapters on cooperation in America, says that a review of cooperative ventures among us shows that there has al- most never been a true cooperating group back of the undertaking. A true cooperating group will go into such an undertaking with the purpose of seeing it through; not just to stay in until the novelty is worn off or until hard times appear, as they do at some stage in all ventures. It takes courage, persistence, and business management, as in any commercial undertaking, to make a communal kitchen succeed. There must be the most careful bookkeeping and checking up of costs from the beginning. Mrs. AbeFs suggestion of a stock company, seconded by Mr. Harris, and put in practice by the American Cooked Food Service, is excellent, and a step in the direction of the American way of doing things. While emphasizing the business side of such a venture, it must bo remembered that there is a difference between a " commercial success " and a " national advantage." And one of the most patriotic of the purposes of communal kitchens in America will be to take advantage of our recent awakening to the fact that with the plenty about us we are not " well fed " in a dietetic sense; that we all, rich and poor alike, need to be taught to eat the right things in the right combination. The educational part of this venture is as important in the long run as the economic, even though it may not make so strong a popular appeal. In America, we have not passed the stage of the volunteer worker. Her energy and enthusiasm have been a national asset since our en- trance into the war. It seems almost a gratuitous insult to call at- tention to her shortcomings when she shows none, in America. But the lesson to be learned from European experience is that she must be used sparingly and under strict supervision by trained workers in a venture which expects to establish itself as a permanent part of the life of a community. The trained worker receiving a regular wage is at her post at regular hours. What she may lack in enthusiasm she makes up in scientific training or technical skill. And the experience of all countries seems to indicate that there is likely to be a certain atmosphere of condescension creep in when volunteer workers are used, to which the English and American attitude of mind is very hostile. The advice of the British ministry of food is to use the volunteer worker not at all, except possibly in small communities. It is barely possible that one of the reasons for the emphatic rejec- tion of the communal kitchen in Germany as a permanent institution, is the long history of the Volkskiichen as an accepted charity of AGENCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. 59 better-class women. " In no sense a charity " must be the motto of any communal kitchen which is to be a permanent success in America. It is to be noted from the experience of England and Germany that the training of the dietitian is not sufficient for success in a com- munal kitchen. There must be special training for such work over and above the general training. Munich, as long ago as Novem- ber, 1016, was offering a special training for the public kitchens; and within a month after the kitchens order was promulgated by the British ministry of food, such a course was offered in London. It might be well for all departments in American colleges training women in domestic science to introduce into their courses such special training for communal kitchen work as is available, including special experimentation in cooking in large quantities, together with studies of the food habits of our population. It is to be remembered that the dietitian can not ride roughdiod over the customs and traditions of the various races and religions, even though she may invoke the authorit}^ of science in her support. And finally, we still have almost everything to learn. We shall therefore make mistakes. Workers must especially remember that in. fairness to all, failures must be reported as frankly and fully as suc- cesses. But if there is some central organization through which the successes and mistakes can be pooled, we shall learn quickly. We shall start, as in the war, with the advantage of the experience of others on which to build. Pure imitation will not do the work. The initiative peculiarly the faculty of the American soldier is present in the rest of the population, and will be used to adapt agencies for meeting the food situation as well as for inventing other tools for winning the war and for meeting the problems of the after-the-war period. CONCLUSIONS. When this survey was undertaken it was thought that such a study might make possible a definite answer to the question whether or not some form or forms of group or community cooking could be recom- mended for adoption as a general conservation measure in the United States. Whatever might have been the case had the war con- tinued, the situation is now (January, 1919) by no means sufficiently acute to expect success for such a radical change of habits on the part of any large number of families. Nevertheless it ma}^ be worth while to state briefly some of the general conclusions to which a study of such enterprises leads. These conclusions are based not only on the material included in the earlier sections of this report, but also on opinions expressed in conversation with persons who have had practical experience with such work. Many of these workers were unwilling to be quoted officially, but a safe generalization from their personal opinions is that in America there is at present nothing encouraging to the en- thusiast on communal cooking. The causes for failure in the past they consider practically the same as those for the failure of most cooperative enterprises in this country — unwillingness of Americans to submit long to the restraints which cooperation requires, and a lack of leaders who combine adequate ability in planning, buying, cooking, and serving food with general administrative ability. This does not mean that local enterprises undertaken to meet some special needs may not be as successful as a considerable number have been in the past. Indeed, it is possible that these will be more numerous in the next few months and that a few may become perma- nent institutions for the benefit of special groups who for one reason or another find the preparation of food in the home especially diffi- cult and uneconomical. If such attempts are made, it is very much to be hoped that they will be reported freely and with as much detail and frankness regarding failures as regarding successes. Many pioneers in this field have been too disheartened to give others the benefit of their experiences. In a line of work so little understood and so full of pitfalls, each w^orker needs to know Avhat to aVoid as well as what to 60 AGENCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. 61 do, and a failure, carefully analj^zed and reported, may help as much in the end as a chance success. The form of organization and financing likely to prove most suc- cessful will vary according to the conditions under which the work is done, especially the character of the group which is to be served. Of the three general types — cooperative, charitable, and self-sustain- ing with limited profits — the third seems most promising because most in accord with American customs and ideals. Apparently we shall not come to cooperation of the Rochdale type in this country until economic pressure is much greater than at present. While we are ready and eager to extend charitable aid in cases of distress, wo prefer to consider this as an emergency measure and to try to remove the underlying causes of the distress rather than to continue alleviat- ing it by almsgiving. It seems to us more in accordance with our democratic tradition to develop an institution which paj^s its w^ay throughout, giving its financial backers a legitimate but carefully limited profit on their investment and its patrons whatever advan- tages of price may come from large scale operation, reduction of profits, etc. Even with this type of organization, we can not hope for lasting success unless we provide strict business methods and well-trained workers. Many experienced observers believe it is equally important to rule out such unpaid assistance as free office space and volunteer helpers. There seems to be a difference of opinion as to the number of patrons necessary to make a group cooking center self-supporting. Estimates run from 100 to 1,000. The American Cooked Food Service limits to 500 the number to be served from one station, because it can not retain the homelike quality of the food when catering to a larger number. There is similar divergence of opinion as to the best method of purchasing. Some prefer separate purchasing departments, some leave the marketing to the supervisors, some buy only in large quan- tities, some partly m large, partly in small. Several kitchens patron- ize local retail markets. All agree that the purchaser must be thor- oughly conversant with marketing conditions and be in constant touch with the person responsible for planning menus. Most experienced workers do not believe in planning menus too long ahead because of the possibility of unexpected developments in the market. All agree that to repeat the same list of menus week after week is bad policy because the patrons notice and dislike the appearance of certain dishes on certain days. A resourceful planner can avoid this without difficulty, and even a less competent one can adopt a schedule for a few more than seven days and so lessen the unpleasant effect on the. patrons. 62 AGENCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. It is not feasible to increase the number of portions to be made according to a given recipe by simply increasing the quantities of the ingredients. Larger quantities may require different methods of manipulation and almost invariably require differences in the pro- portion of flavorings which can be learned only by testing. The number of workers required to a given number of patrons has been worked out in several cases. In a standard British public kitchen commencing with 1,000 portions, a staff of six trained persons is re- quired ; a supervisor, two cooks, two kitchen maids, and a cashier. It has been found that the average output for each member of the staff is 200 portions until 1,200 are reached, and beyond that number 300 portions for every additional member of the staff. When this statement was submitted to the head of a large central kitchen in this country and to the suj^er visor of another smaller kitchen which serves about 250 families, they called attention to the fact that the English cooks and general workers are usually more carefully trained and more accustomed to certain specific kinds of work than are American workers. Moreover, there is a carefully worked out si>e- cial training now given to these workers in European countries, which would need to be provided in America if the kitchens were opened in any great numbers. The central kitchen of the school lunch committee of the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor employs 90 persons in its service to 35 schools. The plan of the Boston kitchen calls for a kitchen superintendent who is a trained domestic scientist, two cooks, a storeroom woman, and three kitchen women. This is for the central kitchen alone, and does not include the service in the schools. The workers in the American Cooked Food Service state that this question is still in process of standardization with them. The labor situation in the United States makes this matter an especially difficult one at present. The social stigma on domestic service of all kinds, felt more keenly in America than in European countries, and the tempting openings in other industries, make it very difficult to obtain competent help. The system of bonuses adopted in the British kitchens, and the appeal to personal interest in the success of the kitchen might prove stimulating enough to war- rant a trial here. In the semi-philanthropic kitchens, in many cases only one worker, the cook, is paid. In others, one regular helper is added. The cashier and those who serve are volunteer workers. There is comparatively little information as to the exact amounts of food, fuel, and labor saved by group cooking, or of the reductions in cost which it brings. One difficulty in such calculations is of course that so far no method has been worked out for valuing the unpaid labor in the household. An attempt to do this in a coopera- tive canning kitchen run by the Federal Food Board in New York AGENCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. 63 City was significant as to the attitude of some women on this point. The AYorkers in this kitchen inchided women from the neighboring tenement district and the arrangement was that they w^ere to be paid in fruits and vegetables canned at the kitchen. The women refused to consider their time as part of the cost of the product because they resented the idea of having a market value placed on their work. It is true that the labor in the home is not so wearing as the kind of work which these women could get if they went out for em- plo} ment. They keep their own hours, can rest when they are tired, and do not work under supervision. The report of the New York school lunch committee calls attention to the fact that one cause of malnutrition among children is that in so many cases the mother saves her strength and money for the evening meal when the father comes home and the children are left to forage for themselves at noon. A curate of one of the city churches said that many of theso women do practically no work during the day, but depend upon the delicatessen shops on the block for the food for the family. This statement, however, is contradicted by a well known social worker who has done an important work in the investigation of conditions in the delicatessen shops of the city. These facts are stated, not as bearing directly on the subject, but as showing the extreme difficulty of any standardization of the labor of woman in the home, which varies so greatly from family to family. The demand for married women in war industries can hardly be taken as giving a wage norm. But the permanent after-w^ar demand should give us valuable and reliable standards for the economic value of women's work, for which we have always had need in order to answer this question as to the equation between the " value in use " and the " value in exchange " of woman's work. There are interesting answers to the question how the patrons take to the idea of public kitchens. One kitchen was well on its way to success when the gossip of the neighborhood circulated a report that it was a " communistic " experiment which was aimed at the home. Many of the patrons then stopped coming, as they said, on the advice of their spiritual advisers. This seems a common experience. It can be met by calling attention to the scarcity or cost of food and fuel, and by the necessity of the conservation of the nation's health by the assurance of wholesome food at a reasonable price. Another kitchen got into trouble in a Jewish community by for- getf ulness of the danger of ritual uncleanness. Care must be taken not to offend religious and national prejudices and customs. There are complaints reported that the food is not so " tasty " as home food. The English kitchens are making a study of flavorings. Tlien there is complaint of lack of variety and the absence of cer- tain dishes, such as omelets. A common complaint and one to which 64 AGENCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. the final answer is not yet found, is that the food is cold when it reaches the home, whether carried cr delivered, and that the warm- ing-up process takes away from the fine flavor. The organizers of many group and public kitchens have hoped that the meals might serve as models of proper food selection and preparation and thus lead to better understanding of what makes an adequate and attractive diet. Several have tried printing the nutritive value of the various dishes on the bills of fare, but it seems doubtful whether this has accomplished much. As a rule, the demonstration kitchens, in which instruction has been given in can- ning, preserving, and the use of food substitutes, have proved a bet- ter means of introducing simple instruction in the principles of nutrition. Undoubtedly, there is in this country much more general and intelligent interest in such questions than there ever has been before. This together with the increasing problem of paid labor for women may furnish the incentive to a greater interest in the questions with which this survey deals, and thus lead to practical steps to eliminate, by some means or other, part of the wastefulness and inefficiency which now accompany the preparation of food in many American homes. Appendix A. STUDY OF EQUIPMENT FOR A CENTRAL KITCHEN, BY THE WOMEN'S EDUCATIONAL AND INDUSTRIAL UNION OF BOS- TON. INTRODUCTION. The research department of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union has made a study of the equipment of a central kitchen based chiefly on facts gathered at the kitchen used in preparing noon luncheons for 19 Boston second- ary schools. This kitchen inherited the fine traditions of the pioneer effort to apply scientific knowledge to large-scale preparation of food, started under the leadership of Mrs. Ellen F. Richards and Mrs. Mary Hinman Abel, in 1890. The early New England kitchen began supplying hot lunches for school children in 1894, and, when its activities were transferred to the Women's Educational and Industrial Union in 1907, this service was continued. The rapid develop- ment of the work made necessary a separate establishment where all foods except bread and cake* are prepared. The union has kindly permitted the use of the following extract from a study made by Mrs. M. S. Kirshman, under the direction of Dr. Lucile Eaves. FOKMS OF KITCHEN EQUIPMENT. Kitchen equipment may be considered conveniently under four headings: First, fixed equipment such as stove, oven, refrigerator, and sinks; second, mov- able equipment such as tables, desks, etc. ; third, the special utensils necessary for the particular types of dishes selected for the menus ; and fourth, the gen- eral utensils. The Boston kitchen has six pieces of fixed equipment: (1) Hotel gas range with hood, (2) a double deck oven, (3) a steam cooker with one soup and one vegetable kettle, (4) a refrigerator and stock cooler, (5) a porcelain-lined double sink for cleaning vegetables, (G) a double galvanized-iron sink for wash- ing pots and kettles. The most expensive and generally needed articles of the fixed equipment are the stove, the refrigerator and the sink. A gas stove is convenient and its use will be economical in many communities. The Boston kitchen uses an eight- burner stove with two ovens below, and has also a separate double-deck oven. When the menu is planned so that the burner and oven space are effectively utilized, a four-burner gas stove is sufficient for serving 500 to 800 persons. The separate double-deck oven is not necessary even in large schools. The gas stoves with heavily insulated walls and fireless cooker attachments are desir- able but their initial cost is heavy. If carefully used, however, these stoves 1 The baking for the lunch rooms maintained by the union and for the school lunches Is done in a bakery located at the New England kitchen. A brick oven and power mixera are used. 65 66 AGENCIES FOR THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. reduce the gas bill over one-half, which is well worth considering. If gas is not available, a kerosene stove probably will answer the purpose even better than a wood or coal stove, as its initial cost is low, and It is economical to operate from the standpoint of both fuel and labor. Electric stoves and appliances are coming into greater favor. Electricity has nearly all the advantages of gas, is cleaner, requires less labor to run and does not consume the oxygen as does the gas or the coal stove. The even heat lessens the labor of watching the foods, prevents loss from burning, and makes pos- sible uniform standards of production. Power rates must be obtained to make the use of electric cooking and serving appliances economical, but many cities and towns, including even the smaller one.s, are willing to give such rates in order to use surplus electric power during the daj\ Waste in the use of elec- tricity is due to the time which it takes to reach the cooking temperature. This is especially noticeable when boiling water. Some companies are meeting this difficulty by combining the gas and electric stoves so that electricity is used only where long cooking is desired. Fireless cooking principles may be applied and the electricity turned off when the desired temperature is reached. The length of time required to obtain tliis temperature and the petiod which it can be maintained without power, should be carefully tested before purcliasing any stove which must be used with carefully conserved heat. The Schenley High School in Pittsburgh, which has its own bakery, has an electric oven, electric dough mixer, and an electric proving box. It also has a gas oven. Kecently, a number of commercial cafeterias have placed electric stoves and ovens In their kitchens. High praise is always given by those who use the electric ovens to the standard of the products obtained. The steam cookers are practical, where it is possible to connect with an outside steam system or where the school lunch department must supply its own hot water. Formerly from 20 to 25 pounds of pressure was considered necessary; it is now known that from 15 to 20 pounds of pressure with longer cooking gives better results. All vegetables are better in texture when cooked by steam ; the mineral matter is also conserved. Steam heat is excellent for the making of soups and of white sauce. KEFRIGERATORS. Refrigerators ai^e for three purposes : First, to cool the materials which are to be served ; second, to keep the dishes which are prepared on one day for use on the next ; and third, to care for leftovers. The first is important since nearly all foods are served either cold or hot ; the second is not necessary unless one kitchen is serving several schools; the third is of minor consideration since with the careful estimation of the requirements, the leftovers should be negli- gible. A refrigerator should have such insulation as will maintain a tempera- ture between 40 and 50° F. There should be complete circulation of air from the ice chest through the other compartments and back over the ice. There should be perfect drainage and the lining should be seamless so that every part may be cleaned easily. There is economy in the consumption of ice if the refrigerator is small enough so that the ice chest may be kept full all of the time. AVith the ice compartment in the upper part of the refrigerator, it is possible to drain the water from the side into a container where foods may be cooled easily and quickly before placing them in the ice chest. An outside door to the Ice compartment is sometimes convenient for filling, and ice may be saved during the cold months by opening this door. On the other hand, tliis arrangement is less important than having the refrigerator Bear the place where it is needed. In one kitchen visited the refrigerator was AGEN-CIES FOn THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. 67 over twenty feet from the stove and the work table. The insulation which does not let out the cold should not let in the heat, so that, if necessary, a well-insulated refrigerator may stand near the stove. An artificial ice plant may be economical if it can be connected with the powder which is used for some other purpose. The Schenley High school in Pittsburgh has this system. At the Boston kitchen, ice is used. The refrig- erator and stock cooler are built on the west side of the kitchen. When many hot dishes are made on one day to be held over for delivery on the following morning, a large refrigerator is necessary. SINK. There are five requisites for a good sink: It should be durable, and of a material easily cleaned; it should drain well; the plumbing should be open; and it should be of such a height that the worker will not need to stoop. Porce- lain is the best generally used material. An enamel iron sink may crack. Other materials used are galvanized iron, wrought iron, zinc, slate, soapstone, and a composition such as " Albarene." A commercial sink with open plumbing is far better than a zinc or slate sink set in a wooden frame, as the cracks in the latter make them hard to clean. Soapstone sinks often drain poorly, and the same is true of the galvanized-iron sinks, although they stand harder general wear than porcelain or enamel. Drain boards can be placed on both sides. If only one drain board is used, it should be at the left. A drain board made of wood with a zinc covering wears well, but the drain boards made as a part of the sink are more easily cleaned. If no drainboard is used, a zinc-covered table at the side will prove satisfactory. Double wash tubs are very useful for the school lunch kitchen ; the dishes may be washed in one compartment using a rubber stopper over the drain while the other compartment is used for rinsing. The second com- partment may also be used for cleaning vegetables. In the Boston kitchen, ifc is found necessary to have a second double sink which is used only for the cleaning of vegetables. Sink attachments of metal plate are goo door mats. 25 dozen basins (enameled), 3 inches diameter. 4 dozen pudding basins (1-quart size). 3 lard tins, 18 inches to 20 inches. 2 dozen pie dishes, 16 inches. 1 milk pail with dipper (4 gallons). 76 3G baking dishes of various sizes, 28, 20, IS, and 16 inches square, and 2 to 3 inches deep. Iron saucepans, tin lined, with two handles — 3 of 3 gallons. 4 of 2 gallons. 1 of 1* gallons. 2 frj'iiig pans, 16 inches diameter. Deep frying pot and tray, 20 inches long. 3 colanders, tin lined, one 18 inches di- ameter, two 16 inches diameter. AGENCIES FOE THE SALE OF COOKED FOODS. 77 Enameled basins, six 20 inches di- ameter, four 18 inches diameter. 2 kettles. 2 mincers. 12 cook's knives, 12, 9, and 5 inches. 4 forks, pairs of carvers, steel, chopper, saw. boning knife. ice pick for breaking salt, iron spoons, 12 inches. 6 enameled spoons. [ 12 wooden spoons, 10 to 24 inches. 2 basting spoons. 1 3 vegetable peelers, coarse mesh (conical), fine mesh (round), spice box. flour dredger, salt box, pepper box. G pot stands. 2 fish slicers. 2 graters. . G ladles (two of 1 pint, two of | pint, two of i pint). Enameled jugs (two of 1 gallon, two of J gallon). Enameled trays for storing and serv- ing food (12, 22 by 16 inches; 12, 18 by 13 inches). Scales to 14 pounds. Small scales to 1 pound. Pint measure. A potato washer. 1 corkscrew. 8 to 12 galvanized iron bins for cereals (raised a few inches from the ground on wooden struts or bat- tens). AVooden bins for vegetables. 2 trestle tables. Jars and boxes for dry foods. 3 wire meat covers, 24, 20, and 12 inch. 1 chopping block. Weighing machine (4 hundredweight). Scales, 56 pounds. 6 scoops. A raised platform for sacks. 1 bass broom. 1 dustpan and brush. 1 hair broom. 1 vegetable brush. 4 scrubbing brushes. 2 sink brushes. 2 saucepan brushes. 2 nail brushes. 1 set of blacklead brushes. 1 dozen dusters. 1 dozen rubbers. 1 dozen towels. 6 roller towels. 6 hand towels. 2 buckets. 1 mop. 4 galvanized baths, 24 inch and 30 inch. 1 funnel. 1 pair of scissors. 1 tin opener. 2 skimming ladles. 2 wire sieves, 16 by 14 inch (one of finer mesh). 2 vegetable presses. 2 rolling pins, 24 inch. G chopping boards, 18 inch and 16 inch. 2 sanitary dustbins (vegetable matter must be kept apart from ashes). 2 soap dishes. 1 dozen dish cloths. 1 pair of steps. Chef's caps and coats, and serving aprons for staff. Y.C 93827 IV1237963 \JS1 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY