Page:Richards and Treat - Quantity Cookery.djvu/16

4 be served in courses. Children especially are likely to hurry through their meals, and the serving of food in courses prevents too rapid eating. It is true, of course, that extra service requires more labor, and so may not prove possible, even though desirable.

The responsibility for maintaining a constant variety in food calls for the continued exercise of initiative, the determination to avoid monotonous repetition, a mind open to new foods and new methods of preparation and systematic marketing trips in order to keep in touch with seasonal changes. Perhaps the most frequent criticism of institutions is on the lack of variety in meals. Hotels, clubs and tea rooms can draw trade by serving out-of-season foods when they first appear in the market. Institutions whose purchases are limited by a budget should make the most of seasonal foods when the market is at its height and the food is cheapest. Such institutions should avoid serving foods that are not actually in season. Serving berries or melons before the height of the season dulls the appetite of the patron for these foods so that by the time they have become economical to serve he has tired of them.

Variety should be introduced not only in the kinds of food but in the preparation, garnish and service. Even in charitable homes and other institutions where the aim is to serve at a minimum cost, the menus can be made attractive through variety in preparation. Corn meal and cottage cheese, two of the least expensive foods we have, can be utilized in a wide variety of ways. There should be no hesitation about serving new dishes, for maximum variety is essential to a happy patronage whether in the tea room or the benevolent institution. The point to be kept in mind, where the guest has the privilege of selection, is that all the