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the food cooling down during the journey and having to be re-heated at the selling station, which would not only lessen the saving of central cooking but would impair the attractiveness and quality of the food.

A still more important objection is the very grave doubt whether people would readily patronise local selling stations, where they could see nothing of the conditions under which the food is cooked. The public kitchen will have a great deal of initial ignorance and suspicion to live down; and it will do this more easily if the food can be bought at the kitchen where it is actually prepared. To put it bluntly, food sold at a mere selling station would run the risk of being described as 'yesterday's leavings warmed up.' It is doubtful, moreover, whether a kitchen rightly planted in a populous locality would not find its full capacity tested by the immediate local demand. The question is one to be settled on its merits for each separate area, but it is important that it should be considered by each Food Economy Committee before steps are taken to open kitchens in the district; for, if the central kitchen with its network of selling stations should be deemed the most suitable system, the complete scheme ought to be planned in advance; and, if local conditions are not carefully studied, the network of outlying selling stations might prove a costly failure.

The choice between the self-contained kitchen and the central-kitchen system is in great measure determined by the kind of food it is proposed to provide. With very few exceptions the German kitchens keep strictly to a menu of broth, stew, or soup; and this lends itself particularly well to the arrangement of the central kitchen with its network of selling stations. It simplifies the whole process of preparing, cooking, transporting, serving and apportioning the food. At the central kitchens little other equipment is required than mincing or chopping machines and boilers. For transportation any large cans or vessels can be used, and suitable ones can easily be obtained. At the distributing centres nothing more is required than a dipper; the serving is done in the least possible time, and there is a minimum of grumbling about inequality of portions. Add to these considerations the fact that the food needs no reheating

at home, being still hot when it reaches the table; that there is no loss of weight or nutriment, such as takes place in oven cooking; that all kinds of food-stuffs, whether in large or small quantities, can be put into the boilers; and that with broth meals tea or coffee can be more easily omitted, and the advantages of a soup menu are seen to be very great.

An exception to this rule is provided by the case of Frankfort, where a particularly varied bill of fare is provided. Almost alone among German towns, no diminution in the number of portions served was experienced at Frankfort during the hot months of last summer; and the kitchens have achieved an exceptional measure of popularity and success. It is particularly pointed out in regard to Frankfort that, because of the appetising dishes served, the transition from home cooking to the buying of food ready-cooked is made easier than in other centres.

It is certain that people in this country would not take kindly to an all-soup menu at the public kitchen. Not only is a prolonged course of broth, soup, or stew, even when varied constantly as to ingredients and eaten only once a day, apt to pall on people accustomed to a less liquid diet, but there is a distinct charity flavour about soup which is not easily dispelled; and the mere fact that everything can be put into the boiler and come out effectually disguised raises unfounded but perhaps not unnatural suspicions. Hence, practically all the public kitchens now at work in Great Britain have laid themselves out to offer a wide variety of dishes, including roast meats or meat rissoles, sausages, vegetables, dumplings and puddings, with, of course, soup as a regular or frequent item.

This involves much more trouble and a more costly equipment, but it has been justified by results. It has not precluded the kitchen superintendent from influencing, by judicious recommendations and hints as to values, the preferences of customers in favour of particular dishes. Thus the demand for roast meat-roasting being an especially extravagant method of cooking in time of dearth-has in many cases been diverted to rissoles or croquettes, in which there is no waste and a little meat can be made to go a long way, without any dictation or

interference with the customer's free choice. Again, plentiful foods against which inexplicable prejudices exist among particular classes (the herring is a notable example) can be gradually brought into favour; and in the same way soup or stew, which after all makes the very best of meals in time of food difficulties, can be popularised to almost any extent. The demand for soups and stews-for anything, in fact, which can be carried in a basin-will be found to be very large; but, if that demand is to be encouraged, it is indispensable that there should be a free choice. Again, the popular taste for fried fish can easily be converted into a taste for boiled fish dishes of all kinds (which the poorer housewife has neither time nor appliances to prepare), if there is no attempt at dictation. The one essential is that the kitchen should be prepared at the outset to supply the dishes to which the people are accustomed. The cut from the joint' and the meat pudding must be on the menu. As favour is obtained and confidence gained, less usual dishes can be gradually added and will find favour.

It may be remarked incidentally that, where a kitchen is established near a large elementary school, a separate department providing cheap and satisfying meals for children will be a desirable adjunct. It is only the very necessitous who are fed by the schools; and the majority bring with them a few coppers to buy the midday meal or return home to such provision as can be left by a mother who has gone out to work.

Although it is not intended that the kitchens shall make a profit, the Food Controller has made it clear that they should, so far as possible, be self-supporting. The sums necessary for establishing the kitchens will be advanced by the local authorities, sanction having been given by the Local Government Board to expenditure for such purpose out of the rates. It is expected that, with proper management, the takings of the kitchens will be sufficient not only to cover the food bills and the wages sheet and to meet establishment and fixed charges, but also to provide a margin for reserve and for the repayment of the cost of equipment, so that the moneys advanced by the local authorities will be recoverable out

of the working of the kitchens. If so, they will indeed justify themselves; but the inverse proposition-that, if a kitchen should not pay its way, it will have failed to justify itself—is not necessarily true; and it should not be enjoined that no kitchen is to be opened unless there is good reason to believe that it will pay its way. Apparently the Food Controller accepts this view; and it is understood that, in order to encourage the establishment of kitchens, authority will be obtained from the Treasury to make substantial grants towards the equipment of public kitchens in approved areas.

As already suggested, the economy in food and fuel and the release of services expected to result from the establishment of kitchens might make a commercial loss consistent, with a national gain. The objection that the kitchens, if subsidised, would not be free from the taint of charity,' and that 'false pride' would keep people from patronising them, can hardly carry much force, considering that the food supply is already being subsidised in various ways. Indeed, the question of charity does not arise, unless the use of the kitchens is to be made conditional on proof of poverty, which is not for a moment contemplated. The relation between takings and expenses is an important factor in determining whether a public kitchen should be started or continued; but it is only a factor, not a final criterion.

It is of interest to note that in Germany all idea of making the kitchens pay their way in a commercial sense has been set aside. The initial cost of establishing public kitchens has usually been borne outright by the municipality, which has made a grant for the purpose Thus the Berlin Town Council voted 100,000l. for the establishment of the Berlin municipal kitchens; and at Düsseldorf the installation of the central kitchens with their annexes cost the local authority 20,000l. The municipalities have also, for the most part, heavily subsidised the kitchens. The figures for Düsseldorf may be quoted. The meals sold at the thirty-two distributing centres numbered last winter about 26,000 daily. The installation of the central kitchens with their annexes cost 19,000l. The working expenses in the first seven months of their existence were 12,000l. The ordinary price of one meal, consisting of nine-tenths of a litre, was 3d.

The total cost of providing such a portion was 44d., of which 4d. represented the cost of food and d. working expenses. The net loss was therefore 1d. per portion, or 1621. 10s. per day.

A serious objection to the subsidising of public kitchens out of public funds arises out of the fact that the kitchen will come into competition with existing catering establishments. This consideration could hardly be allowed to stand in the way of assistance being given to enable kitchens to be started and run to meet a real public need, but it points to the desirability of taking account beforehand of existing private concerns and providing for some sort of equitable and serviceable coordination between them and the new establishments. It will also be necessary to avoid overlapping or conflict with existing communal kitchens started by voluntary groups, and with canteens attached to industrial establishments and any arrangements that may be in force for the feeding of school children. A good deal of friction and waste will be avoided if, in framing their schemes, local committees will take stock of all catering facilities in the area, consult the proprietors or principals, and agree with them upon a plan whereby all the establishments in the neighbourhood can, as the need arises, be linked up into a comprehensive system.

The responsibility for making a survey of the district to be served, planning the system to be adopted, determining the policy to be followed, securing the right premises, and providing the proper equipment, must rest upon the Food Economy Committees in each area, acting in consultation with the central Public Kitchens department. It will also devolve upon the Food Economy Committee to superintend the running of the kitchens, make provision for the purchasing of supplies, and control the finances. Much will depend upon the ability with which these duties are carried out; but, when all is done, still more will depend upon the person placed in charge of the kitchen and the staff under her. It may be hoped that no committee will fall under the delusion that any well-meaning person can run a public kitchen. It is not true, as experience has amply testified. The successful conduct of a public kitchen demands not only those qualities which make for success in any sphere of

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