Food and freedom

A list of valuable food and cookery bulletins — containing food facts, cooking instructions, and recipes — available for free distribution, or for a nominal sum, may be obtained by addressing the Division of Publications, United States De- partment of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. American Cookery, Boston Cooking School Magazine Company, Boston. Mass. Particularly valuable for its illustrations and ex- cellent up-to-date recipes. Special and emergency recipes, as required, covering foods to be used or spared by the country, may always be obtained from: The United States Food Administration, Washington, D. C. The United States Department of Agriculture, Wash- ington, D. C. The State Agricultural Colleges. See, also, References Hsted at close of Chapter III. VIII SERVING THE MEALS To simplify is often to beautify. To rid modern life of its knickknacks is to make room for those things which are necessary and beautiful. — Mrs. Havelock Ellis. OOD service means attractive, happy service — that is all ! Since the pleasure food can give is a very real part of the benefit it holds, good service is as es- sential as good cooking. The appearance of a dish, its flavor, the way it is placed upon the table, are quite as important, in many ways, as the actual nourishment which that dish may con- tain. In other words, unless one eats with appe- tite and relish, unless things "look good — and taste good," one does not get full value from the food served, nor for the time and money spent on it. At the present time, it is, moreover, par- ticularly important that all food cooked and served should be palatable and attractive, so that it will be eaten and not left on the plate to be thrown away, which is only food waste in another form. 128 FOOD AND FREEDOM Just how good service shall be accomplished in the home depends largely upon ideals and standards, as well as practical conditions, of liv- ing. There are, briefly, two kinds of service — formal and informal. Where the desire for the former exists, and can be satisfied in the right way — with properly recognized professional ser- vice— there is really no service problem, all de- tails of table arrangement and dining-room ser- vice being largely a matter of individual taste or preference and accepted convenience. Since, however, the majority of housekeepers must serve a meal as well as cook it, and eat, and entertain, and clear it all away again — almost in the same breath — this final phase of our food problem remains to be solved in some prac- tical, happy, informal way. How to do it with- out making a slave of some member of the family is again the question, and again it is a question that must be solved step by step — in some orderly fashion. Serving a meal includes: Arranging the dining-table. Carrying food from kitchen to table. Serving at the table. Clearing the table. Dish-washing. These are the steps to be approached and simplified, reduced to their very lowest terms, as SERVING THE MEALS 129 it were. Taken as a whole, this may be accom- plished to a very great degree by :