84 



was prepared to the dining room or vrard where it was to be used. The 

 second column, " food returned," shows how much of the food left 

 after serving was sent back to the kitchen to be used again in "made 

 dishes" or otherwise disposed of. The latter quantities therefore rep- 

 resent an excess of food provided over what was needed to serve the 

 persons included in the study; but they do not show how much of an 

 excess there was in each case, because some food left over from serv- 

 ing was not returned to the kitchen. When the amount was small, it 

 was commonly thrown into the receptacles for the material left upon 

 the plates. 



The data in the table show a wide variation in the quantities of 

 food returned in different studies. In some cases there was none, but 

 in several 10 per cent or more, and in one case over 20 per cent of the 

 total amount of food provided was returned to the kitchen, even after 

 the patients had been generously served. Averaging the data for all 

 the studies, the quantity of food returned was equivalent to about 4 

 per cent of the total food provided. 



It is not to be inferred that in those studies in which no food was 

 returned the amount provided was not in excess of what was necessary 

 to serve the persons fed. The matter of returning food was left 

 entirely to the discretion of the persons in charge of the serving, who 

 appeared to follow no regular sj'stem and most of whom had no 

 uniform custom. Meat and potatoes were quite generall}- returned, 

 but in the case of the other materials, some of the attendants were 

 careful to return whatever was leftover; some returned only the larger 

 quantities; and some returned none, but added all that was left from 

 serving to what was left upon the plates after the meal. In the studies 

 for which there is no record of food returned, therefore, the excess of 

 food provided over food served may have been added to the waste in 

 the dining room. It was not possible to get exact statistics in each 

 study concerning the amounts actualh" left after serving, though it 

 was possible to take account of whatever was actually returned to the 

 kitchen. 



While part of this excess material was utilized again, part of it was 

 wasted after it was returned to the kitchen; that is, though wholesome 

 and fit for use on the table, it was given to the pigs. Just what pro- 

 portion was utilized it was not found practicable to determine by 

 actual weighings, but from observation and inquiry it was learned that 

 meat and potatoes thus returned to the kitchen were generall}" utilized, 

 the former sometimes for serving cold, and both sometimes for hash. 

 Bread returned was also used for pudding, but little or no provision was 

 made for saving most other " left-over " materials and preparing them 

 for serving again in other forms. 



The term " food served" as used in Table 32 and in the correspond- 

 ing table of the Appendix has reference to the portion of the "food 



