Council Calls for Further Decentralization Of Kitchens Throughout House System

Shorter meal hours, better cooking of vegetables, and most important of all, greater decentralization of cooking units, were recommended by the Student Council last night in an effort to offer a solution to the current food question confronting the University.

The main problem before the Council was divided into two parts: how could the quality of the food be improved without increasing board expenses, and how could board expenses be reduced without lowering the quality of the food?

Regarding a solution to the first question, it was first proposed to institute shorter meal hours, and thus "eliminate the present necessity for keeping food in the steam kitchens for an inordinate length of time after it has been cooked."

It was further proposed that vegetables be cooked with greater care, since at present this is the most frequent source of complaint from students, according to the Council.

Decentralization Vital

In the estimation of a committee created to investigate the situation, by far the most important suggestion submitted was one urging greater decentralization of cooking units in the kitchens throughout Eliot, Kirkland, Leverett, Lowell, and Winthrop Houses.

Under the present system of preparing food, cooking facilities are for the most part centralized, and the food is carried in electrically heated carts to the steam kitchens in each of the Houses, Adams and Dunster excepted.

Long Trips Eliminated

Further decentralization of cooking units, the committee claimed, would eliminate the long trips that cooked food must take from the ovens to the dining halls, and the food would stand less chance of growing cold than with the present process of transfer which is unnecessarily long.

Concerning the question of how to reduce board expenses without lowering the quality of the food, the Council decided that it depends almost entirely on the degree of efficiency in the kitchens but suggested "that the University consider most carefully the problem of increasing the efficiency in the cooking units so as to eliminate all possible waste."

Failing this, the committee suggested further consideration of several alternatives to reduce the cost of meals, in which were included plans that self-service be introduced and that a standard, compulsory rate for everyone eating in the House dining halls be adopted.