The Death of Fish Pizzaiola AND OTHER MEALTIME TALES

REMEMBER ONE THING the next time you scoop up a tray and head for the food: each hamburger you eat, every slice of pizza and every cup of soup is carefully monitored by the Dining Services' central computer.

That's not a threat, however, Harvard's Dining Services depends on this computer to answer countless crucial questions--how many chickwiches are usually eaten in Eliot House? How about in the Harvard Union? How much eggplant do we need for the next time we serve Eggplant Parmesan? And how many vegetables do we need for Friday's Turkey Rice Soup?

FoodPro, Harvard's food management system, keeps track of all of this. If Currier ran out of General Wong's Chicken the last time they served it, you can bet that won't happen the next time it comes up on the menu.

FoodPro also tells the chefs which dishes we gobble up quickly--and, therefore, which ones to keep on the menu--and which ones just aren't cutting it.

Michael P. Berry, the Director of Dining Services, recalled the fate of one rather unpopular entree.

"We created this dish called "Fish Pizzaiola," said Berry, "and I didn't know what in the world it was, but we created it. We had it out there and no one was eating it." Naturally, it was soon dropped.

With all this information--and much more--handled by FoodPro, it was a bit of a problem when the company that owned it announced their impending bankruptcy last December. Harvard Dining Services, along with about 25 other universities which also depended on the program, was in big trouble.

So, if you were running the wealthiest school in the nation and you desperately needed a company to stay in business, what would you do? Of course. You'd just buy it. Which is exactly what Michael Berry and the University did.

"We went to our legal counsel," said Berry, "and they said that if this is what it takes, go ahead and buy it. So last January, while you guys were taking exams, I was flying all over the country negotiating to buy this company on behalf of all the other schools. None of the other ones could do it because they didn't have the necessary capital. I felt a bit like Ivan Boeksy or some other wheeler-dealer."

"We negotiated a very good price," Berry continued. "Since then we have recouped every single penny and we are just about ready to pass it off and privatize it again."

That kind of corporate buy-out is possible for a rich school like Harvard...well, it's possible just as long as we don't make the Lobster bake-off a daily event.

During that meal--the most expensive one of the year--the Houses churned out nearly 6,500 lobsters.

"For that day, we emptied every lobster in town," said Campus Executive Chef D. Michael Miller.

In fact, Harvard's gourmet meal didn't go unnoticed by the 'outside world.'

"We actually shot the lobster market prices up locally," said Berry. "And we got a call from the Department of Fisheries or something, and they wanted to know what the hell was going on over here. They were afraid that we were artificially trying to raise the price of the market...You see, we really can make an impact."