The morning call., 1894-12-29
PEOPLES KITCHENS.
A Good Meal Is Served in Vienna for
OnIv Few Cents

quarter OF a century ago 1t was impossible
to get dinner in Vienna, even in restaurants
of the lowest type, for less than A or 10 cents,
and as the tenements inhabited by the poor OF
that city have NO cooking arrangements, the
workers were obliged TO subslst ON TWO or three
full meals week and live the rest of the time
on wursr. DIR. Kuhn, UPON investigation, be-
came satisfied that good food could be fur
nished at much less than restaurant prices and
without loss, and tried o induce thu city TO I'M
drrtake this work; bu;, failing in this he Sc
cured thu cooper alton OF lew Others, and
these undertook lt themselves.
They formed i'll 1872 the Peoples Kitchen
Association, and as result of their work there
are now thirteen restaurants In Vienna which
feeu 10000 people day-0n simple food, to be
sure, hut prepared by cooks that rank with the
chefs of the foremost clubs-at an average
price OF cents meal; A very large percent.
age OF The meals served Everything being sold
la carte) consists of vegeta bles and bread,
and cost the patron but a fraction over cents.
The first guests to arrive are always the
school children; Tor. as they are received on
special terms, and have menu of their own,
they are admitted only from IL until IL :45.
They come trooplng in with their tickets in
their hands In the most orderly fashion. Some
are tnlnly clad, poor little things, who look as
If their lines were cast in very poverty. stricken
places; while others are evidently the children
OF Well-tO-do artisans and shopkeepers. But
differences OF rank are nothing i'll peoples
kitchen; all there are on terms Of equality, for
brass tickets tell no tales.
children OF the poor are just as bright as those
weather. parents buy for their own sons and
daughters. The little ones themselves do not
know who pays for their dinners. During the
winter months some thousands OF child en-
often dine in the Kitchens. They are given
every day large white roll and plate OF pes
soup, mild pudding, cabbage or sauerkraut
The portions are as large as an ordinary
child can eat, ard the charge for dinner is 3
kreutZers. No sooner are the children gone
than the general public begin TO arrive. and
from ID O'Clock until lealIV = Lle Kitchen Is
crowded.
The menu for the day is written on a huge
slate, which hangs near the door. The menu
is a curiosity. Ii IL never twice the same in
one week. and The variety of dishes it includes
in the course OF the year Is simply marvellous,
considering the prices charged for dinners.
The list the woman superintendent and the
matron have 10 choose from, when deciding
what shall be given on any special day. COM
prises fifteen Kinds Of soups, eighteen geta-
bles. meat OF one sort or another, dressed in
twenty-one different fashions twenty nine
sweets, six Salads to say nothing OF such trlfles
as entrees.
Ii is a somewhat motley company, 1t must be
confessed. that meets t0guth"r day by day. All
sorts and conditions, In truth, are there-siu-
dents Whose science is deeper that their purses
eX-crlminaIs with tickets given them at the
prison door, perhaps. and gentlemen who have
backed she wrong horses. or women, of
course. there is never a lack-acresses whose
beauty Is faded, unsuccessful artists and the
widows OF professional men.
People who have wasted thousands in their
day sit side by side with hose whose lives have
been one fierce, hopeless struggle to make poth
ENDS meet. 1t Is the common rendezvous, in
fact, of failures OF every sort and kind Still
these are only the exotics, as 1t we're; the great
mass OF those who frequent the kitchen belong
10 wage.earning classes, and are Woodworking
men ana women.
Carpenters, masons, postmen, seamstresses
f0wer.seers, shop girls, all dine together; and
scattered about among them are shoeblacks
crossing sweepers. and even beggars. The
beggars. however, who go, must for The time at
least, cast aside their role; for nothing that
smacks of alms-Whether the giving or recely-
ing-is tolerated.
The kitchen itself Is not charity, it must be
remembered, but business concern-a fact
Its managers are always careful to impress on
their guests. Every dinner is paid for, and
whether by him who eats it, or by some one
else. no affair OF theirs Thus thosewho go there
are subject to no humlaIiOn: no call is made
on them for gratitude or thanks; they are there
Oh precisely the same terms as in any other
restaurant.-Leiter from Vienna