Arizona weekly citizen., 1894-12-08
CHEAP FOOD IN NORWAY. 2
A Cafe Where a Good Meal Is Served for
 Nine Gents.

Nine Cents.
 There is a novel institution in Chris tiania in the way of a monster cheap restaurant. 1t is designated by the name of Dampkjokke, which means in English steam kitchen. It was estab- lished in 1858, and is run by well-diS- posed persons, not as charitable instl- tuition, but is made self-supporting. The aim, says the Chicago Post, is to furnish the most complete, well-cooked meal for the smallest possible sum, and. as this idea was brought forward in Chicago last winter, and may be this, I will give as accurate description of the place as possible. It solves prob lem. By an experience of thlrty-slX years the managers have reduced the feeding of large number of people to a science, for two thousand men, women and children secure a good, honest. square meal at the DampkJokke daily at the cost of about twenty-seven ore per capita. To get at the small amount of currency contained in an ore we divide kroner, or crown, by one hundred A kroner is equal to twenty-seven and half cents of our money; therefore twenty-seven ore is not quite nine cents. The food, which usually consists of soup and fish and hash and sausage, with bread and vegetables, is we'll cooked ard clean, and a good, large portion IS served to each guest. The building IS a large two-story structure, like pub lie hall.
 The guests, after perusing the bill of fare, which is exhibited at the en- trance, buy checks at the window. As they pass up they enter either the first floor or the second floor hall, as they prefer. They then make for a convenient window or passage which leads to the pantry. From this are handed plates, knives, spoons and forks, together with portions of soup and food. Guests take their seats at long table. On this table are salt, pepper. cruet stands, bread and de canters filled with fresh drinking wa ter, and the guests are allowed all the time necessary to enjoy their meals
 There are 10 walters; in fact. the ex- pense of running the institution IS cut down to the smallest possible mini mum. Consequently every penny saved goes into the quality of the meals About five hundred can sit down in both halls at once. It, therefore, takes nearly two hours to feed the usual at tendance of two thousand.
 At these odd dinners are curious combinations of people; old men, ragged, gray and footsore; hard work ing laborers and men too sick to work; wrinkled women, down in the world, fighting to live; shop girls with clean, bright faces, but who can ill afford ten cents from their pitiful wages; women who have lost all by | dissipation and drink, and boys who have no homes; fierce anarchists, driven out of other countries, and pitt able stowaways who have just arrived from foreign ports. Two thousand, made homeless and hungry by some cause known only to themselves, and all looking with hungry eyes toward one good square meal per day, thank | ing God for the Danpkjoklle.
 The great beauty of this institution | lies in the fact that it is not charity. | There exists in the breasts of those | who sit down to this collation. the same independence as the king enjoys in his palace. and they smack their lips with the satisfaction that they have paid | full fare for what they have received. I