The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-28
GTY'S Diet EXPERT A WOMAN
Mss CORBETT HAS f0,5O0 PER-
SONS TO FEED EACH DAY.

Trained In Domestic science. she Has
Made a Place for Herself In the de.
partment OF Charities Food Costs
n Little Moro, but There's No waste.
Young woman, scarcely ten years out
cF college. sits at a desk every morning on
,lc end Of the pier Of the Charities Depart
mont at the foot Of East ~Twenty-sixth
street porting over reports and schedules.
j. the afternoon she 10 st one Of the city's
Charitable institutions inspecting food sup
MICS or giving lectures to trained nurses
al Rlackwell's Island. She lives on the
Island.
SIZE j, what might be called the Official
ca,cr,r. TO New Nork's charitable ~lnstitu-
tom and it takos a college education to do
her work properly. She Ia Miss Florence
i. Corbctt and her title is departmental
diuiIan of the Charities Department. She
is ore or tho most important and useful
" New Works municipal servants and she
, GETS o'ly 81 100 a year.
~. yprrctt not only has the RESPONSE
blly IT Inspecting but Of the cooking and
s,r,ii. pr food for all the inmates and
rorlov'os &C ;he charity ins~titutions-the
c4ty~ ,hlrity hospitals, the City Home,
WI ' .'N'N ~ " NhllNh Nto ttIItEllOute, LUf
c', Fi.n. the institutions on Randall's
l~iw g. ~" Kings county institutions, the
f. 90 colony down at Staten Island and
ono smaller places. II the food is bad
al, -ro!lame. II il is not served or cooked
r.ur'y she is TO blame. If there In not a
al ni.'' variety and II il Ia not suited to
rhr ,""'- Of the sick, the iniirm, the aged
o. 70" aard workers the blame for it must
10, 10, q" her.
N'r"ovcr, if the city's supplies of food
49, '.rsr :ilcrs are not up to the standard
80. r".p"niInlIty Is hers. She makes
o.. acquisitions for the supplies. She
u',-t make changes in the schedules ac-
orr'ng TO the seasons. She must know
thu r>dct amount Of c~alorics in this and
t.N' wcuU. She must so arrange these
ur a- 60 get the proper amount q
carbohydrates, fats and oils, protein and
D. ro'al aaltS for tho peculiar kind of per-
sou~ ln each institution to which she caters
a. c.oh and every time of the year. She
wl-' take cogni1ance Of the prevailing
r'l'., Of materials.
49, uu" person in a hundred in New
lui, over heard That the Charity Depart
'r"'i had y dlctitian. Really the city has
- oril, Cor each of the charity institu-
iI'ff l''~ Wv VI US OWL anu several nave
inlIi iict,tiIns, all Of whom are respon-
$40" 10 the chief ono. The dietitian has
r,argr Of receiving food ia the raw state,
issuing il in the cooked and also raw state,
mu-' avoid waste and superintend all the
employees concerned in caring for the
food. The cooks, walters, porters, all
rrc under the orders of this young woman.
ami she reports TO the head Of the depart
mont, commissioner Hebberd.
Miss Corbett feeds not less than 10, 500
persons a day. All Of them get three
meals a day and some of them four or five.
Standard bills of fare for a week or a month
will do for some, but a greater number
have to have special diet. Physicians
and nurses get a different menu from the
waters and other helpers. The sick have
10 be treated largely as individual cases,
and to get the best results at the lowest
eN"ense presents a problem that few persons
but an expert accountant would care to
tackle.
Ia the feeding of this army Of Persons
there are used for Manhattan and The
Bronx each year 1.24O 900 pounds Of beef.
5000 pounds of mutton, 90 1000 pounds
Of lamb, 30,OO pounds Of veal and I2.OOO
pounds OF pork. In poultry these are the
figures: Chickens. loo. OOO pounds; turkeys,
?o,"Do; ducks. 1000, aud other varieties in
smaller proportions. II takes 1000, 900
quarts Of milk to supply these PEOPLE for
one year. More than 5000 quarts Of cream
an used. The fish supply mounts to
?5 ,0OO pounds. About 10000 oysters and
10000 CLAIMS are used. The butter supply
runs up to is0. 900 pounds. More thar
1870 dozens Of eggs are used. Nearly
10000 pounds Of coffee, 1900 pounds of
tea and 50O,OOO pounds Of sugar are re-
pnired. OF course there are vas, uuanti-
lies Of fresh and dried vegetables pur-
chased, thousands Of cases of canned and
hotile led goods. To plan for the receiving
and disposing. mostly in cooked form,
a. all these things is a job of catering the
The Of which does not exist in this country.
The city pays fully s75O. 900 a year for these
supplies.
pietetics is a profession which In COM
idratively new. Miss Corbett il a graduate
Il the State Agricultural College at Man
haitian. Kansas. That college has n course
M domestic science for young women.
In the late Dos Miss Corbett ca me Fast
20 study at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.
rom there she got a place TO practise
Dor profession at q hospital in Elizabeth,
y J. She wanted a larger opportunity
End wrote to the Kings County HOSPITAL
authorities about IL. They aid she was
just the one they wanted and she went
over there. while John W. Kellar was Com
missioner of Cha rites,
Commissioner Homer Folks. who sue
coded Mr.. Kellar. found Miss Corbett
there, was impressed with her work and
decided to mako her the head Of a dietetios
bureau in his department. That was the
way she got into the work. When Commits
s'oner Hebberd came in he was quick to see
tho advantage Ut scientific management OF
TODD supplies for the sick and the poor and
ho has magnified Miss Corbett's work until |
oh" now bears a load OF responsibility such
~ tow women in the country have.
Miss Corbett il slender. comedy, shy OF
taking about herself. with a tremendous
energy for work and doesn't appear to be !
30 wears old. She can talk iuently about /
III" potential energy and muscular
lower Of any kind Of food you mention.
She will tell you finland about 'calorics,'
which il the unit in which food energy Is
expressed. A caloric is the amount OF heat
required 10 raise one pound of water four
degrees in temperature OF the equivalent OF
energy that will raise one ton 53-i00 OF
4 foot. She knows all about protein. fat,