The sun., 1916-11-26
100000 FED 8 DAYS
WEEK BY COLOGNE
CITY Kitchen Supplies Half the
Population at About Eight
Cents q Meal.
EVEN BREAK ON VENTURE
Not an Ounce Of Provisions
~Wasted-Dinner a. Good
as Hotel Fare.

Correspondence o. Associated Press.
COLOGNE. Nov. 1.-THE municipality
q Cologne is to-day the biggest restau-
n,eur In the world. 1t feeds six days
Q week nearly half Of its population of
about 700. 900 pesons at the astonishing
Price Of two marks $50 cents) a week
\ for six square meals. 1t supplies the
food from "A Kitchen" that has cost
= millions to construct. and delivers Il by
: means OF hundreds Of teams and auto
mobiles in utensils that alone represent
an investment of thousands.
To do this Il has to employ all in all
several thousand people. whereby It also
does good because 1t thus gives employ.
ment to people who need It. It invests
weekly and monthly thousands Of
marks and manage to break about ever
% the investment.
There Is a system OF housing potatoes
which plays a very important part In
feeding 800. 000-odd persons. There IL a
Crying or evaporation plant. The sup
ply Of vegetables and fruit Ii at all
times irregular. not only because Of the
seasons but also because Of Transports.
ton and other questions. Where for
merry Cologne ate what came and cared
\ comparatively little about the morrow.
! q now realizes that no single ounce OF
fsod may be wasted. and IL prevents
such waste by drying and preserving for
future use each extra pound OF apples
and plums. OF lettuce and cabbage, that
arrives and Is not eaten at once.
saving In the Kitchen.
Perhaps most novel Of all the side
= features Is that part Of tire city kitchen
where wastage IL saved. 1t reminds one
Of the Chicago packer who boosted that
\ he knew how to make use of every part
OF the pig but the squeal. Not only
from the ordinary wastage from food
prepared at the city kitchen but from
garbage carefully collected all over the
city there Is now extracted a certain
percentage Of material that In dry form
can be used for human consumption
again.
In addition there Is a large percentage
hat goes for feeding swine, and lastly
there Is extracted a substance used with
excellent results for horse bread" n
food that looks not unlike dark colored
human bread and that Is aid TO TO- IN
an excellent complement to the present
seanty supply Of oats.
Cologne's city kitchen came Into be-
Ing not long after the war started. II
was especially necessary for a number
Of reasons. Cologne Is the biggest city
anywhere near the front. and as such
receives daily and weekly warns Of
men who either are IN their way to
the fighting or are returning from II.
The normal population is constantly
swollen by ar artificial population that
must be taken into account.
Al first the kitchen-which began by
sending out wagon loads Of food for dis
Gibut.on on the streets-was hardly a
success. The people were inclined to
look askance at the novelty. Gradually.
however. they took to 1t, once they found
that the food was good, nutritious and
tasty. Immediately another problem
arose. that Of distributing the food in
such a way that long lines of people
would not gather In the narrow streets
Vt the city and clog transportation.
Subscribe by the Week.
: As the number Of people taking ad-
l vantage of the wholesome monday meal
I Increased the authorities hit upon the
scheme of subscriptions, and that plan Is
In force to-day. The citizen who wishes
10 patronige the ~estaurant of his city
now subscribes by the week, and at a
stated hour each day one of the munich
pal wagons appears bearing the food In
lightly sealed heat retaining cans as
warm as it was when 1t left the kitchen
perhaps m hour before.
The kitchen. originally a manufacture
ing plant. has been so thoroughly re-
built and rearranged that its former
occupants would no longer recognize II.
The largest part of II Is built above
and around a row Of huge kettles. each
capable OF cooking from seven to eigh,
thousand quarts at once. no that from
one side potatoes properly prepared
can pour into the kettles, vegetables
} from another side. meat from another
and water from a fourth. =
Each days meal Sunday Is excepted)
consists in the main Of a thick soup OF
stew of which the component parts are
On almost INFINITE variety OF vegetables
potatoes, and meat. The preparation Il
Accomplished with a regard for cleanli'
ness that could hardly be excelled ir
the kitchen OF any fine hotel or private
home.
Potatoes. brought In from the rail-
road or from the ~storehouses or tht
city. are dumped into a trough through
which water flows and borne aione
and up to n height OF some eight Zee
Ver a Nindlng screw. THIS pToceso 10
moves most OF the surface dirt. From
the height they fall into an ingenious
machine that peeis them with grea'
exactltude. and from this they pas'
through another water filled trough Il
where women stand with knives ant
cut out the eyes.
Go Into Boiling water.
\fter the hand work In finished tn,
potatoes once more go into a trouHi
mat fairly boils with water constantly
y motion. and pass underground. Will
Bong washed once more. to q secon'
BIDDER up which they climb to q siicer
4 encc they go to the kettles.
In another portion OF the building
somewhat similar process goes on wit
ue vegetables. They too are washed
not once but many times. and then ar
cur up. washed again. passed from on
machine to another. until ut last the
are ready for the kettles, Meat tina
comes In on huge trucks shares tn
same fate. passes through a choppe
that cuts It into cubes. and thence on
ward through a washing machine to tn
httles.
The principal wastage from potatoe
Q! course In the part that clinss to tn
Feelings and TO extracted eyes. To saw
this a special machine has been invente
ana the astonishing an,oun OF potat
substance thus saved II dried n late