Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1916-12-14

SO0 "
unlike dark colored una bread and
that is said to form an excellent COM
plement to the present scanty supply
Of oats.
Feeds Great Throna.
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 sWarms OIL
men who either are on their way TO
the fighting, or are returnlng from II.
The normal population is constantly
swollen by an artificial populatlon Lhat
must be taken into account.
At first the kitchen-Which began
by sending out wagon loads OF food
for distribution on the streets--Was
hardly a success. The people We're In
clined TO look askance at the noVelty.
Gradually, however, they took to it.
once they found that the food was
good, nutritious and tasty. Immediate
ly another problem arose, tina OF dis
tributing the food in such a way that
long lines of people would not gather
in the narrow streets OF the city and
clog transportation.
As the number OF people taking adj
vantage of the wholesome MONDAY
meal Increased gradually by leaps and
bounds the authorities hit upon the
scheme of subscriptions, and that plan
is in force today. The citizen who
wishes to patronize the restaurant OF
his city now subscribes by h week,
and at a stated hour each day OF
the municipal wagons appears, bearing
the food in tightly sealed, heat retain
ing cans, as warm as 1t was when 1t
left the kitchen perhaps an hour before.
The kitchen, originally a manufac-
turing plant, has been SO thoroughly
rebuilt and rearranged that it's for
mer occupants would no longer recog-
nize it. The largest part Of it is built
above and around a row of huge ket-
ties, each capable of cooking from
1000 to 5000 quarts at once, SO that
from one side potatoes, properly pre-
pared, can pour into the kettles, vege-
tables from another side. meat from
another, and water from q fourth.
How Food Is Prepared.
Each days meal (Sunday is ex-
cepted) consists in the main of a thick
soup or stew OF which the component
parts are an almost infinite variety Of
vegetables, potatoes and meat. The
preparation is accomplished with a re-
gard for cleanliness hat could hardly
be excelled in the kitchen of any fine
hotel or private home.
Potatoes, brought in from the rail-.
DAD or from the store houses OF the
city, are dumped into a trough through
which water flows, and borne along and
up 10 d IlelsAe VI some elsnI IeeL over
a winding screw. This process removes
most Of the surface dirt. From the
height they fell into an ingenious ma
chine that peels them with great
exactitude, and from this they pass
through another water filled trough
to where women stand with knives and
cut out the eyes.
After the hand work is finished the
potatoes once more go into a trough
that fairly boils with water constantly
in motion, and pass underground,
while being washed once more to a
second ladder up which they climb to
a slicer. Thence they go to the kettles.
In another portion Of the building a
somewhat similar process goes on with
the vegetables. They too are washed,
not once but many times. and then are
cut up, washed again, passed from one
machine to. another until at last they
are ready for the kettles. Meat that
comes In on huge trucks shares the
same fate, passes through q chopper
that cuts 1t into cubes, and thence on
ward through a washing machine to
the kettles.
The principal wastage from potatoes,
Of course, is the part that clings to
the Feelings and to extracted eyes. To
save this a special machine has been
invented and he astonishing amount
OF potato substance thus saved is dried
and later untitled for food in some
Isway or other.
The kitchen refuse that comes into
the plant in huge Wagon loads goes
through a variety Of drying processes,
and through machine equipped with
magnets that automatically extract all
foreign Substances OF metal. Their
number and variety is astonishing, and
they range from hairpins to tin cans,
and include bottle tops. coins, wire and
100 other things.
Even Use Refuse.
The kitchen refuse thus ..put through
the mill not only yields a brownish
flaky substance, but, has an odor 0
dissimflar to glue, but many chemicals
as well which are vital to the food OF
horses and cattle.
The meh in charge OF the scientific
end Of the establishment have discov-
cred the gree. value Of marsh grasses,
even Of weeds, because OF the high per-
centage Of protein that many OF them
contain. So now, In addition to human
food, and refuse,zand animal food, Cos
logne fs busily collecting all the avail.
able rank grasses witch cattle never