The difference between soup or sauce is usually the difference between lunch and supper. (or dinner if you want)

The round pot containers that we usually serve soup in for lunch are occasionally used for sauce at the evening supper/dinner.  There is hardly ever a time I will use the pots to serve a soup at supper/dinner…so rest assured it is a sauce of some sort.

A refresher - Please do not put pressure on our dining room staff to ‘produce’ a hot meal for you during lunch time.  Lunch time usually has hot foods (leftovers or re-creations) but the default when hot foods disappear during lunch is still the sandwich options and cold salads & fruits (and soup if it is still available).

If you feel you have a valid complaint send it to me thru the comment option/venue, if you would like a personal reply be sure to include your email.  Please respect our dining room staff & galley workers by directing your concerns to Peter or myself.

Once again, thanks to all the wonderful comments  to food service and continue to encourage our cooking groups and dining room staff!  It makes for a more enjoyable meal for all!

It makes…

The Difference!

According to information sent in by our on the Internet Search Reporter (codename: Mama) under the Associated Paparazzi Service the following is indeed a true and factual report (unless otherwise updated by the USDA):

“The Food Insects newsletter reports that 80% of the world’s population eats insects intentionally, but almost 100% of the world’s population actually eats insects , because they are ground up in such things as peanut butter, jam, canned spaghetti sauce, applesauce, frozen chopped broccoli, etc, etc. We eat about a pound of insects per person in America.

A 100gram serving of weevils provides 562 calories, 6.7 grams protein, 13.1mg. iron, 3.02mg thiamine, 2.24 mg riboflavin and a tiny bit of niacin.

I am not making this up.   People study such things, because, if people would tolerate more insects, then less pesticide could be used, and experts say that it is better to eat more insects and less pesticide residue.

It’s the thought of it that might make us sick, not the insect, itself!”

*exceptions may be made to a certified allergy to the specific bug contained in the food, otherwise your claim to allergy is purely a farce.

Yes, its true…there are still some weevils in pasta. I never promised they would be weevil free, actually here is my orginal quote:

“I have used a few techniques that have cut down the amount of weevils that appear in my pasta (that is what its most prevalent in right now, except maybe besides the cereal but I don’t deal with that) but I must warn you, when we get on outreach and its a full-on rush to get the food out, this may fall by the wayside because it can get time intensive.

So when it comes down to not getting fed, or getting fed with weevils…the lesser of the two will be chosen. Bon Appetit!”

Remember that? It was in the post titled The lesser of two weevils…

Please do not point out to the dining room and galley staff that there are weevils in the pasta, we know there are and we are trying what we can to get them out without wasting food AND we are trying to be good stewards with our supply. Some things take time to remedy.

And for any Vegetarians out there, Michal our very own ‘in-house’ vegetarian has certified Weevils as being ‘Vegetarian Friendly’ and a small part of your daily protein intake.

Vegetarians worldwide, Bon Appetit!

I have two statements based on the comments entered recently:

I am trying to monitor the ’spice’ = heat that is being applied to the food,  I still want it to be ’spicey’ as in herbs and spices, but not as ’spicey’ = hot!  Yes I also want to control or decrease the heat in some of our food items.  We are trying to be more conscience of this.

Also, we are talking about and discussing the need NOT to feel like everything needs to be cooked to ‘death’ so to speak…one of the things that really hurt us in this area is cooking foods that will sit on the line or warmer for an hour and a half!  But we require these mealtime hours in order to cover everyone that needs to eat and the dining room space for all who are aboard.  So in essence, we cook the food, it goes down stairs and continues to cook in the warmer and on the line…the faster we can move people thru the line at dinner the better chance of having a fresher and faster rotation of food that has not cooked as long.

I am also working with the idea of cooking in two waves but I am not sure right now how well or feasible that is with our cooking equipment and ‘human’ resources…working in the galley can easily become an all consuming job and my guys(and gals) need their breaks and dinners too…so there has to be a balance in this, and rest assured we are looking at and working on one!

In an earlier blog post I stated that “I don’t usually have foods out at the end of a meal that were different at the beginning of the meal” if I could help it, and if it wasn’t a ‘leftovers’ meal.

BUT what I failed to mention is I was ONLY pertaining to dinner/supper NOT lunch.  Lunch is a great way to use up leftovers, recreate new dishes from cooked foods we already have, or even use multiple items of small quantity to ‘push thru’ so to speak. So in that aspect yes, you will get different foods from time to time at the beginning and ending of lunch.

Thats the way it is…but what food is actually considered ‘the best’ is purely speculation, now isn’t it?  I have complaints both ways…I got something so/so or that I hate at the start of dinner only to have something better come out at the end, and vise versa.  But hopefully we are moving along for others to eat and not eating in the dining room during the whole time…prefering others!

Crew Galley is still open to all!

Many families come to the line and pick out what they want for dinner and then take it back to the Crew Galley and recreate something they like, or use it in another dish…thats initiative!

Whether you love it, or dread it…back by popular demand is the African style food every other Monday starting this Monday the 11th!

(On a health note, as much as possible I will try to keep the oil saturation low)

No sticky rice…because our rice is parboiled when we receive it…that means: (following definition edited from Wikipedia)

Parboiled rice is rice that has been boiled in the husk. Parboiling makes rice easier to process by hand, improves its nutritional profile, and changes its texture.

Parboiling rice drives nutrients, especially thiamine, from the bran into the grain, so that parboiled white rice is nutritionally similar to brown rice.

The starches in parboiled rice become gelatinized, making it harder and glassier than other rice. Parboiled rice takes less time to cook, and the cooked rice is firmer and less sticky. In North America, parboiled rice is generally partially or fully precooked by the processor.

So that is the main reason we do not have ’sticky’ rice. According to Russ at the IOC this was a major donation given to us…so I think this rice will be around for awhile before we will explore other options once we free up space from this present rice quantity. Which by the way is a lot.

I received a comment about food at the beginning of meals not being the same as food at the end. I personally can’t say I experienced that much since I have been here, or have I done this myself. Maybe a couple of times if necessary OR if it is a day to get rid of all the leftovers…its just one of those things that needs to be done and sometimes theres just no way around it.

In addition to that the comment also suggested the food that came after was more ‘kid friendly’ or kid oriented. I don’t know how to address that comment. I cook for people, mostly I think of all of them as adults. If by chance you are referring to fish sticks or something else I do not know about yet then I am afraid you will be disappointed in me because I will use fish sticks as the main meal from time to time…ketchup, tartar sauce, mmmm delicious.

Maybe that was in the past? Not sure.

Thanks for all the great comments and suggestions! Please keep encouraging the crew!