Cafeteria Food

[kuan]

Yes! REAL ingredients. I think that sums it up.

Kuan

[kuan]

Good thing that last post was pointless. You guys pushed it to second page oblivion

Kuan

[Suzanne]

Kuan, as you could see from my early response, it's not at all pointless! The thing that can be so awful about cafeteria stuff is that it ISN'T "real" -- that is, it's been processed, and cooked, and frozen, and reheated etc. so much, it's not recognizable as FOOD anymore. The only time I worked in a cafeteria (actually worked out of it, not anything to do with the feeding), they made stuff in small batches and tried to keep it fresh looking. Even so, because so much of it was frozen Sysco to begin with, it was not all that appetizing. I cannot imagine any reason why someone would use a lot of that stuff, when it only takes a little more staff time and training to use fresh food.

[shroomgirl]

BBQ with slaw and gooooood rolls
bowls of Thai or Veitnamese noodles...worth a repeat.
Various salads, grains with veg, again hummos , baba ganoush, tapenade
Flat bread pizzas
Yogurt bar.....granola, fruits, dried fruits
Breads make or break a meal....good breads
Cajun food can be inexspensive...jambayla, Gumbo, etouffee, creole
I'm making egg roulade with wild shroom duxelle for a budget meal tomorrow....
Brunchy stuff is ok too for lunch....Fritata, Quiche, omelets

[kuan]

My wife works in a building which is very, I mean VERY diverse. There are a lot of vegetarians there who can't stomach the "vegetarian" food at the cafeteria. Most days it's steamed frozen veggies and Uncle Ben's for their "veggie lunch special" or steamed frozen veggie "wrap." It's either that or a salad, and even the stupid dressings are all right out of a can.

I'm digressing here a bit, but this brings to mind how bad some cafeterias can be. Some vegetarians are very sensitive to animal products. They can smell animal protein in their food if it was cooked on the same grill as a hamburger. Anyway, one time these guys were in a rush and decided to strain the bacon out of the tomato soup and call it vegetarian. Man! Was that a bad move. They received so many complaints that the company decided to not renew the contract for the next year.

Back on track a bit; I was just kidding about my post being pointless. It's beyond me why people serve fried chicken foam patty sandwiches instead of a good grilled chicken breast, or why they buy those tvp burgers instead of just plain old good ground beef.

Kuan

[Isa]

Vol au vent. Every Wenesday at school. It was the busiest day.

[Jim]

Wow! What a response!! Thanks for the input...! Our 'audience' is a telephone call-center feeding about 650 people, breakfast & lunch. And, yes, we have a subsidy (our cost-overruns are made up by the client- within reason). Small kitchen and limited equipment is a concern. Other than that, we are really looking to shine in this new operation.
The major aspect of all the posts that seems to run common, is the 'real' food requirement. I think we often get lost in cutting corners (i.e. Sysco everything) to save time/money and we loose focus on the food. I am completing the menus this weekend, so I will be sure to post the finished product, reflecting the input from all of you.
Thanks for your input. It is a real treasure to have a group of people willing to share their thougths so freely. Thanks, gang!
-Jim

P.S. One of the pieces of equipment we are installing is an impinger (conveyor) belt oven. Although I am not fond of the pizza that actually comes from these fellows, there are other items that emerge successfully. Any thoughts on impinger oven recipes/items?