TYPICAL KITCHENS IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY: PART 6

The cruise ship we are visiting makes its way from one warm-weather port to another on cruises of three to seven days. It carries 1000 passengers. Food — really good food — is part of its tourist package and a major feature of its entertainment and shipboard activities. Deck luncheons, midnight buffets, morning snacks, afternoon snacks, bouillon, teas, parading and singing waiters, and of course breakfast, lunch, and a six course dinner all happen every day. Of its crew of 500, a full 200 are foodservice personnel — 80 in production, 80 in service, and 40 in sanitation.

The kitchen is busy from morning till morning: cleanup after the 1 A.M. buffet is finished only a few hours before breakfast prep begins. At noon and at dinnertime the kitchen is a wall-to-wall buzz of activity as 1000 people are served in two sittings with a choice of six or seven entrees prepared to order. It is like serving two banquets back to back twice a day, but with the guests selecting the food.

A tour through the kitchen reveals the same banks of ovens, banks of ranges, steam tables, and full array of equipment found in any other kitchen. Since all baking is done aboard ship (no ready-made bread or pastries), there is a full complement of baking ovens. A separate kitchen prepares three meals a day for the crew and serves as a training kitchen.

Some unusual features of this type of food service may not be apparent to the casual eye: they have to do with the high priority given to sanitation. Since all food for passengers and crew originates in the same production and storage areas, a single instance of food-borne disease could affect everyone aboard. Consequently standards are high and are continuously enforced. To reduce the spread of bacteria from one food to another, production stations are more strictly separated than those in land-based operations, and separation of foods in storage is stricter. There are more hand sinks — one within 20 feet of every kitchen worker. Everything is scrubbed and sanitized from top to bottom after every meal — walls, floors, refrigerators, equipment; even the racks in the ovens. Leftovers are for-bidden.

A sanitation officer ranks high in this kitchen. Through a large staff committed solely to sanitation, this manager's control and influence pervade the production and storage areas. The person in this job also has Charge of chlorinating the drinking water, since there is no reliable source.

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