Books, Arts & Manners: Food for Thought

I am sorry to report that the food industry is being very mysterious about how it is adapting itself to the inexorable march of technical progress. But I gather that many more ready-to-heat frozen entrées are being served in restaurants throughout the nation than the patrons would like to think, particularly when it comes to restaurants specializing in the fancier cuisines. All sorts of dishes are now produced in boil-in bags. Establishments that use haute-cuisine boil-in-bag food are, of course, especially secretive. I am told that the Brussels Hilton has used the system for two years, and that the Vista in New York is conducting experiments in its Food Research Center.

The advantages of boil-in-bag food? Less waste in cooking, greater portion control (think of all the uneaten food sent back in any restaurant), lower kitchen overhead, and the possibility of obtaining dishes prepared by famous non-resident chefs. The food tastes as if fresh-cooked, they say, if it is carefully reheated; and this claim has been borne out in practice, when people served a fancy boil-in-bag meal were unable to tell that it had not been freshly cooked for them.

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Nika Hazelton

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I am sorry to report that the food industry is being very mysterious about how it is adapting itself to the inexorable march of technical progress. But I gather that many more ready-to-heat frozen entrées are being served in restaurants throughout the nation than the patrons would like to think, particularly when it comes to restaurants specializing in the fancier cuisines. All sorts of dishes are now produced in boil-in bags. Establishments that use haute-cuisine boil-in-bag food are, of course, especially secretive. I am told that the Brussels Hilton has used the system for two years, and that the Vista in New York is conducting experiments in its Food Research Center.

The advantages of boil-in-bag food? Less waste in cooking, greater portion control (think of all the uneaten food sent back in any restaurant), lower kitchen overhead, and the possibility of obtaining dishes prepared by famous non-resident chefs. The food tastes as if fresh-cooked, they say, if it is carefully reheated; and this claim has been borne out in practice, when people served a fancy boil-in-bag meal were unable to tell that it had not been freshly cooked for them.