BASIC NUTRITION AND MEAL PREPARATION

2. A meal is an instance of eating, usually
taking place at a specific time, typically
several times a day, and including
specific types of prepared food. Snacks,
unlike meals, are foods eaten in smaller
amounts at unscheduled times.
There are several goals
to good meal planning:
Fulfill the nutritional needs of all dining
participants
Plan for the maximum use of the money
available for food
Aid in the proper purchase, preparation and
service of food
Economize on time, labor, and fuel
Plan for variety in the diet to increase
appeal and palatability
Plan for individual food preferences
Plan to utilize leftovers from previous meals
Plan mealtime as a social opportunity, with
communication and bonding

3. The Food Pyramid and
suggested dietary guidelines will
provide direction when planning
for nutritional needs
6 oz. daily 1 ½ cups daily
6 oz. daily
24 oz. daily
1 ½ cups daily

4. COLOR
(a good plate resembles a
painter’s palette; garnishes
help with this)
TEXTURE
(rough, smooth, creamy, soft,
hard, raw, cooked, crunchy)
FORM
(round, oval, random sized,
square, abstract, rectangle,
spears, etc.)
TEMPERATURE
(hot and cold)
FLAVOR
(bland and strong flavored;
foods that tend to
complement each other i.e.
pork and applesauce, bacon
and eggs,
While nutrition is the underlying
reason for eating a meal, it is variety
that gives food it’s tabletop appeal.
In each meal, plan for a variety of
colors, textures, forms,
temperatures, and flavors.

5. Breakfast is a meal eaten in the
morning. The name derives from the
concept that you have not eaten
while sleeping, i.e., you are fasting
during that time, and “break that
fast” with a meal.Lunch is a meal that is taken at noon
or in the early afternoon. The term is
short for "luncheon“. Lunches are
often a light meal consisting of soups,
salads, and/or sandwiches. One-dish-
meals such as casseroles are also
popular.
Brunch is a combination breakfast
and lunch; usually served in late
morning and a replacement for
both meals.

6. The largest meal of the day is
always called “dinner”. It is
usually served in the evening, but
on midwest farms it might be
served at noon.
If the “dinner” is served at noon, a lighter
meal is served in the evening and called
supper. Supper menu items are similar to
luncheon items…soups, salads, sandwiches,
and one-dish-meals such as casseroles.
Supper can also be a late night meal, served
after dinner in the evening…such as a
‘midnight supper’.

7. A picnic is an outdoor meal.
The nature of some people’s jobs or schedules
require them to carry a lunch with them in
some sort of container…perhaps a brown bag.
This type of lunch is called a “sack lunch”.
A banquet is a large, often formal, and
elaborate meal with many guests and
dishes.

8. Etiquette: To stir your tea, swish the tea back and forth, never hitting the sides of
the cup. Never leave the spoon in the cup, but gently rest the spoon on the
saucer, behind the cup on the right side under the cup handle. Drink your tea by
lifting the saucer and cup together, with the saucer in one hand, and cup in the
other.
A tea party is a social gathering… a time for cozy
ambience, dress-up, quiet conversation, and
etiquette. Tea time is usually scheduled from mid
to late afternoon Use linens, china teacups and
saucers, tea spoons, and a tea service. Serve
several types of finger foods such as small, dainty
cookies, scones, or finger sandwiches.

9. Whether all food selections are
on the table at one time, such
as in the blue plate meal
service, or the courses are
served sequentially, you
should be familiar with the
types of foods in each course.
COURSES TO CHOOSE FROM:
Cocktail
Appetizer/Hor d’oeuvres
Soup
Pasta or Rice Course
Fish Course
Sorbet (to cleanse the palate)
Poultry Course
Meat Course (entrée)
Salad
Fresh Fruit/ Cheese Course
Dessert
Coffee and Sweets
Not all courses are offered in all meals. A 3-course meal (salad, entrée, dessert)
or 4-course meal (appetizer, salad or soup, entrée, dessert) are most common.
Select the courses you want, but there should be little change in the order they
are presented, from what is listed here. The more courses you serve, the more
time is needed for dining and the smaller each portion should be.

10. If the cocktail is an alcoholic beverage, it is called an apéritif,
meaning to “open”. Tomato, orange, lemon, and cranberry
juices are common non-alcoholic beverages served as
cocktails. The juice should be bright in appearance and
tangy to the taste for the purpose of perking up the taste
buds. They should be served well-chilled.
Amuses-bouche (ah muse
boosh) are tiny bite-sized
morsels served before the
hors d’ouervres. The
term, translated from
French, means “mouth
amuser”. These would be
served with a beverage-
type cocktail. Examples
might be crackers,
pretzels, olives, tiny
melon balls, or heated
potato chips.
A cocktail is defined as a beverage, alcoholic or made
of fruit or vegetable juices, served as appetizer before
meal; also a cup of chopped fruit, or of seafood
dressed in a tart sauce, served before a meal.
This
shrimp
cocktail
would be
served with
a tiny
seafood
fork.

11. Hors d'oeuvres are appetizers that are always
eaten with the fingers. They are small portions of
highly seasoned foods, which may be secured on
cocktail picks for easy handling. Varieties of meats,
seafoods, and cheese, vegetables and pickled
vegetables, stuffed vegetables such as celery,
olives, and mushrooms are used frequently.
Canapés are appetizers made from thin pieces of bread or toast spread or
topped with cheese, anchovies, or other appetizing foods. They are usually
cut into various, small shapes and are highly decorated to make them eye
appealing. Crackers are sometimes used as a base, although toasted bread
may be more desirable because it does not absorb the moisture of the spread
too quickly. Several different kinds of bread should be used to give a variety
of taste and color.
Appetizers are used primarily to whet the
appetite and to stimulate the flow of the
gastric juice, not to satisfy hunger. They
should be attractively prepared, temptingly
flavored, and properly served hot or cold.
They may be served on a plate with eating
utensils or eaten as finger foods.

12. Soup is usually a savory liquid food that is
made by combining ingredients, such as meat,
vegetables, and/or beans in stock or hot water,
until the flavor is extracted. Oyster or soda
crackers, croutons or bread accompany soups.
Broth, Stock, or Bouillon: strained liquid
from cooking meats, vegetables, or other
foodstuffs in water
Consommé: clarified meat or fish broth
Potage: thicker broth
Bisque: a heavy cream soup made with a
puree of vegetables, fruits, or fish/shellfish
A large serving dish for
soup is called a tureen.
Soups are eaten with a
larger-bowl spoon.
Cream soups: tomato, broccoli,
mushroom, chicken, celery, or potato soup
made with a thin white sauce
Coulis (koo-lee): a fruit or vegetable soup
thickened with starch
Chowder: a thick soup, usually containing
seafood, potatoes, milk, and cream

13. Stew: a soup with large chunks of meat
or vegetables left in the liquid
Miso: (Japanese) fish stock soup with
seasonal vegetables
Cold soups: Vichyssoise (French) is a
creamy potato and leek soup, served
cold; Gazpacho (Spanish) is a pureed
tomato and vegetable soup, served cold
Dessert soups: tapioca, coconut milk,
and fruit are common ingredients
Borscht: (Slavic) beet soup; can
be prepared hot or cold
Minestrone: (Italian) vegetable soup Bouillabaisse: (French) fish soup

14. Pasta is the generic term for any of a
variety of flour based noodles. It
comes in many different shapes and
sizes. There are simple string-shaped
pasta like spaghetti and vermicelli,
ribbon-shaped ones like fettuccine
and linguine, short tubes like elbow
macaroni and penne, decorative fancy
shapes like farfalle (bowtie), rotini
(spirals) and rotelle (wagon wheels),
large sheets like lasagna, and hollow
pasta stuffed with filling, like ravioli,
manicotti, and tortellini.
The neutral-flavored pasta is the
perfect vehicle for a variety of
sauces:
Alfredo sauce: parmesan, asiago, or
romano cheese with butter and heavy
cream
Bolognese sauce (ragu): a meat-based
sauce
Pesto sauce: crushed herbs and
garlic, olive oil (basil is good for
intestinal problems)
Carbonara sauce: cream, eggs,
parmesan or romano cheese, and
pancetta (bacon)
Tomato sauce (marinara): tomatoes,
stock, onion, garlic, oregano, basil,
salt, pepper, parsley If bread is not already on the table, bring it out now to
accompany the pasta and all subsequent courses.

15. Mollusks: clams, mussels, oysters, scallops, snails,
octopus, and squid (calamari)
Crustaceans: Shrimp, prawn, lobster, crayfish, and
crab
Echinoderms: sea cucumber and sea urchins
Fish: Anchovy, bass, bluefish, catfish, cod, eel, flounder, grouper, haddock,
halibut, herring, lamprey, mackerel, mahi mahi (dolphin fish, not the mammal) ,
orange roughy, pike, pollock, pompano, sardine, salmon, shark, snapper, sole,
swordfish, tilapia, trout, tuna, turbot, whitefish
Bread should be available during
fish courses. Since many fish and
shellfish are common allergens,
make sure your guests know what
is being served.
Roe: the fully ripe egg masses of
fish and certain marine animals,
such as sea urchins, shrimp, and
scallop. As a seafood it is used
both as a cooked ingredient in
many dishes and as a raw
ingredient. Caviar is a name for
the sturgeon roe consumed as a
delicacy.
Lemon, clarified
butter, and tangy
sauces accompany
fish and seafood.

16. Fruit can be used to cleanse the palate between
courses. Chunks of fruits on toothpicks or
skewers, such as pineapples, oranges,
tangerines, and melons work well. They could
be garnished with a sprig of mint.
Eating one food item all at once, or eating many
different distinctly-flavored foods can
overwhelm and saturate the taste buds.
Invigorate your taste buds for new flavors by
“cleaning your mouth”. There are several foods
and beverages that are good for this.
Sorbet is a frozen or iced fruit
puree and other ingredients.
Sorbet is a form of gelato that
contains no milk. A sherbet is
a sorbet made with milk and
eggs. It is a flavor preferred by
some, but is not as refreshing.
The correct wine,
unflavored bread, or salad
greens work to cleanse the
palate. That’s why these
items are served
throughout the meal or
change place in the order
of the courses.

17. Poultry is the class of
domesticated fowl (birds) used
for food or for their eggs. This
includes chicken and turkey, as
well as the waterfowl…ducks
and geese. It may also refer to
wild game birds such as
pigeons, doves, quail, or
pheasants.
Bones in chicken pose
difficulty or even a choking
hazard while eating. You may
want to consider removing
them when serving many
courses.
Bones in chicken pose difficulty or even a choking hazard while eating.
You may want to consider removing them when serving many courses.
The skin of the chicken has the highest fat content. If the chicken is served
“skin on”, you should follow this course with a food to cleanse the palate.

18. Meat, in its broadest definition, is
animal tissue used as food. Most
often it refers to skeletal muscle and
associated fat, but it may also refer
to non-muscle organs, including
lungs, livers, skin, brains, bone
marrow, and kidneys.
A side dish, sometimes referred to as a side order or simply a side, is a
food item that accompanies the entrée at a meal. The side dish is most
often a vegetable or a starch such as bread, potatoes, rice, or pasta.
The meat course is often considered
the main course, and in America the
main course is also called the entrée.
The main course is usually the
heaviest, heartiest, and most complex
or substantive dish on a menu. Beef,
pork, mutton or lamb, and venison are
meats that may be served here.

19. Bases for salad dressings:
Crème fraîche: French for "fresh
cream") is a heavy cream slightly
soured with bacterial culture, but not
as sour or as thick as sour cream.
Vinaigrette: A mixture of vinegar (or
sometimes lemon juice) and
vegetable oil, often flavored with
herbs, spices, and other ingredients
Mayonnaise: a thick sauce based on
vegetable oil and egg yolks.
Caesar dressing: Parmesan cheese,
lemon juice, olive oil, egg, black
pepper, and worcestershire sauce
Oil: virgin or extra-virgin olive oil has
a good balance of flavor and
unsaturated fat; also vegetable oil,
walnut oil, sesame oil, peanut oil, etc.
Salad greens: Arugula, bok choy,
brussels sprouts, cabbage, chard,
dandelion greens, endive, horseradish,
iceberg lettuce, kale, kohlrabi, mint,
mustard greens, oregano, romaine, sage,
spinach, turnip greens, watercress
A salad may be tossed or arranged
vegetables and other ingredients, or
even a well-presented cooked
vegetable. Salad greens cleanse the
palate, and for that reason may change
places in the order of courses.

20. SELECT THE RIGHT SALAD FOR THE COURSE
Appetizer Salads
These are served to whet the appetite of your guest while they await their
main course. They should not be so large as to ruin their appetite for the rest
of the meal. They must be flavorful, crisp and zesty to stimulate the palate and
of course, attractively garnished to also arouse visual appeal.
Accompaniment Salads
These are to be served along with the main course. They must be light,
balance the dish and not be too rich. Attention must be paid to insure that no
duplication of the other items in the main entree has occurred (e.g. potato
salad served on the side with fries or mashed potato).
Main-course Salads
More commonly known as “cold plates”, these must be large enough to
constitute a full meal. They need to have a good balance of protein and
vegetables to be nutritionally complete. Egg, ham, chicken, and tuna salads
are served as main-course salads.
Intermediate Salads
A lot of finer restaurants use a small salad after the rich, main course to
cleanse the palate and provide a break before dessert. This is also common
practice in formal banquet service. Simple greens with vinaigrette or fruit
salads are normally used for this purpose.
Dessert Salads
Dessert salads are very sweet and contain items such as fruit, nuts, cream or
gelatin. These are normally found in a buffet or party menu.

21. A cheese course is sometimes served with simply dressed salad greens, but
fresh fruit is a popular alternative. Grapes, slices of apples or pears help
cleanse your palate between cheeses and complement most of them, while
figs, apricots, red currants, and blueberries may be favored.
Other possible companions include subtly sweet jams, honey, vegetable
confits (preserved in sugar), dried fruits and nuts, as well as various herbs and
spices. Serve with a neutral-tasting bread or crackers (unsalted).
The classic French cheese course
usually offers a minimum of three
cheeses, each representing a
different type of milk (cow, goat or
sheep's milk) or a different family of
cheese. Each cheese can be placed
around the platter in the best order
to taste it, from the mildest to the
strongest. create a cheese plate with
textural, flavor, and visual variety.
Serve at room temperature. A
cheese course is presented near the
end of the meal, usually just before
dessert, because dairy products
tend to coat the palate.
Cheese: the purest way to savor and
celebrate milk's gifts to the table.

22. Dessert is a course that typically comes at
the end of a meal, usually consisting of a
sweet food but sometimes of a strongly-
flavored one, such as some cheeses. The
word comes from the Old French
desservir, "to clear the table." Many
people, regardless of the meal service,
would expect the table to be cleared of
nearly all dishes before the dessert is
presented. Some common desserts are
cakes, cookies, fruits, and candies. Other
terms for dessert are “sweets”,
“pudding”, and “afters”.
Common desserts:
Trifle - sponge cake soaked in fruit juice
or sherry, layered with fruit salad and
custard. Trifle may be decorated with
whipped cream, glace cherries or nuts.
Flan – tin is lined with sweet short pastry,
which is filled with fruit and topped with a
fruit glaze.

23. Basic meringue - a light foamy mixture of whipped
egg white and caster sugar, which is baked in the
oven and served cold.
Fruit based - fruit is the main ingredient
Jellies - gelatin is used to set these fruit flavored
desserts or as a glaze on fruit tarts.
Molded creams - a cold custard cream is mixed with
other flavors to form the basis of a molded dessert.
Egg custard - milk is thickened with egg yolks to
form firm custard when baked.
Pancakes and crepes - a basic batter mixture, which
when pan-fried, can be served with a sauce or filling.
Sponge based - desserts which have a sponge base
can be steamed or baked and can be flavored with a
variety of ingredients including chocolate, jam,
honey, lemon, orange, cheese, fruit pulp, or a syrup.
Pies and tarts - pastry cases filled with fruit or nuts.
Egg based - these desserts use an egg or egg
custard base, e.g. puddings, bread pudding.
Soufflés - these desserts are based on a firm
meringue base and may incorporate chocolate, fruit
or cheese; further flavored with alcohol or vanilla.
Flour based – baked goods such as cookies or cakes

24. Coffee can be served with
dessert (North American style) or
after dessert (European style).
The latter allows you to add
chocolates, wafers and
confectionery as palate
cleansers. Although, by this
stage, many people will ask for
no more.
Espresso (expresso in some American
dictionaries) is a concentrated coffee
beverage brewed by forcing very hot, but not
boiling, water under high pressure through
coffee that has been ground to an extremely
fine consistency. It has an intense and high
concentration of ingredients , so lends itself
to mixing into other coffee based drinks,
such as lattes (espresso and hot milk),
cappuccino (espresso, hot milk, and milk
foam), macchiati (espresso and milk foam)
and mochas (latte with chocolate added),
without being diluted in the resulting drink.
Demitasse is the name of the small
cup used for espresso drinks.

25. A liqueur is a sweet alcoholic beverage, often flavored with fruits, herbs,
spices, flowers, seeds, roots, plants, barks, and sometimes cream. Cognac
and brandy are favorite after-dinner liqueurs.
Chocolate comprises a number of raw and
processed foods that originate from the seed
of the tropical cacao tree. There are dark,
milk, and white chocolate varieties. Part of
the pleasure of eating chocolate is due to the
fact that its melting point is slightly below
human body temperature: it melts in the
mouth. Chocolate intake has been linked
with release of serotonin in the brain, which
produces feelings of pleasure.
A mint is a candy characterized
by the presence of mint
flavoring, whether it be
peppermint oil, spearmint oil,
wintergreen, or another natural
or artificial source.
Hard mints, often called "breath
mints", are popular as breath
fresheners since the taste and
smell of mint oil and its active
components are quite strong and
feels clean and cool to the mouth
as well as soothing to the
stomach. Soft mints, such as
"dinner mints" and "butter
mints", are soft candies with a
higher butter content, that
dissolve more readily in ones
mouth.

26. The invitations for a formal dinner should go
out at least six weeks before the event. They
should reflect the mood and spirit of the
evening and entice your guests to attend.
Upon receipt of an invitation to a formal
dinner it is good etiquette to respond
immediately. This will allow the hosts to make
adjustments to the guest list and the meal
itself. Once accepted, only an illness or an
emergency is an acceptable reason to break
the engagement.
Place cards are usually about
two inches high. They are
placed to the left and above the
plate at the setting. Generally,
there is only one menu card
and it is placed in front of the
host.
Guests are usually seated in
order to alternate men and
women around the table. The
“host” sits at the head of the
table; the “hostess” at the foot.

27. 1. To Health:
"May you live as long as you like,
And have all you like as long as you live."
2. To Friendship:
"There are good ships,
and bad ships…all ships that sail the sea.
But the best ships, are friendships,
And may they always be."
3. To Love:
"May we kiss whom we please,
And please whom we kiss."
4. To Happiness:
"May the saddest day of your future be no
worse than the happiest day of your past."
5. Good luck:
"May you have the hindsight to know
where you've been,
The foresight to know where you are
going,
And the insight to know when you have
gone too far."
Make sure everyone has a filled
glass; stand but do not tap on a
glass; face the person you are
toasting; when finished tip your
glass toward the recipient or
clink their glass or raise your
glass; take a sip; sit down

28. À la carte is a French expression meaning "from the menu", and it is used
in restaurant terminology in one of two ways:
It may refer to a menu of items priced and ordered separately OR it may
refer to any options you are offered in an otherwise predetermined menu.
Table d'hôte is a French
phrase which literally means
"host's table". It is used in
restaurant teminology to
indicate a menu where multi-
course meals with limited
choices are charged at a
fixed price. Such a menu may
also be called prix fixe ("fixed
price"). Because the menu is
set, the cutlery and flatware
on the table may also already
be set for all of the courses. A continental breakfast is a light breakfast
consisting usually of coffee or tea and a roll,
pastry, or other baked good.

29. Cafeteria style: This is the type of
service that is used aboard some
larger ships such as carriers and
supply ships. The diner does not
normally serve him- or
herself. Rather, the diner selects
the desired items and the foodservice
attendant places them on his or her
plate. However, salads, desserts, and
some side dishes may be apportioned
in dishes and the diner simply takes
them from the serving line. The main
course consists of vegetables,
starches, and meat. These items are
portioned onto a plate by the serving
line attendants as the diner selects
them.
Haute cuisine (literally "high cooking" in French) or grande cuisine: refers
to the cooking of the grand restaurants and hotels of the western world. It is
characterized by elaborate preparations and presentations; large meals of
small, often quite rich courses; extensive wine cellars; and large,
hierarchical and efficiently run service staffs.
Pièce de résistance: the biggest and
most spectacular dish at the feast