|
Selection or choice of food is very important in meal  management. Providing food in a manner which is satisfactory to many people can be a complicated issue. Many decisions are required and careful thought and planning is important. Selection of food stuffs while purchasing depends on the quality. Quality refers to wholesome ness, cleanliness, freedom from undesirable substances, degree of perfection in shape, uniformity in size, freedom from blemishes and extent of its desirable characteristics of colour, flavour, aroma, texture, tenderness and maturity.
Selection of the foods, from the available variety, is an important aspect of marketing. Intelligent selection of foods from the basic five groups is based on the knowledge of attributes of high quality foods. How often the food purchasing is depends on the shelf life. In India as many as 664 types of foods have been listed, under Non perishables like cereals, pulses, sugar, jaggery nuts and oil-seeds, Semi perishables like, Roots and tubers and vegetables and perishables like green leafy vegetables Fruits, milk and milk products and flesh foods. When these are combined in various ways and in different amounts the possibilities are unlimited. Apart from the variety that is possible in food preparation, every food manager must be aware of the types of foods available to him for use in food services. Foods are generally available in two forms, natural and processed.
Natural foods: As the term indicate these foods are available in their natural forms as they appear from farms, orchards, slaughter houses and water sources. Some examples are fresh fruits and vegetables, freshly cut meats, fish, nuts, pulses and legumes as harvested. While the nuts, pulses and legumes can be used in their natural forms, they are generally subjected to some form of processing to enhance their storage life.
Processed foods: Processed foods are those which have undergone some type of treatment on a small or large scale before they are used as basic ingredients of a meal or consumed as such.
Cereal foods are rarely used in their harvested form and are generally subjected to processing. For example, cereals are milled into flours, broken cereals are used for porridges, semolina etc. Other foods also vary considerably in the extent to which they are processed. Some synthetically manufactured foods are also marketed which have possibilities in food production, such as essences, emulsifiers, sequestrants etc.
|
Participants