Institutional Food Service

Legumes in institutional catering

Introduction:
To find out what role legumes play in institutional cooking in Spain, LegumeChef asked Mario Cañizal and Jean-Claude Lobató of FORHOS (Formation y Consultoría para Hostelería S.L.) and Martina Miserachs of CESNID (Nutrition and Dietetics Study Center at Barcelona University) analyze the current situation of legumes in the institutional kitchen, and especially in school dining rooms, on the basis of

· Interviews with twenty dieticians and kitchen managers in institutional catering in Spain (both for central kitchens and in centers with their own kitchen and dining room services)
· A comparative analysis of the official recommendations and the typical menus in institutional cooking

I.Reality vs. Recommendations:
IAfter talking to the professionals and checking on the latest official recommendations, Cañizal observed that ". . . it is clear that there are important shortcomings in matters of the use of legumes in the different dishes offered (by institutional kitchens) . . ." "Although the principal dietetic authorities recommend including legumes in the menu at least twice a week, the fact is that this rarely happens." "In one out of three schools surveyed, neither fish nor vegetables are included more than once per week, while only one in four included legumes more than once weekly."


Comparison between the average school menu values and the Nutritional Objectives proposed by the Spanish Community Nutrition Society (S.E.N.C.),



According to Cañizal, "The comparison between the school menu values and the Nutritional Objectives proposed by the Spanish Community Nutrition Society (S.E.N.C.), shows that the menus that Spanish schoolchildren consume have:

- Excess proteins
- Excess fats
- Excess cholesterol
- Lack of carbohydrates
- Lack of fiber

"This leads us to consider that legumes are not properly used in the planning and preparation of menus, in spite of their important advantages in matters of nutritional values and contribution to the objectives of cost control, as is demonstrated below with a simple example of replacing a small percentage of meat with legumes in school menus."

II. Financial and Nutritional Advantages

With an analysis of costs and nutritional values, Institutional Catering Chef and Adviser Jean-Claude Lobato demonstrates that legumes could improve exploitation costs and the nutritional value of the menus offered in institutional dining rooms.
Taking as an example a company serving meals in a canteen and consuming annually:

Reducing the consumption of meat by 5% (approximately one dish per month) and replacing it with legumes we obtain:
- Meats: 173,515 Kgs - 5% = 164,839 Kgs x € 3.39 = € 558,804
- Legumes: 29,229 Kgs + 8,676 Kgs x € 1.21 = € 45,869





Generating a saving of: € 623,582 - 604,673 = € 18,909/year, that is, 3.03%, through reducing the consumption of meat by only 5%, knowing that the cost reduction could be greater if more legumes were eaten.

With regard to the Food Values before replacing meat with legumes:

Values per 100 Gr. Product:


After replacing 5% of the meat with legumes:


Table reflecting the nutritional values before replacing meat with legumes (in orange) and after (in grey)

NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF CONSUMPTION
OBSERVED/PROPOSED

Observed Proposed

Proteins Carbohydrates Lipids Cholesterol Fibre Calcium Iron Vit.C

III. Why are legumes not more used in institutional cooking?

This question was put to twenty professionals concerned with institutional kitchens in Spain, focusing on the traditional topics that have grown up around legumes, that we can summarize as:

-Children don't like legumes
-Legumes need a long preparation time
-Legumes are not easily digested
-Legumes are fattening
-Legumes are considered as a "poor people's" food
The professionals agreed that three of the five "barriers" were no longer valid
· Children don't like legumes: While they recognized that the chef of a school dining room is up against some difficult challenges in preparing dishes which are both nutritious and popular with the young people, they do not think that legumes present special problems. On the contrary, many quote favorite dishes in their schools which include legumes (see some of these below)
· Legumes are not easily digested: Here the dieticians were emphatic: the nutritional advantages of legumes outweigh the inconveniences of difficult digestion and gases suffered by those who do not usually eat legumes at home. To help to accustom them to this kind of food, they recommended:
o starting with purées and cream soups with legumes (especially split peas, decorticated lentils, and other legumes without skin)
o mixing the legumes with pasta, rice and other starches.
· Legumes are fattening: In spite of the widely touted benefits of the Mediterranean diet, and the growing use of legumes in salads and light and modern dishes, this idea that legumes are fattening still endures. To counteract it, they recommend avoiding traditional dishes of legumes with large quantities of fats and meat products.
· Cañizal made the important observation that school lunchrooms are an ideal educational forum for combating these misconceptions, and for teaching healthy dietary habits in general.
The professionals contacted did identify two real barriers existing against the legume in institutional cooking:
· Legumes need a long preparation time: To benefit from the financial advantages of legumes, it is preferable to buy them dry. The professionals recommend:
o soaking the night before, for all legumes
o use skinned (decorticated) legumes - they cook in 15 to 30 minutes
o use legumes from the latest crop, and preferably from the USA, to ensure more rapid and consistent cooking
o cook them in soft water
o if the legume or the water is very hard, add bicarbonate of soda
o cooked legumes freeze very well - take advantage of periods of low activity in the kitchen to cook them, and freeze them for future use
· Other options mentioned:
o buy legumes already cooked by a specialized legume cooker (in Catalonia, Valencia and Madrid)
o use canned or frozen legumes
· "The client does not ask for more legumes on the menu because they are considered low-class food." This battle can be won both with nutritional arguments from the dieticians themselves, and with gastronomic arguments i.e. modern and attractive legume dishes. You will find below, and in the www.legumechef.com recipe database, ideas that you can use so that legumes help you improve the service you give to your clients, and at the same time improve your profits at the end of the month.

We would like to express our special thanks to the following professionals and companies of the institutional kitchen sector for their contributions to this study:
· Mario Cañizal FORHOS (Formation y Consultoría para Hostelería S.L.)
· Jean-Claude Lobato, FORHOS (Formation y Consultoría para Hostelería S.L.)
· Martina Miserachs CESNID (Nutrition and Dietetics Study Center at Barcelona University)
· Pineda de l´Hospitalet School (Barcelona)
· Catergest (Madrid)
· Pía Sarría-Calassan School, served by RC & Servicios, Sant Boi (Barcelona)
· Alessa (Barcelona)
· Serunion (Barcelona)