FOOD AND BEVERAGE

Food and Beverage

Food and beverage system

A food preparation and cooking process is the processes of and links between production, distribution, consumption, and waste that in aggregate supply food for a population. Production includes farming, ranching, or fishing; labor; processing, packing, and/or preserving; and all forms of preparation to create an edible product. Distribution can occur between different production activities, production and consumption; it includes the transportation, labeling, certification, and marketing required to deliver food products to the consumer. Consumption often involves the sale of the food item and results in eating the food product, whether at a restaurant or at home. (Robert 2000, 11)These first three parts of the food process essentially describe a chain that links food from the field or water where it started to the end-consumer's fork. One single chain in a food preparation and cooking process could be eating the beans grew in your backyard; at the more complex extreme, a food chain could entail the production of corn distributed and sold to cattle growers, the sale and distribution of beef to a restaurant, the preparation of a steak at that restaurant, and the eventual consumption of the stake by the diner.

Waste is also a factor in each of these chains, and the extent to which that waste is cycled back into the process is an overriding consideration for the sustainability of the food process. People are involved in all aspects of a food preparation and cooking process and will ultimately determine the stability of the process. (Collins 2005, 5)In reality, it is more of a gradient from more to less sustainable practices, but for the purposes of illustration, it is helpful to consider the extremes. Conventional versus sustainable delineations can be found in every aspect of the food process, through production, distribution, consumption, and waste, including how people from producers to consumers—are treated in these processes. (Berry 1996, 7) It is also necessary to draw a distinction between “conventional” and “traditional” food process.

There is some food preparation and cooking process used in the catering industry some of them are as under

One off production process- This process of food preparation and cooking is used when customers requires a customized order such as a wedding cake.

Batch production - This process of food preparation and cooking process is used when the exact size of the customer market is not defined or clear. In this process, the estimation technique is used to make a certain type and amount of food.

Mass production - This food preparation and cooking method is used when there is a mass market available for identical products.

Just-in-time - This method of food preparation and cooking is used where the product is made standardized.

Cook-chill process

Individual foods are produced by cook-chill or cook-pasteurize-chill processes. They are used in institutional catering to replace warm holding (where food is kept hot for long periods before consumption). This reduces losses in nutritional and eating quality and is less expensive. (Michael 2008, 122)The food is portioned and chilled to ...