Ever since the first head of Harvard College, Samuel Eaton, was thrown out for serving the students "insipid porridge," College presidents have been painfully aware that although man does not live by bread alone, erudition comes easier on a happily full stomach.

The history of Harvard is to a very great extent a history of its food. In the first 200 years of its existence, the College became notorious for its poor local pigs, and mealtime was never anticipated with glee. In fact, the Corporation the 20th century.

Students at one time complained of eating "share and share alike" with the local pigs, and mealtime never anticipated with glee. In fact, the Corporation and Board of Overseers were constantly passing new rules and regulations in an effort to keep one step ahead of periodic student uprisings, strikes, and rebellions.

What most present-day detractors of the food don't realize is that although they may occasionally bite into something resembling a spike, the present dining hall system is paradise itself compared to the perpetual state of anarchy that existed prior to 1929--when a Yale man stepped in and gave the University its first organized food system.

In that year Edward S. Harkness, a Yale graduate, gave President Lowell $10 million for what he called the "House Plan." He had offered the $10 million gift for inaugurating his plan to Yale first, but they hesitated. Lowell did not. Later on, Harkness repented and gave Yale an equal amount anyway.

Lowell and Dunster opened in 1930, and Adams, Eliot, Kirkland, Leverett, and Winthrop were opened the following year. All except Dunster and Adams were connected to the central kitchen in Kirkland by an intricate tunnel system.

In September, 1931 the freshmen took over the Yard from the seniors and at the same time gained exclusive right to the Union, which had been established 30 years before as a club for all Harvard men.

New Dining Hall

Memorial Hall dining hall, which for many years had been the College's main eating center, had been abandoned in 1925 for lack of patronage. A survey taken about this time revealed that 3,100 students ate daily in the square eateries for lack of an adequate University dining hall system. Faced by a growing crisis, President Lowell promised to erect a new dining hall on Mount Auburn Street if enough students were interested, but not even 500 signatures could be obtained. Students had not yet forgotten the old days at Memorial Hall.

With the opening of the Houses, a new era began. The advent of an efficient system of cooking and distributing food produced an immediate improvement in the student disposition. The dining hall system, which now includes the Union and three graduate school units, has blossomed into a $3 million annual business, which last year supplied 3,295,969 meals to the University.

The University dining hall system is run by Walter S. Heamen, whose career in Harvard food began 29 years ago when he became Manager of the Freshman Union. He has been in charge of the whole dining hall system for the past seven years.

Heamen is quite proud of his network of kitchens. "These are the only College dining halls I know about," he asserts, "where you can get all the food you want." He is probably right. Students at Yale have little good to say about the food and are only served once. At Princeton, Howard Johnson's supplies the food, and the consensus of opinion is lukewarm at best.

Mass Consumption

Contrary to popular belief, the University has no food endowments. Ice cream, which is served at an average of seven meals a week, appears this often because it is popular, not because it is endowed. Vanilla with chocolate sauce is the heavy favorite.

For a man whose job it it to please everyone, Heamen is quite successful. In line with this policy, he does not commit himself on whether or not Adams House has the best food and other such ticklish questions. As for the quality of the food, Heamen says only, "We try to supply the best food for the money--$14.00 a week."