Lament of a Single Cook

This letter concerns my disappointment caused by the Singles Survival Guide (Jan. 10).

I am 70, in moderately good health, widowed and living alone. I cooked professionally in my youth and was handy in the kitchen during my 30 years of marriage and the raising of four children. I confess that I dislike the mess and labor of trying to scale down standard recipes to create single portions.

Supermarkets happily package “family size” offerings of beef, pork and poultry. Where can you find a single pork or lamb chop or half a broiling chicken? Yes, the butchers will assist you on request, but grudgingly.

Sodium nitrates and sodium appear in astronomical amounts, along with MSG, in practically all canned and processed foods.

Perhaps, in the future you can address this issue in a more substantive way, listing menus, recipes and even cookbooks for the single citizen yearning to avoid monotony and enjoy healthful and economical food at home.

--ARTHUR R. HANNES

Van Nuys