h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

aka 'stingy portions that weigh less than the packaging they come in'.

Always deeply mistrust (and never return to) any hotel or boarding-house that rations you to one of these for breakfast.

Breakfast cereals bought in bulk are one of the cheapest things on the hotel's food bill; if you are in a Fawlty towers sort of establishment that is stingly on the cereal to this extent, it is a sure sign the accountants, rather than the chef, is in control and prizes portion control and "economy" over your eating experience.

The sort of outsourced catering company that might pride itself on offering breakfast options in the canteen to early-starting staff is depressingly prone to this as well.

I once worked for BT's outsourced caterers (well, temped for a week) and was sternly told that the difference between profit and loss was whether I put three slices of tomato on a buttie (loss) rather than two (profit)

I went to check the chain of command at H/O.

Sure enough, Compass Catering employed ONE "consultant chef" and ELEVEN accountants at Head Office.

There is a moral here...

Loved the article, btw. On medical advice I have been told to limit bacon to one morning per week and therefore my early-morning calories now have to come in a bowl, or as toast.

This is most informative - cereal doesn't just have to be bloody cornflakes! (whoever woke up to the sizzle and smell of frying rice crispies...)