How much you need is partly determined by what other food you have. If the veggie platters are the main thing, you will need more than if they are one of many food choices. What I usually do with veggie plates is to get more or less even amounts of stuff. It seems easier to arrange nicely that way. If I read your post correctly, and I may not have, I would get the same volume of cucumber and celery as you did of carrot and broccoli. If you haven't purchaced anything yet, I would assume each guest would have about 6 pieces total more or less divided equally. 150 pieces of each veggie. More if you want to ensure leftovers. Oh, and cherry tomatoes or olives are good accent bits to veggie platters.

Lydia, I have only the most basic understanding of the physiology of taste; but from what I have been told by physiologists who specialize in that area, it has more to do with chemistry than the actual number of taste buds or what a particular taste bud detects. The 'mapping' that I described was done in the 1970s so the thinking has changed among researchers since. The reason the study was designed was to either prove or disprove earlier studies by scientists who in the first half of the 20th century had created 'tongue maps' to indicate where the four sensations of taste (sweet, sour, salty, bitter) resided on the tongue. (A fifth sensation, umami, sometimes described as 'meatiness', has since been added.) The current thinking (from what I understand) is that all taste buds are capable of detecting all the sensations; but according to the interaction between food chemistry and a person's chemistry, some sensations will vary in intensity from person to person, even from time to time in the same person (illness can cause changes in the sense of taste which everyone who suffers a head cold already knows). Those more knowledgeable about chemistry can explain it better, I'm sure. What the physiologists told me about my own sensitivity: For whatever chemical reason, my taste buds do a bang-up job of detecting bitterness. It's both a good and bad thing for me -- 1) the bad: it makes me a hell of a hard-to-please attendee of social events since I don't like most of the beverages that most socializers imbibe; 2) the good: I'm likely to spit something poisonous out before it can harm me, and I'll never be an alcoholic.

Here are some hints/tips for using freeze-dried foods.... 1. You can eat it as-is, but make sure you drink extra water. 2. Hydrate it with less water than you think. I like to cover the bowl with a plate to keep the steam in when rehydrating vegetables. Fragile food (fruit and cheese) place in a bag or bowl and spritz with water. Place in refrigerator and stir every few minutes. Rehydrate cheese (by spritzing with water) and let it sit in refrigerator overnight before eating/using (and yes, it will melt on your pizza ;-). Spritz/add only "enough" water - NO puddle of water in the bottom of bowl. Pour any extra water off before it's fully rehydrated. 3. You don't always need to hydrate first.... Rule: If it's covered with liquid at least 15-minutes how it's used in the recipe, don't hydrate first. Just add 2-4 T. extra water for every cup of freeze-dried food. 4. If you are using freeze-dried meat, DON'T overcook it. Hydrate in warm or cold water and then add to what you are cooking. If making chicken salad, don't add much water at all to rehydrate because you also add mayo. 5. Antioxidant phytochemicals found in the fruits' fresh state are retained at levels almost as high after freeze-dried. 6. A #10 can = 10-20 pounds of produce - depending on type. 7. At camp, when you heat water be sure to heat enough to fill a Thermos or two. You will have "instant" hot water for rehydrating freeze-dried foods. If you take several Thermos bottles, you can also "cook" in them. http://www.thermoscooking.com/ ____________________ Tomato powder: Storage: Place in small jars (user-friendly amounts) with airtight lids. Store in-use jars in the refrigerator, which is a dry environment due to the frost-free feature. Don't leave the container open any longer than what it takes to take out a measured amount. I also place moisture-absorbing packets in the top to help prevent clumping. Even a folded white paper towel placed on the top of the tomato powder will help absorb moisture. If the tomato powder begins to clump, you can grate it on a grater or microplane to make a powder again. Tomato powder has an indefinite shelf-life, when properly stored. Quick Pizza Sauce (for 12" pizza) 1 T. tomato powder 3-4 T. hot water (it will mix with cold water, as well, but you will get a better consistency with hot) Italian or Pizza seasonings to taste "shot" of vinegar sweetener of choice, to taste (optional) pinch of salt Mix together. Allow to sit for a minute or two to absorb the liquid. Mix again and add more water if it's too thick. ~~~~~ For 1/2 c. tomato sauce: Mix 1/8 c. (2 T.) + 1/2 c. water ~~~~~ For tomato juice: Mix 3/4 c. powder + 8 cups of water = 64 oz. bottle of tomato juice. You can make it as thick/thin as you like. Add some Fruit Fresh and a dash of salt (also Tabasco and/or Worcestershire). ~~~~~ THRIVE Spaghetti Sauce 1/2 c. THRIVE tomato powder 1-1/2 c. water 1 t. salt 1 t. garlic powder 1 t. basil (dried) 1 t. Italian Seasoning 1/2 t. pepper pinch of sugar 1/8 t. baking soda Combine tomato powder and water in a medium sized bowl. Once mixed, add in dry ingredients with the baking soda last. Add the baking soda to reduce the acidity of the tomatoes. If you like the more "crisp" taste you can omit the baking soda. Don't worry about the sauce foaming or getting lighter when you add the baking soda, it will settle down.

Yum to everything mentioned! I am waiting for my husband to get home with takeout, and this thread it not helping my patience! My comfort food is usually something warm and soft. Soup. Mashed potatoes. No specific recipe -- I think I tended to eat things that were warm and easy on the throat when I was sick, and that temperature/texture is what defined comfort food for me. I'm not sure that this is quite the same thing as comfort food, but I also get a warm, family sort of feeling from sharing fresh fruit. Stems from my father's immense delight at purchasing fruit/hearing that we enjoyed eating it. His family was quite poor growing up and could not afford much fresh food, so my whole life, my dad's always been immensely pleased to see his family eat well. Drives my mom bananas (pun intended) because she thinks he spends to much on food, but it makes him SO happy. The fruit basket at my parents' house is probably the best stocked in the country. Since that was normal for me growing up, I also always have fresh fruit in my house, and my husband is usually so delighted to help me eat anything I've washed/cut up. It's all very homey.