(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a rotary food server and, in particular, to such a device capable of storing food in a chilled condition.
(2) History of the Prior Art
In outdoor home cooking, for example, such as is associated with barbeque prepared food, it is common to accompany the food with salad items such as lettuce, sliced tomato, and condiments which diners serve to themselves, often from a series of salad bowls and similar receptacles. The storage and service of the accompanying foods in open bottles is the source of many all too familiar problems. Health concerns are important in hot weather if the accompanying ingredients are left out at ambient temperature because bacteria can multiply to population levels which pose risks of stomach upset and worse if left too long in the heat. The taste and appearance of foods such as lettuce and potato salad can deteriorate at an outdoor picnic or barbeque if these foods are simply left out in bowls for people to help themselves from. Also, if uncovered bowls are used, it may not be long before food becomes contaminated by unwanted falling of materials into the uncovered bowls or by unwanted insects such as ants and wasps. Also, there can be lack of convenience at the meal table if the accompanying foods are served in too many bowls which require excessive passing back and forth and clutter the dining table area unacceptably.
One approach to improving outdoor food service has been to use rotary food containers, of the lazy susan type, for the fixings that often accompany outdoor dining such as lettuce, tomato, potato salad, condiments and so forth. To keep out contaminants and unwanted insects, a lazy susan may also be combined with containers for these types of food which have removable lids on them. One example of a lazy susan type food server was shown in U.S. Pat. No. Des. 260,469. While this type of structure may provide some improvements over using an uncovered salad bowl, in terms of convenience and hygiene, the problems associated with failing to keep the food adequately chilled are not ameliorated in its approach.
The advantage, however, of keeping the salad type foods in a chilled condition have been recognized and have led to proposals for use of a chill retaining gel material incorporated into the structure of an outdoor serving tray or dish. One such prior product is a chill retention food service tray disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,419. The '419 patent discloses a service tray which is generally circular and has a rim and a central boss and a number of spokes extending radially in the form of walls which divide the tray into a number of peripherally spaced regions in which differing foods can be placed and served. The '419 patent disclosed using regions of at least the base wall and some upstanding vertical walls of a food service tray for gel material which can be refrigerated before food is served from the pocket regions of the tray. While there is no reason to question the operability of the device of the '419 patent, it does not provide a lazy susan type serving approach under which the foods necessary can be contained within a single convenient server. It seems, so far as the present inventor is aware, that previous efforts to devise a practical rotary server that can keep food such as lettuce, sliced tomato and potato salad chilled in an outdoor dining situation, cover against insects and other pollution, and easily selectable by a diner, have gone largely unsatisfied, notwithstanding the large number of prior patents that can be found showing earlier proposals for lazy susan types of items.