In any large community, one of the most important public services is food distribution. Everyone has got to eat! On Pern, everything is shared equally. All foodstuffs are brought to one communal location and are divided fairly among the people of the Hold, Hall, or Weyr. In a Weyr, of course, all meals are prepared by the kitchens as no weyrs have their own kitchens. In Holds and Halls, however, individual family quarters often come with a kitchen area where the lady of the house can prepare her family's meals for them. That does not meal they cannot take their meals in the community dinning hall however, as some families might prefer the chance to unwind with their friends rather than take a chance on mother's cooking!

Though each Hold and Hall would have their own individual system (please check with your local L1 for more specific details for any location), this is a general overview of how that system of food distribution works:

* Each resident has a certain number of food credits allocated to them each month.
* Those credits can be used to either "pay" to eat in the dinning hall, or to "buy" food from the stores to feed their families at home
* Those who live alone and without a kitchen are presumed to be taking their meals in the dinning hall. Families with kitchens are allowed to take their meals there with advance notice (though they must inform the headwoman of their plan by a certain time in the afternoon - again, ask your L1 for details)
* If the family is running low on credits for the month for any reason, they can use marks to buy more credits
* Long term guests of a family would eat using the family's credits (a polite guest might therefore feel they should use marks to pay for their own credits) and guests of the Hold will not go hungry (though the Hold's generosity does have it's limits!).

Again, please ask your L1 for specific details since each Hold or Hall might have slight differences of how they implement this system.

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