HOW THE TROOPS FARE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 238, 15 November 1940, Page 5

HOW THE TROOPS FARE

FEEDING WITH THE SECOND ECHELON SHORTAG E OF BUTTER ; : October 23rd. Last week, according to amateur statisticians in the Divisional Supply Column of the Army Service ■ Corps, the N.Z.E.F. (U.K.) ate its two millionth potato. Two. million* that is, since coming to England, By the time you read this, assum- ■ ing menus to run to routine in the interim, we shall ha:ve come to the end of otir thirtieth mile of English sausages, and to the* last slice of one hundred and fifty tons of bread. - Wives and sisters u?ed to tell us, back in New Zealand, that we were extravagant with bufter. They, would eat their words could they but see us now, with half an ounce a week, and that soon about to pet-, - er out to nothing. Yet yve make do with vitaminised margarine,, and—' shame on a New Zealander to have to confess it—sometimes, cannot • sure whether the issue is margarine or butter. When the world becomes * sane again, and European supplies , re-enter competition, somebody is going to have a man's size, job re- . - establishing New Zealand butter iii the taste of 6ld Country's palates j- ■ grown used to margarine. v Changing Stew to Curry. It is recorded that General Freyberg, pursuing on a recent field exercise his practice of bobbing up unexpectedly in odd corners, came upon a company of infantry at its evening nieal. "Is that beef or mutton?" : lie asked one soldier. "N'ei-t 1-

ther, sir!" was tlie' heartfelt reply. "It's stew!" Army ..cooks, are a little partial to stew, it must be admitted.; But on the whole they make a very good j,ob of it; and it is probably far and way the best dish for getting full value from the meat" and vegetable rations. It can be varied,. . too. A story is current at the ment of the unit in which the men,, having been served with stew straight for 27 days 011 end, issued an ultimatum to the cookhouse that it could expebt trouble unless there was a change- on the twenty-eighth day. There was. A spoonful of curry powder was added to each dixie, and on the 28th day the stew became curry. At Breakfast. Breakfast does not entrench ,on the daily 10 ounces of meat. We : get also three ounces of bacon,, or six ounces of fish, or four ounces of offal (meaning liver), or four ounces of sausages (both beef and pork) or four ounces of baked beans These are alternative rations. Early experience proved that the New Zealand soldier, has little taste for kippers or bloaters —the form taken by the fish ration—or for liver; so now neither fish nor offal is drawn. We breakfast three mornings a week on bacon, three mornings on sausages, and once a week 011 baked beans. Three ounces of bacon is not

much, and the issue of sausages is only tw r o each. Fortunately we do not otherwise eat our full 12 ounces of bread every day, and an occasion.

al slice fried ekes out tlie meagre bacoh or sausages. , There is porridge,, also, or stewed English njpples from the orchards around ,us: five-sevenths of an ounce of rolled oats or oatmeal for porridge; but the preparation is not always a*success . "Charlie's a champion," commented one critic from a corner o£ his stable billet the other morning, "at burning >:he porridge without, cooking it." In fairness to Charlie, who is always a trier, it should be? added that when he does, strike form he can cook a pot of,porridge fit to rank with any north of theTweed or south of the Waitalu. Teaching the Cooks. Rice is the backbone of the sweets" course at the big meal. xhrecsevenths of an ounce is the daily issue for each man. Here again cooks do their best to vary: and where they cannot vary they can now and again camouflage. "When available," macaroni, semolina, barley o.r tapioca may-be drawn in place of . rice; but they appear from "results to be rather less "available** Dried fruit, however., is in the regular supply: six-sevenths of ?m ounce daily, two-thirds of it stewing fruit—prunes, apricots and the like—and one-third sultanas and currants. Tlie daily two and a half ounces of flour then allows' an oc-, : casional f-team pudding with fruit in it; and when there are no stewed prunes to go with, the boiled rice, a handFul of sultanas relieves its untempting nakedness. Onfco, &, week we each get a one-ounce fruit; pie — a Lyons pie. Soon we shall be

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