Healthy rations ‘secret weapon’ during wartime
The way we were
NOWADAYS I shop and cater for a tiny household, and I really admire those who feed large families on shrinking budgets. Although the difference between domestic cooking and mass food production is really just a matter of scale, catering for large functions is not for the faint-hearted.
However, the provision of palatable meals for canteen-users and inmates of large institutions like schools, hospitals, old-age homes and prisons appears to challenge many career caterers, judging by the negative feedback in circulation.
Contrast this with the delicious meals available in fine restaurants and on large passenger ships and cruise liners, where the food is generally one of the highlights of the voyage. Freshly-prepared streetfood can also be extremely appetising, although discernment is advisable.
In the past, fighting soldiers often depended on long and vulnerable supply chains for their rations. British troops were expected to make the best of a diet consisting largely of tinned bully beef, hard square biscuits, sugar and tea – plus whatever food they could scrounge.
The biscuits had the consistency of roof tiles and caused problems for men with poor teeth. Some were actually used as postcards and mailed back to Britain during the SA Wa (1899-1902).
Each man was also issued with an emergency ration tin designed to support him for 36 hours during hostilities – if eaten in small quantities. It consisted of a meat “dinner” at one end and cocoa at the other. The Boers, meanwhile, carried supplies of biltong and rusks – far more nourishing and palatable.
Many of the British troops who sailed to South Africa aboard requisitioned passenger liners with cold storage facilities enjoyed superior rations that featured in their dreams once they reached the front.
During a three-week voyage to the Cape in March 1900, the Tintagel Castle’s chief steward Young and chef Merryweather provided 1 200 troops with four meals a day with the help of teams of butchers, bakers and chefs. The cooking was done by Merryweather, four assistant chefs, two kitchen assistants and two Tommies (soldiers).
Two tons of coal were burned daily to keep the galleys working and bread was baked night and day. The four refrigeration chambers held 160 tons of provisions – mainly meat, fish and fruit – and the stores loaded in London included large quantities of fresh and salt meat, sausages, bacon, fish, cheese and pickles, 22 tons of potatoes and several tons of carrots and dried beans and peas.
The list also included 860kg of suet and 1 360kg of dried fruit for that traditional British favourite, the boiled suet pudding. Both sides took comfort in warm drinks and hot food after the confusion and shock of battle and the loss of comrades and friends.
On the other hand, poor food or hunger pangs had a detrimental effect on morale, as wise commanders knew.