As for the other constituents of the Eau-de-Burton, a story of Marmite. After WWII, my dad, freed from a Japanese prisoner of war camp, was on his way home. All the prisoners were bony, severely malnourished shadows of their former selves. It was feared many would not survive the journey home, so they were diverted first to a military hospital in India, for assessment. After a few weeks of gradual reintroduction to food, (for years they'd existed on a daily meal of not much more than a small ball of rice), most were passed as ready for the troopship home. On the ship, my dad was put in charge of the starboard troopdecks, as NCO in charge. One of his duties was to oversee the issue of vitamin-rich dietary supplements. Polished rice, as a diet, lacks any source of vitamin B. actually, it lacks most things other than starch. Marmite is rich in vitamin B complexes, so a small jar of marmite were issued to each man. It was a while before the yelling started. Thing is, a lot of the soldiers, in particular the New Zealanders and Aussies had never met Marmite before. Not knowing that it's a highly salty substance intended to be eaten, they'd started smearing it on wounds and tropical ulcers, thinking it was an ointment...... The other vitamin rich issue was Guinness. A bottle a day, each man. Of course, many were teetotallers, others were dead against the acquired taste that is guinness. So he issued it, they pushed it back at him. Once issued, it couldn't be returned to ship's stores, obviously, it was intended to be consumed on the day of issue.... Consequently, my dad ended up, each day with a lot of crates of surplus guinness. It made him a very popular man!
My mother, somehow, never needed to anoint herself with a decoction of Marmite and Guinness. She must have had some other secret.
That's an interesting story, Soubriquet. When I had my babies the hospital kept Guinness in a refrigerator on the ward and would give us nursing mothers a pint a day to stimulate milk production, they said. I remained in hospital for two weeks after my second son was born and acquired an addiction to the stuff. Wish I had a pint right now!
Thanks Soubriquet. Mr.Nag is very thrifty and appreciates that a pint of Boddington's is considerably less expensive than a bottle of Eau-de-Burton.
ReplyDeleteAs for the other constituents of the Eau-de-Burton, a story of Marmite. After WWII, my dad, freed from a Japanese prisoner of war camp, was on his way home. All the prisoners were bony, severely malnourished shadows of their former selves. It was feared many would not survive the journey home, so they were diverted first to a military hospital in India, for assessment. After a few weeks of gradual reintroduction to food, (for years they'd existed on a daily meal of not much more than a small ball of rice), most were passed as ready for the troopship home.
ReplyDeleteOn the ship, my dad was put in charge of the starboard troopdecks, as NCO in charge. One of his duties was to oversee the issue of vitamin-rich dietary supplements. Polished rice, as a diet, lacks any source of vitamin B. actually, it lacks most things other than starch.
Marmite is rich in vitamin B complexes, so a small jar of marmite were issued to each man.
It was a while before the yelling started. Thing is, a lot of the soldiers, in particular the New Zealanders and Aussies had never met Marmite before. Not knowing that it's a highly salty substance intended to be eaten, they'd started smearing it on wounds and tropical ulcers, thinking it was an ointment......
The other vitamin rich issue was Guinness. A bottle a day, each man.
Of course, many were teetotallers, others were dead against the acquired taste that is guinness. So he issued it, they pushed it back at him. Once issued, it couldn't be returned to ship's stores, obviously, it was intended to be consumed on the day of issue.... Consequently, my dad ended up, each day with a lot of crates of surplus guinness. It made him a very popular man!
My mother, somehow, never needed to anoint herself with a decoction of Marmite and Guinness. She must have had some other secret.
That's an interesting story, Soubriquet. When I had my babies the hospital kept Guinness in a refrigerator on the ward and would give us nursing mothers a pint a day to stimulate milk production, they said. I remained in hospital for two weeks after my second son was born and acquired an addiction to the stuff. Wish I had a pint right now!
ReplyDelete