Orwell's Birthday
Martha Bridegam
You know: "George Orwell was born June 25, 1903 in Motihari, Bengal..."
etc.
My suggestion last yr that we commemorate same with attempt to get
arrested for public drunkenness was not greeted with enthusiasm.
I guess this yr we're celebrating with horsefeathers. Beats a night at
the (light) opera, anyhow.
/MAB
Alan Allport
>Can't let today go by without noting it's Orwell's birthday.
Perhaps it should be suet pudding for tea tonight.
Happy 96th Birthday, George (I wonder what kind of face you deserve at that
age?)
Alan.
--
*********************************************
http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~allport/
*********************************************
Gene Zitver
>Perhaps it should be suet pudding for tea tonight.
Or how about Victory Pie ("the worst thing on the menu")?
Gene
Alan Allport
says...
>Or how about Victory Pie ("the worst thing on the menu")?
Couple of questions, open house:
1) Wasn't it Magnus Pyke (Pike?) who, as a young scientist in the Ministry of
Food, invented those utility meals like the Victory Pie that maximized
nutrition at a minimal resource cost? Many decades later, Pyke had a highly
successful Indian Summer as a science popularizer on childrens' TV, largely
because with his lanky frame and wild gesticulations he fit perfectly the
stereotype of the eccentric boffin. He's probably most well-known abroad for
his cameo in the Thomas Dolbey video "She Blinded Me With Science".
2) Haven't there been a few recipe books published which include the WWII
Government-approved meals? If so, does anyone know what actually went into a
Victory Pie?
Alan.
Tom Deveson
>2) Haven't there been a few recipe books published which include the WWII
>Government-approved meals? If so, does anyone know what actually went into a
>Victory Pie?
Not v successful with this.
Norman Longmate's very comprehensive *How We Lived Then* (A History of
Everyday Life during the Second World War), referring to the 5-shilling
maximum for all restaurant meals, says that "certain 'patriotic' dishes,
like lentil cutlets, were labelled with a V for Victory" and quotes
someone as saying that the V was "an indication of the victory of
necessity over the palate" without specifying the pie.
The OED gives lots of Victory-compounds but again not the pie.
There's a "Victory Pie" recipe on the www which sounds far too
implausibly luxurious in terms of sugar.
A book in the local library on the Kitchen Front during WW2 gives the
recipe for Woolton Pie -- Lord Woolton being the Food Minister who
persuaded the public to develop gastronomic affection for the thin and
alert Dr. Carrot and the plump and reassuring Potato Pete -- which seems
to have been swede (turnip), carrot, parsnip, potato and onion with
oatmeal, covered with white sauce.
Perhaps (pure speculation) Victory Pie was a relation or relaunch of
this dish, which is remembered with very little affection by the people
interviewed in Longmate's book.
Hope someone knows.
Tom
--
Tom Deveson