Des somehow squash never appealed to my taste buds. I was okay with pumkin. Of course out her in Canada we keep up with the traditional pumpkin pies on turkey days.
I don't recall the chappati like dish - what was it??
Millicent you are so right the values we learnt from the dining table were invaluable. I imparted this to my family as well.
Oh well I really dont know where to begin - all I know is that it has taught all of us a lesson in life. It certainly gave us a sense of appreciation, a better sense of values with a very broad outlook on life I keep reminding my kids that that they must learn to eat everything that is put on the table and must always remember that somewhere out there are our very own people who can barely get one morsel a day, therefore food should never be wasted or thrown away.
The cook tried his best to make the food tasty but then he had his limitations as well - less masala! I think most of us hated the pumpkin and squash - till this day I dont bring these two vegetables on to my dining table! We waited patiently for Sundays when we would get a teaspoon of sugar in our tea, a handful of cheenas a boiled bhutta or a piece of cake.
We grumbled about the food but when we came home for the holidays we all looked in the pink of health with our rosy cheeks! The Tuck Shop day was the best when we cud buy gurbuns and powdered milk fudge it was yummy !
You could go on and on and relive those memories one that cannot be erased so easily.
I am not sure if we are on the same wavelength but we did have some sort of chapatti as big as a dinner plate and about a cm thick.The yumee stuff was the pumpkin and squash.
I quite liked the corn bread or cake (whatever it was supposed to be) that was turned out as well. Do you Scottish Canadian fellas of my time remember this? Do refresh my memory on some of the grub that was prepared for us. Notghing like a yumee!! flashback.
hi kunsang, i'm a woodburn girl from the 90's and i can't believe i heard the same story..can't remember from whom, though..and we always used to get a big laugh from it. man..we were grubby..! thanks for sharing the story...boiled egg and all.
In general, I did not like the grub but you know how it is when youre always hungry, the food tastes better. I made it a point to eat all the food I got on my plate leaving little for the piggery.
My favourites were the Sunday cake, the 10 cheenas, sweet putts, bhuttas and the green gage pudding (stewed fruit & "custard"). I never liked the sago although I like sago now and I never liked the way the squash was done but I like it now!
Often, the Sunday cake was used as a bribe. I remember how one of the seniors made me sing "Jailhouse Rock" at Heathland's 'one & only' party for the promise of his Sunday cake. I cant remember if I ever got it. I must have been nine at the time.
I was thankful we at least had three slices of bread (two buttered) and I did like the beans we had for breakfast. I think one slice had jam on it on Sunday evening!
I found the regular curry we had in Heathland lacked flavour but it was wholesome. The rice was certainly not basmati and I always seemed to find a bhutt in it, usually after a solid crunch with the dhatts. We were lucky if we had chicken even once a year on Auntys birthday! On our birthdays we got a fried egg or French toast for breakfast.
One thing always struck me at the time and that was; I wondered if the other cottages were getting better grub than us. When I used to visit my sasses in Mansfield I thought theirs was better. It also occurred to me that the children of staff were lucky to be having even better grub !!
I remember Bhajey would sometimes give the four seniors who were the last to go to bed, a slice of buttered bread for supper. That went down well and fast!
All of us, when we were seniors, loved doing 'Pantry' duty when you got a taste of staff grub and it was absolutely the best. The Tutts would leave whoever was on pantry duty for the week, generous portions of untouched staff grub. I got the impression they deliberately had extra cooked for this reason. You would share this with a couple of your best mates and shout their names at the top of your voice, "PANTRY ! come & get it!!". Hopefully, they would do the same for you when it was their turn.
The other occasion you got to taste staff grub was when you were on 'Staff Bedroom' or 'Teachers Room' duty when they left some grub from their supper the night before. Yumm !! especially if it was an Aloo chop or French Toast.
All in all, I can remember complaining about the food but later on in life I realized that the cottage staff did the best with what they received as provisions. Perhaps a little creativity on their part would not have gone astray!
As I never got to go to a hostel I have often wondered; was hostel grub noticeably better than cottage grub? Perhaps some of you that went to a hostel in the Sixties can help me out here and maybe you younger chaps could tell us about CK food.
Alas, it was a total loss all around when they stopped cooking and eating in the cottages !!!
Errol:
Have not these wonderful experiences taught all of us a lesson in life. It certainly has for me. It did give me a deeper sense of appreciation, a better sense of values and very broad outlook on life in general. My family and I can proudly say that we relish, eat and give thanks for all the food that comes to our table and above all food is never ever wasted or thrown away.
What is the prevailing dining facility Errol? Please give us an up date if you have details.
That's hillarious with all of you running outside with your boiled eggs. I would do anything to witness this scene happen all over again. Gosh you gals were possessive about your eggs!!
Reminds me of the song from Oliver Twist FOOD glorious FOOD...I guess we OGBs would say GRUB glorious GRUB! We were grubby chaps....Overall the grub in CK was nice except that the portions were a bit stingy- maybe our appetities were huge then. Especially miss the scrambled eggs on toast (never been able to make it like that no matter how I tried) and the meat chops - never been able to copy that too. I don't miss the over cooked squash and pumpkin mixture that we used to get (put me off squash and pumpkin even at home - now I like it). Well lunch was the worst and I remember eating just to keep hunger at bay and I remember wishing I was veg so as to taste the dahi and aloo that the vegies got. Dinner was ok if not a bit frugal with just 2 slices of bread which we often made into a sandwich (with some aloo curry in the middle) and hid it in our cape hoods to munch while watching a concert or show. Sunday dinner ofcourse was the best and I loved what we referred to as the first course --cake, custard pudding, etc - I wonder why we called it the first course? Yeah in our time we too used it as a bribe...... don't know whether we ever kept our promise ...it was too much of a treat to part with.
To share a rather funny experince - we had just sat down after prayers to dig into our breakfast when we had an earthquake a rather strong one - I recall all us girls rushing out screaming and Aunty Burns (woodburn aunty) telling us to calm down and not to behave like a pack of hooligans.....of course to no avail...but it was funny that some girls thought of picking theirs and their neighbours eggs before running out (we had boiled eggs that day). So when we came back in some girls missed their precious eggs!!!
In general, I did not like the grub but you know how it is when youre always hungry, the food tastes better. I made it a point to eat all the food I got on my plate leaving little for the piggery.
My favourites were the Sunday cake, the 10 cheenas, sweet putts, bhuttas and the green gage pudding (stewed fruit & "custard"). I never liked the sago although I like sago now and I never liked the way the squash was done but I like it now!
Often, the Sunday cake was used as a bribe. I remember how one of the seniors made me sing "Jailhouse Rock" at Heathland's 'one & only' party for the promise of his Sunday cake. I cant remember if I ever got it. I must have been nine at the time.
I was thankful we at least had three slices of bread (two buttered) and I did like the beans we had for breakfast. I think one slice had jam on it on Sunday evening!
I found the regular curry we had in Heathland lacked flavour but it was wholesome. The rice was certainly not basmati and I always seemed to find a bhutt in it, usually after a solid crunch with the dhatts. We were lucky if we had chicken even once a year on Auntys birthday! On our birthdays we got a fried egg or French toast for breakfast.
One thing always struck me at the time and that was; I wondered if the other cottages were getting better grub than us. When I used to visit my sasses in Mansfield I thought theirs was better. It also occurred to me that the children of staff were lucky to be having even better grub !!
I remember Bhajey would sometimes give the four seniors who were the last to go to bed, a slice of buttered bread for supper. That went down well and fast!
All of us, when we were seniors, loved doing 'Pantry' duty when you got a taste of staff grub and it was absolutely the best. The Tutts would leave whoever was on pantry duty for the week, generous portions of untouched staff grub. I got the impression they deliberately had extra cooked for this reason. You would share this with a couple of your best mates and shout their names at the top of your voice, "PANTRY ! come & get it!!". Hopefully, they would do the same for you when it was their turn.
The other occasion you got to taste staff grub was when you were on 'Staff Bedroom' or 'Teachers Room' duty when they left some grub from their supper the night before. Yumm !! especially if it was an Aloo chop or French Toast.
All in all, I can remember complaining about the food but later on in life I realized that the cottage staff did the best with what they received as provisions. Perhaps a little creativity on their part would not have gone astray!
As I never got to go to a hostel I have often wondered; was hostel grub noticeably better than cottage grub? Perhaps some of you that went to a hostel in the Sixties can help me out here and maybe you younger chaps could tell us about CK food.
Alas, it was a total loss all around when they stopped cooking and eating in the cottages !!!
My Dear OGB's: I am not sure whether it was just me generally not being a fussy eater or whether it was just having a good cook like Saila Rai (if I remember his name correctly) at Scottish. For most times I did not think that the food that we got in cottage was all that bad. It was probably not the most nutritious and healthiest of diets but to me it seemed pretty wholesome.
The bread pudding even without the raisins was yummy. I actually love the sago or tapioca and if we had it cooked with a bit of coconut milk - yummy!! it would have been wonderful. Brown bread and skimpy butter/margarine was good and I would have loved to have been given all the crusts but I think they were kept aside for the bread pudding.The haricot beans till today are still one of my favourite foods however they had detremental effects on some, giving rise to Diwali being celebrated almost on a daily basis. (Des back me up on this) - God forbid if you were heard and identified it was followed very quicky with torturous Castor Oil or Epsom Salts. Sunday cake was a treat.
Even as a young fella I was able to observe the human spirit. A lot of guys did like the food but stuck their tongues out in disgust just to keep up with the few (generally the older ones) who showed resentment for the food for fear of being outcasted - and if you were outcasted then the rest of your life in cottage (to be continued in school) were designated to be days of misery and torture.
So come on guys and gals!! what was your best or worst. The truth and nothing but the truth so help each one of you God!!
My only grievance was that there was not enough to feed the voraciousnes of our young appetites which eventualy gave rise to 'raiding the larder'
