BeppoSapone Posted 13 November , 2003 Share Posted 13 November , 2003 Somewhere I read that 'egg and chips', as sold in every cheap cafe in the land, is a product of WW1. Before 1914 egg was eaten with bacon or ham, and chips were eaten with steak. As the French people had very little meat available they combined eggs with chips to create the dish "Bombardier Fritz", which was sold to the soldiers behind the line. Very much a come down from "Chicken Marengo", but is this true? Can anyone think of anything else still eaten, or drunk, today that was created or popularised by WW1? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Morgan Posted 13 November , 2003 Share Posted 13 November , 2003 I remember "learning" years ago that egg and chips was a Great War invention just as Beppo says. They say that the people of Burnley, Lancs., are the country's leading consumers of Benedictine liqueur. The East Lancs men got the taste in France when the 11th Bn was based in Fecamp in Normandy, where Benedictine is produced, during the winter of 1918-19. They got used to drinking Benedictine and hot water as a "winter warmer" and brought the practice home with them. "Bene and Hot" is still a popular drink in the area and the Bolton Miners' Club is said to sell more Benedictine than any other outlet in the world. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 13 November , 2003 Share Posted 13 November , 2003 Does anyone have a piccie of a French home offering 'oeufs et pommes frittes' - I am sure I have seen one in a book somewhere but can't remember? Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Parker Posted 13 November , 2003 Share Posted 13 November , 2003 I recollect seeing a cooking programme about fish and chips and how they came into being and accordingly to that programme fish and chips became a stable diet on the home front during the First World War due to the low price and nourishment value. This was also the case during Second World War. Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hone Posted 13 November , 2003 Share Posted 13 November , 2003 The Benedictine story is true, or at least substantially so. The company who produce Benedictine even have an advertisising leaflet about it which I picked up at The Accrington Pals memorial service last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 13 November , 2003 Share Posted 13 November , 2003 The perfect way to start the day in Bolton Eggs-Benedictine Regards Michael DR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul guthrie Posted 13 November , 2003 Share Posted 13 November , 2003 And the Bolton Wanderers won the football championship in 1921 in the white horse final and the man on the horse was a PC who was a WW1 medal winner. And God is benedictine horrible! But to a nation of bovril eaters... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeppoSapone Posted 13 November , 2003 Author Share Posted 13 November , 2003 And God is benedictine horrible! But to a nation of bovril eaters... Like Pepsi, Bovril is an imposter. The 'real thing" is Marmite! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Burns Posted 13 November , 2003 Share Posted 13 November , 2003 Hi All, When I was doing my semester abroad in England I was told the 'restrictive' pub hours were holdovers from WW I. By limiting the hours that war-workers could drink they'd be that much more productive. Great story but no idea if it's true or not. Take care, Neil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevew Posted 13 November , 2003 Share Posted 13 November , 2003 Hi All, When I was doing my semester abroad in England I was told the 'restrictive' pub hours were holdovers from WW I. By limiting the hours that war-workers could drink they'd be that much more productive. Great story but no idea if it's true or not. Take care, Neil This is a true story................ I think it was pimarily directed at farmworkers, but it was also related to armanent workers - mainly so they wouldn't come back from lunch the worse for wear! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevew Posted 13 November , 2003 Share Posted 13 November , 2003 And the Bolton Wanderers won the football championship in 1921 in the white horse final and the man on the horse was a PC who was a WW1 medal winner. And God is benedictine horrible! But to a nation of bovril eaters... Paul, The 'White Horse' FA Cup final was 1923, and yes Bolton won it - beating West Ham 2-0. This was the first FA Cup Final played at the Empire Stadium, Wembley, and the last time the FA Cup was not an all ticket match! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeppoSapone Posted 13 November , 2003 Author Share Posted 13 November , 2003 Although this is also not to do with food and drink I believe that moving the time forward in the spring and backwards in the autumn started in either WW1 or WW2. I have an idea that it was WW1. In a churchyard somewhere near Bromley I once saw a memorial to the man whose idea it was said to be, a William Willets (sp?). As I was about eight, and bored stiff visiting relatives, that's all I remember. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 13 November , 2003 Share Posted 13 November , 2003 Like Pepsi, Bovril is an imposter. The 'real thing" is Marmite! Too True! Accept no substitute It saved the Indian Army in Mesopotamia who suffered from scurvy, a vitamin B1 deficiency, and were "...prostrated by this ailment. The deficiency in their rations was made good by doses of Marmite, they rapidly recovered." from Col Michael Hickey 's The Mediterranean Front 1914-1923, pub. by Osprey Regards Michael D.R. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul guthrie Posted 13 November , 2003 Share Posted 13 November , 2003 I stand corrected! Marmite it will be from now on. And yes Tony, Pepsi is an impostor and a Godless one at that. Years ago when in one of the worst marketing moves in history Coca Cola took the real thing off the market and all you could get was new Coke. Mama bought thousands of bottles of the good stuff. I wrote Coke telling them new Coke tasted like Pepsi or vomit and I was not sure which. After much similar comment they returned to real Coke, America's finest! Now a confession and an ashamed one too, at least at one point Pike COunty Kentucky had the nations highest per capita consumption of Pepsi! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 13 November , 2003 Share Posted 13 November , 2003 They say that the people of Burnley, Lancs., are the country's leading consumers of Benedictine liqueur. The East Lancs men got the taste in France when the 11th Bn was based in Fecamp in Normandy, where Benedictine is produced, during the winter of 1918-19. They got used to drinking Benedictine and hot water as a "winter warmer" and brought the practice home with them. "Bene and Hot" is still a popular drink in the area and the Bolton Miners' Club is said to sell more Benedictine than any other outlet in the world. Basically true, Tom. The Burnley ("Plumbe Street") Miners Institute is actually the one that sells the most Benedictine and the 11th were based at Harfleur (not far away) ,not Fecamp. I believe that those who were in Fecamp were actually in the Lancashire Fusiliers. The story that it was the "Pals" who brought the Bene home is the popular one here in Burnley, but it's a case of a slightly "glorified "truth. Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Poilu Posted 13 November , 2003 Share Posted 13 November , 2003 Just to say I got back from France an hour ago and seeing this thread made me laugh - ate my lunch in Arras on the way home, a plate of egg and chips! And some of the best eggs I have ever tasted! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest A Mafia Man Posted 13 November , 2003 Share Posted 13 November , 2003 On the 'fish & chip' part of the thread, I remember reading that cod became the choice of the fish shop owners because supplies of haddock were badly affected by the war. It has remained the nations No 1 choice ever since. Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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