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DONALD C. BOWIE
varied greatly at different times. In 1942 and 1943 we had much difficulty in maintaining a growth of yeast, but we produced a kind of hop barm made from cod liver oil and hops which produced with flour, bran and ground rice a bread which in our circumstances was passable. In 1945 bread and what we called rock buns were made from rice, bran and beans steamed in an old refrigerator converted for the purpose and suspended over a fire. To us the result was excellent.
Storing the food
We maintained a steward's store throughout in which food stocks were held under the care of the steward and an assistant who lived with their charge. I said earlier that the arrival of food stocks was a spectacle never missed by the observant eyes of staff and patients, and by the time the Red Cross bulk stores began to come in I judged it wise to publish lists showing the quantities and varieties of food in all intakes, and this was appreciated.
Cooking the food
This was a heavy and often thankless task. The cooking apparatus was improvised after the main hospital kitchen was destroyed by enemy action in 1941. It was often very hard to get a good fire burning; the early rice boilers were deep and whether because of this or as a result of inexperience, the rice produced was often stodgy and gooey. Shallow boilers were installed later, and the quality of the rice delivered to the consumer improved greatly. The worst times were in 1942 when the hospital was overcrowded, the infections were rampant and the deficiency diseases were appearing, and also in 1943 when a long period of undernutrition could be foreseen. The unfortunate cooks came in for much criticism which of course did not improve matters. In addition to cooking they were called upon to divide the cooked food into containers for messes and wards and this led to further recriminations. I watched this situation with a great deal of care and I believe that we were fortunate to have men in these key positions who did not take advantage of their offices to get extra food for themselves, and who withstood apparently with only slight resentment much ill-informed and envious criticism. My natural faith in these men was all the stronger for the fact that the records of the body weights