In Remembrance of the Australian Imperial Force.

 In 1918, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the armistice which formally ended World War I was signed by the Allied Forces. Today my little story has a military theme in honour of those on all sides who lost their lives during the terrible years of the war. The story comes from a short piece in The Times and Northern Advertiser (Peterborough, South Australia) of 19 July 1940:

A.I.F. [Australian Imperial Force]MENUS.

Here are two menus, from the A.I.F. camp in Australia during 1914-18, and the other from a present-day camp.

1914-18.

Breakfast—Curry and rice, fried chops and gravy, mashed potatoes, bread and jam, tea and coffee.

Dinner—Roast Mutton, gravy, and potatoes, date pudding and sauce, tea.

Tea—Stewed peaches with [?,] cheese, bread and jam, tea.

1940.

Breakfast—Porridge, bacon, mashed potatoes, bread and butter, jam, tea.

Lunch—Corned beef, potatoes and carrots, bread and butter, custard, bread, jam, tea.

Dinner—Barley broth, curry and rice, potatoes and swedes, apple pie, bread, butter, tea.

Not exciting food, but soldiers on active duty have never had the luxury of being fussy about their food. From two other Australian newspaper, I give you a couple of choices of date pudding.

Date Pudding.

4oz. self-raising flour.

4oz. bread pi

eces.

3oz. shredded suet.

4oz. stoned dates.

3 oz. sugar, milk.

Soak the bread in a very little milk and water, or water, then squeeze it and chop finely. Add to it the suet, flour, sugar, and chopped dates and a pinch of salt, and mix all well together with the milk squeezed from the bread.

Turn into a greased basin, cover it tightly, and stand in boiling water to cook for quite three hours, Serve with thin white sauce, slightly sweetened.

Cairns Post, 29 October, 1941.

Date Pudding.

One cup sugar, one teaspoon baking soda, one cup milk, two cups self-raising flour, one tablespoon dripping. One cup dates. Bring the milk to the boil, adding a pinch of salt, and melting the dripping in the milk, before stirring into the dry ingredients. Put into a cloth and boil for two and a half hours.

Nambour Chronicle and North Coast Advertiser, 10 January 1941