ISLAND FOOD

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 4, 6 January 1944, Page 6

ISLAND FOOD

BOOKLET FOR AIRMEN ■ J AUCKLAND MUSEUM'S MANUAL Food is Where You Find It is the title of a pocket-size manual prepared by members of the staff of the Auckland Museum for the use of Allied airmen and others who might become castaways or have to live off the land as raiders in the Western Pacific. Proof of its value comes in repeated orders from all the services, both officially and from individuals who have not yet received it as a general issue. As a result two impressions, each of 5000, have been exhausted since September, and a third, with a supplement, is now available.

Since the beginning of the war in the Pacific the museum staff has received a stream of requests for information, and it was at the'suggestion of Colonel W. G. Farrell, U.S.M.C., that this material was put into permanent form.

The booklet is divided into two parts (1) Useful Plants of Coral and Volcanic Islands (sugary foods, starchy foods, oily foods, fibres, fish poisons), written by Lucy M. Cranwell and Captain J. E. Green, U.S.M.C.R., and mainly illustrated by the former (now Mrs. Watson Smith); and (2) Useful and Harmful Sea Creatures, written and illustrated by A. W. B. Powell, Assistant Director, Auckland Museum.

In this booklet readers will learn what New Zealand men may have to depend on in the atolls (e.g., in the Gilberts) and in the higher islands, where, of course, there is a richer range of food. The story is •told simply, and methods of cooking are stressed. For instance, many of the ••tropical plants contain stinging crystals, or prussic acid, but they are still most important sources of food if properly prepared (e.g., the taros, cycads and manioc, which provides tapioca). The introductory map indicates the scope of this booklet, which is planned for Use all along the warmer Western Pacific as the tide of war inevitably moves northwards. Most of the plants extend right back to Burma and India. A limited number of copies of the book, which is printed by the Auckland Star, is available at city book stores. Official orders should be placed with the Director of the Auckland Museum, Dr. Gilbert Archey.