CHRISTMAS IN EGYPT

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23203, 14 December 1940, Page 12

CHRISTMAS IN EGYPT

Troops To Eat Rich Fare SUMPTUOUS DINNERS IN DESERT

(From the Official War Correspondent with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the Middle East.)

CAIRO, December 12. In 50 mess halls and tents from the Nile Valley to the Western Desert soldiers of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force will sit down on December 25 to Christmas dinners which in richness and abundance could hardly be surpassed in their own homes. Quartermasters and cooks have already planned dishes and placed orders for good things for Christmas. They have been given wide scope as a, result of two useful cash subsidies, one of eighteenpence a head from the National Patriotic Fund, and the

other of a shilling, which is increased to eighteenpence for troops in the held, from the rebate fund derived from canteen profits. These sums go a long way in the purchase of foodstuffs produced locally. Ah illustration of what can be done with subsidised rations is given by the following specimen menus for dinner and tea compiled at headquarters as a

guide to units: Dinner: Creamed tomato soup, roast turkey and pork, with apple sauce and stuffing, green peas, cauliflower and white sauce, roast potatoes, Christmas pudding, brandy sauce, nuts, cigarettes, fruit and beer. Tea: Cold meats and salad, cake,

mince pies, fruit salad. The units have been left to plan their own menus, and enthusiastic cooks

have many surprises in store. One battalion has kept true to the New Zealand tradition by obtaining New Zealand lamb. Most units intend to

decorate their mess rooms for the occasion. Officers will dine with the men in many units, and in at least one unit officers and non-commissioned officers will wait on the men. Everything possible is being done towards the celebration of Christmas in the manner to which the troops have been accustomed. Even in the desert the dinner will be no less sumptuous than in the more comfortable surroundings of the base camp and hospitals. Gift parcels of puddings, cakes and sweets from New Zealand will probably be distributed on Boxing Day.