Food for much thought

Press, 11 October 1982, Page 17

Food for much thought

PA Auckland The surgeon submitted a recipe for spare ribs ... the director of the Blood Transfusion Service told how to concoct “Vampire Juice,” and the cardiologist .wrote about kidneys... However, it was all for a good cause. Staff of Auckland Hospital and Medical School have just released a coOk book of 114 recipes to raise money for the. Ninth International Health Records Congress being held in Auckland in May, 1984. Surgeon Associate Professor Ronald Kay was the pork spare ribs expert; Dr Grant Mac Lean, of the department of clinical oncology, submitted an elephant stew recipe; and medical superintendent, Dr Desmond Beckett, sent in a fish recipe learned when he was a leprosy consultant in Fiji. The medical records

officer, Mrs Ann Smith, who co-edited the book with Mrs Eve Smith, of the department of medicine at Auckland Hospital, says about $2OOO may be raised from sales. The $4 book is almost sold out.

Highlights include the Roman recipes of an immunology expert, Dr Douglas Wilson, for an allergy rotation diet — boiled ostrich and stuffed dormouse. “Some workers in the field of allergy believe that the less frequently you eat food of any one type, the less likely you are to suffer allergies. As a consequence, they have often searched for unusual f00d...”

Dr Mac Lean is probably the most prolific contributor to the book. His recipe for elephant stew begins: “Cut elephant into bite-sized pieces. This should take about two months...”

It is, he says, a useful dish

if you have a large number of guests for dinner — probably about 3800.

Dr Mac Lean also contributed “How to Bake a Surprise Cake,” under the nom-de-plume of an’ anonymous father. Part of the recipe says: “Measure two cups of flour. Remove Johnny’s hand from flour. Wash flour off Johnny. Remeasure f10ur...”

However, not all the recipes are in fun. Some are mouth-watering chicken, pork and fish dishes, and there are also sections on vegetables, desserts, cakes, biscuits, and breads.

The “Vampire Juice” recipe, submitted by Dr Graham Woodfield with the instructions that it should be served on a dark, cold night, is also nothing to worry about. Its main ingredients are apple and orange juice, boiling water, and blackcurrant juice.