CHRISTMAS IN DESERT

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 143, 13 December 1940, Page 9

CHRISTMAS IN DESERT

PLANS BEING MADE USEFUL SUBSIDIES (From the official war correspondent with the New Zealand ExpeditionaryForce in the Middle East. CAIRO, December 12. In fifty 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, would hardly be surpassed in their own homes. Quartermasters and cooks have already planned dishes and placed orders for the good things Christmas calls for among Britishers everywhere. They have been given wide scope as a result of two useful cash subsidies, one of Is 6d per head from the National Patriotic Fund, and the other Is, which is increased to Is 6d for troops in the field, from the rebate fund derived from canteen profits. These sums will go a long way in the purchase of foodstuffs produced locally. An illustration of what can be done with subsidised rations is given by the following specimen menus for dinner and tea, compiled by headquarters as a guide to units. Dinner: Creamed tomato soup; roast turkey; pork and apple sauce and stuffing; green peas, cauliflower, and white sauce, roast potatoes. Christmas pudding and brandy sauce; nuts, cigarettes, fruit, and beer.

Tea: Cold meats and salad; cake and mince pies; fruit salad.

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 of the units intend to decorate their messrooms for the occasion. Officers will dine with the men in many cases, while in at least one unit officers and n.c.o.s will wait on the men. Everything possible is being done towards the celebration of Christmas in a 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 the hospitals. Gift parcels of puddings, cakes, and sweets from New Zealand will probably be distributed on Boxing Day.