CO-OPERATIVE COOKING ISN'T NEW

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22609, 28 June 1935, Page 17

CO-OPERATIVE COOKING ISN'T NEW

WHEN THE WIVES OF WINDSOR WENT TO CHURCH Wo .j.n hadn't to worry about that Sunday dinner in the "good old days"! ; They found time to attend church leisurely, without that disquieting query arising in their minds as to whether the important meal of the week was burning or the vegetable water boiling away (says a writer in the Sydney Morning Herald). Very often when some new idea is heralded we find traces of it in our own past history, and so it is with community cooking. It took the patient wives of Windsor and Richmond, not so long ago, to solve this all-important question. They had much to do in those early pioneering days besides domestic duties, and they did so want to attend church on Sunday. In those days there were no electric or gas ovens, and not even ranges! The meal of the week had to bj cooked either in the camp oven, or by a more tedious method. This consisted of roasting the meat before a fire, where it had to be watched very carefully in order that the whole joint could cook. If funds would run to what was then considered a luxury, a roasting jack would be purchased, which was wound up like a clock, and would keep the meat turning until it was finally done. But meat needs basting, so there did not seem much chance of the housewives avoiding this Sunday duty until they conceived a real community spirit. In Richmond, New South Wales, the wives decided to take charge of their neighbours' dinners, in turn. They had their allotted Sundays, on which they undertook this community task whilst their neighbours attended _ church. Neighbours' boys earned pennies very easily delivering the meals, and, as they were fleet-footed, the dinner did not cool. In days gone by a roast consisted of immense proportions, and very often was 181 b. Beef of the most succulent kind could be bought for 2d a lb, and it is said that its equal is hard to find. Indeed, meat and vegetables were ridiculously cheap. It remained for one named James Martin Kelly to further solve the problem. He had a large brick oven, and for a very small amount would bake all the dinners sent him. In this way all the wives could attend church! They could leave the whole dinner in the hands of this good Samaritan, on the way to church, and call for it on the way home. Of course, things got a bit mixed at times, especially if the boys called for the meal. Perhaps they wouldn't remember their mothers' dishes, but, once home, !t wasn't much use arguing tho point, as dinners have a way of getting cold! However, it would be quite interesting to find out afterwards just who had your dish of roast duck, and whose roast beef you had eaten! Later on Windsor had a more developed method of co-operative baking. The local bakery was the scene on Sunday morning of much hustling and bustling. The housewife just sent her meat or poultry to the baker, and he would send the food home again when cooked. What a convenience this common bakehouse was to those early pioneers! For a baking dish containing the roast, potatoes and vegetabes, the baker would charge 2d to 4d. If a cake was added, he would ask another 3d, and Id for a pie. What a sight those Sunday mornings must have been! What a hub of activity centred around the bakehouse, with Us customers coming and going, carrying the huge dishes of juicy roast beef, surrounded with the ever-popular Yorkshire pudding and baked pumpkin and potatoes!