NOVEL COOKING IDEAS

Wanganui Chronicle, 17 March 1947, Page 7

NOVEL COOKING IDEAS

FEATURES AT BRITISH EXHIBITION AT OLYMPIA (From A. W. Mitchell, Special Correspondent, N.Z.P.A.) London, March An exhibition of cooking by radio is one of th e many novel ideas being demonstrated at Britain's first Trade Exhibition to be held for eight years. This new type of cooker is technically known as a "high frequency di-elec-tric preheater.’’ It transforms the house current into a radio frequency current which is focussed directly on the food. In five minutes the family joint is ready for carving. At Olympia, where the "Daily Mail’’ Ideal Home Exhibition opened last week, many curious and approving eyes watched while fish and potatoes were done to a turn and then sent oft to London's hospitals. Housewives, with electricity cuts in their minds, learned that th e food cooked rapidly between electrodes while the cooker itself remained cold. They discovered too, that in the near future infra-red heating will be used for cooking. All last week Olympia was packed. Queen Mary and the Duke or Gloucester were among the first visitors. They were photographed on arrival by a new process and a print of the scene was shown to them a minute later. At the present time, there is a certain amount of gloomy introspection about Britain’s industrial position and her trade outlook, it is refreshing and encouraging to visit the Ideal Home Exhibition and to see plainly demonstrated that not only can Britain make it, but her people can now either buy it or order it.

ARTICLES FOR HOME MARKET The difference between the Olympia and the recent exhibition at Kensington is that the present exhibition is not designed to show foreingners what Britain can do “for export only." Though some exhibits do bear this tiresome label—bookcases for some reason are reserved for overseas—the majority of articles are for sale on the home market. Some firms promise immediate delivery of furniture for instance, and others say it may be ordered for delivery. The waiting period varies. Some utility furniture can be promised in two to three months, but for such things as refrigerators the delay is 12 to 18 months. A knowledgable salesman mentions that the delay on new car s is as much as three years. Though ther e is a wide range of furniture, it is mostly obtainable only on points and reserved for newly-weds who are setting up home for the first time, people who were bombed out or those arriving from overseas who have been luckly enough to find an unfurnished house or flat. PREFABRICATED HOUSES The chief interest in the exhibition centres round permanent prefabricated houses, and it is a sign of the times that, in an arc-lighted village where six different types of homes are displayed, groups of people queue patiently for admission to see over them. These houses, one aluminium, one limber, and four concrete, are not yet for sale to the .public but are types being bought by the Government for housing schemes. The aluminium house which is built by an aircraft firm —the metal used for on e Lancaster bomber now builds three houses—is of four sections and is th e most quickly erected. The timber house can be erected wall by wall, each section being ready made of inner and outer skins padded with glas E wool for insulation. On e of the concrete houses was developed from Ihe D-day experience of one firm that produced hundreds of reinforced concrete pontoons for the Mulberry Harbour scheme.

While houses and furniture probably attract most attention, there is a wide range of household goods which housewives, parched with austerity, may linger over—and buy. Another important section of the 12 acres of stands and stalls is the Court of Fashion, where may be seen the latest designs and where international Wool Secretariat shows a collection of over 200 British wool fabrics. Displaying furnishing material and knitting wool, evening gowns and lingerie, this section was given particular attention by Queen Mary. NEW ZEALAND STALL The exhibition holds special interest for New Zealanders a s there is a New Zealand stall in the food section. With photographs and coloured graphs it gives a reminder of the Dominion’s contribution to Britain’s larder and invariably there is a knot of people collecting gift samples of photographers, notebooks, blotters and green fernleaf in plastic—all pre-war stock incident allyThough the exhibition is designed chiefly for the home market, orders are reportedly coming in from the various Empire countries and there is flattering attention from the Continent. Olympia is therefore at least one bright and cheerful spot in icearmoured, blizzard-stricken Britain. It. confirms the high standard of British workmanship and the fertility of British ideas.