Maconochie was a

stew A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. A stew needs to have raw ingredients added to the gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables and ...

of sliced turnips, carrots, potatoes, onions,

haricot beans The navy bean, haricot, pearl haricot bean, Boston bean, white pea bean, or pea bean is a variety of the common bean (''Phaseolus vulgaris'') native to the Americas, where it was first domesticated. It is a dry white bean that is smaller than m ...

and beef in a thin broth, named after the

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

Maconochie Company that produced it. It was a widely used

food ration Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...

for British soldiers in the field during the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

and in front-line trenches during World War I. There was also a French version called Maconóochie. Though the stew was tolerable, most soldiers detested it. As one soldier put it, "warmed in the tin, Maconochie was edible; cold, it was a man-killer." Others complained about how the potatoes appeared to be unidentifiable black lumps. The congelation of fat above indistinguishable chunks of meat and vegetables led one reporter to describe it as "an inferior grade of garbage". A soldier named Calcutt claimed "the Maconochie's stew ration gave the troops flatulence of a particularly offensive nature." Some product versions that contained turnips were said to possess an unpleasant smell when combined with beans. On the other hand, Barbara Buchan from Fraserburgh Heritage Centre said that they have some records of affirmative responses about the product.

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Trench Food

Glossary of Australian military jargon of World War I

Replicas of World War I artifacts, including cans of Maconochie
Military food Canned food Meat stews {{food-stub

See also

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