Maconochie


Maconochie was a stew of sliced turnips, carrots and potatoes in a thin broth, named for the Aberdeen Maconochie Company that produced it. It was a widely used food ration for British soldiers in the field during the Boer War 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. A reporter once described the stew as "an inferior grade of garbage".