Paul White (15)

This is a fun book for anyone who served in a 'Blue Suit' - that is, in the Royal Navy. In part, it will be a trip down memory lane. This cook book is written by a former Royal Navy Cook rating - it may even be useful!

Food is, of course, served to the officers and men (and, since 1993, women - before that, the Wrens, but not at sea) of the Royal Navy in ships and ashore, at sea in all weathers, in calm seas and rough seas, at Action Stations and in peacetime cruising, on passage from one port to another. A smart supply officer, catering petty officer and chief cook will plan the menus with the weather in mind, not just the seasons, not just the budgets. And, let me say, too, that in rough weather all the metal equipment can make one hell of a racket as they clatter about on the ranges. Napoleon apparently said that an army moves on its stomach and it's just as true that sailors at sea work and fight on their stomachs too. Food is important in terms of socialising and down time, just as in civvy street, but service at sea is sometimes dull or monotonous and food can play a big part in morale; for example, one knows it's Sunday when there is a roast meal, knows it's Friday when there is fried fish. Fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh milk and other fresh items soon run out, leaving the cooks to do their best with canned, frozen or powdered alternatives and substitutes. Cooks are part of the ship's company, live in a mess deck with other ratings and are always visible, unlike their counterparts ashore who often slave away in kitchens mostly out of sight.

The Pusser is the Logistics Officer, formerly the Supply Officer, former the Accountant Officer, formerly the Purser, from whence the nickname Pusser comes. Many things in the Royal Navy are described as being Pusser (i.e. correct) or Pusser's (i,e, belonging to the Admiralty, the Pusser its representative on and under the high seas and in shore establishments and naval air stations. So, one has a Pusser's Cook Book, a Pusser's Ship (= warship), Pusser's Rum (sold commercially), Pusser's Issue (anything Admiralty-pattern from Naval Stores).

I was a Pusser myself in the Royal Navy and I know just how hard cooks work at sea, often providing 200 and more meals three or four times a day, often in testing and uncomfortable circumstances. Naval Cooks are an important ingredient of a Happy Ship. It's a tough job, never ending, little changing, and a good Pusser will make sure his Cooks are looked after as well as the Navy allows. In the Falklands War, 1982, for example 14 Cooks were killed in action - that's more than from any other branch of the Navy.

The book is seemingly privately published, for the publisher is not named. Of the 100 number pages, fully eleven are blank and another four are blank at the end of the book. Why so many? It's a waste of paper and, occasionally, one wonders whether the page was not intentionally left blank but is as a result of a printing and binding error. It's for that very reason that in the Royal Navy's Books of Reference (BRs), such black pages are labelled 'Intentionally Left Blank'.

The book is written with a love and respect both for the Service and for Food. It is surprising, though, that the author does not make reference to that large volume, if our time in the 'Andrew' (the Navy) - the Naval Catering Manual (BR5) or the Manual of Victualling (BR93) or, indeed, the little book Brinestain and Biscuit - Recipes and Rules for Royal Navy Cooks - published by The National Archives in 2006 (a reprint, in part, of BR5 of 1930). The Pusser's Cook Book should have a 'further reading' list and/or a bibliography. The author needs to add Fanny to the Kitchen Glossary for I am not sure many civvies ashore will know what that item of equipment is.

Anyway, time for 'Hands to Dinner'.… (meer)

In many places this book is only comprehendible by those with a working knowledge of 'slanguage' (Royal Navy slang) It's a collation of stories (some of them even true) jokes and anecdotes covering the very colourful and long history of the doings and events in HM Royal Navy.
Regarding Political Correctness, this book falls (happily) well short, if the definition is expressed as 'The avoidance of forms of expression that could be perceived to marginalise or insult people who are different, disadvantaged or discriminated against'

Indeed, quite the opposite occurs here, where 'Jack' in his wisdom seeks every opportunity to highlight differences, oddities, abnormalities and strange traits and even speech patterns, of any and every individual.

Most of which once was normal and everyday banter, but latterly has become offensive and deemed to be denting someone else's over-inflated self-opinion and in many cases, incredibly, has even become a crime.

People with thin skins or delicate dispositions should avoid this publication.

Mostly It's amusing, in a few cases educational and not one to be read from cover to cover - more of a dip-in and find something memorable type of reading.… (meer)