Maybe just one more

In the 1967 Gowans and Larsson musical ‘Take-over Bid’, a song that soon became well known said, ‘There’s nothing like an Army cup of tea.’

This was true even back in 1898 when a son of the Founders, Herbert Booth, launched the Missionary Tea League. Salvation Army tea plantations in India and Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) produced tea under the brand name ‘Hamodava’ (Singhalese for ‘Salvation’), and members of the league promised to drink only this tea. In this way, they supported poor tea farmers and gave them an income to support their families and communities.

Tea became the drink of choice for many Salvationists around the world and it’s only in recent decades that coffee has given it some competition.

If – as history suggests, at least – the ‘Army cup of tea’ is our beverage of choice, what is the Army equivalent when it comes to food? ‘Oh, there’s nothing like an Army plate of ...’ what?

I’d like to offer several possibilities. The first is the curried egg sandwich. Cut into quarters.

I recall, as a child, attending Home League with my mother and many, many corps lunches and afternoon teas, and every single one, without exception, included quartered, curried, egg sandwiches. I grew to love them. Well, most of them.

Some were going stale, and the corners were starting to curl. Some had too much curry and made you rush for a glass of milk. Some were too runny and had to be accompanied by a serviette to wipe your mouth. And some were too thick – an inch of egg between two thin slices of bread. You took one bite and suddenly you were in damage control as egg oozed out from all sides of the sandwich, threatening to drop on the sacred hall carpet.

My second nomination for most traditional Army food is the humble pikelet. Smaller and easier to handle than a pancake (very important at a morning tea) and fluffier than a crepe, a good pikelet with a light smearing of butter is a beautiful thing. You can get more extravagant and top them with jam and cream, but for me that just makes them look like they’re trying to be a scone. Butter is fine.

Pikelets are almost uniquely made in Australia and New Zealand, although a similar creation is eaten in Scotland. They’re easy to make and that’s perhaps why they’re a quick default for when time is short and you need to bring a plate!

Coming in third is the cocktail frankfurt, theoretically made from a pork-like substance. If you put a large bowl of these on the table and some tomato sauce for dipping next to it, you need to step away fast before you’re swamped by children and bandsmen. Piranhas, I tell you. I’ve seen a large bowl of frankfurts totally disappear in 17.4 seconds.

They’re also the classic ‘I could probably fit in just one more’ food item. I can attend a corps lunch where I eat some sandwiches to start with, have a few frankfurts and then conclude with a nice dessert of trifle or cheesecake. And then have one more frankfurt.

So, there you have it, the complete Salvation Army meal: some curried egg sandwiches, a few frankfurts, some pikelets and another frankfurt. All washed down with a good old Army cup of tea. Happy days.

Major Mal Davies is the Assistant Divisional Commander for the Victoria Division