Start Date
26-5-2026 11:00 AM
End Date
26-5-2026 11:15 AM
Description
Colonisation may be seen as an essentially male process, imposing Western notions of household organization and gender on native women and on the colonial housewife. This is all part of the ideology of domesticity which permeated British colonial societies from the late nineteenth century until the independence of African states in the mid twentieth century. In this paper I will examine how food was used to combat various medical crises in British colonial Africa. The paper considers cookery books from South Africa, Rhodesia, Bechuanaland, Kenya, Nyasaland, Ghana and West Africa, focussing on sections entitled “for the invalid,” “invalid dishes” or the “sick room.” Various medical crises are encountered, and suggestions are made on what drinks, food and remedies should be provided. However, settlers in tropical climates had to face not just the usual illnesses such as influenza and measles, but also an array of tropical diseases. As Emily Bradley points out in Dearest Priscilla, “the colonial empire ... is no health resort.” The recommended drinks for the invalid include such delights as albumen water and oxo made with milk, which we are told is very nourishing, but not very palatable. Food often includes gruel and recipes for bland dishes such as egg jelly and rusk pudding. The housewife also acted as home nurse administering medicines such as “resin of jalap” and calomel – which may result in mercury poisoning. Home nursing instructions included, for example, rubbing lukewarm melted butter over swelling caused by mumps. It was a demanding life for the colonial housewife.
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Oxo Made with Milk: The Trials of the Colonial Housewife
Colonisation may be seen as an essentially male process, imposing Western notions of household organization and gender on native women and on the colonial housewife. This is all part of the ideology of domesticity which permeated British colonial societies from the late nineteenth century until the independence of African states in the mid twentieth century. In this paper I will examine how food was used to combat various medical crises in British colonial Africa. The paper considers cookery books from South Africa, Rhodesia, Bechuanaland, Kenya, Nyasaland, Ghana and West Africa, focussing on sections entitled “for the invalid,” “invalid dishes” or the “sick room.” Various medical crises are encountered, and suggestions are made on what drinks, food and remedies should be provided. However, settlers in tropical climates had to face not just the usual illnesses such as influenza and measles, but also an array of tropical diseases. As Emily Bradley points out in Dearest Priscilla, “the colonial empire ... is no health resort.” The recommended drinks for the invalid include such delights as albumen water and oxo made with milk, which we are told is very nourishing, but not very palatable. Food often includes gruel and recipes for bland dishes such as egg jelly and rusk pudding. The housewife also acted as home nurse administering medicines such as “resin of jalap” and calomel – which may result in mercury poisoning. Home nursing instructions included, for example, rubbing lukewarm melted butter over swelling caused by mumps. It was a demanding life for the colonial housewife.