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Bovril

dor

By dor
in General Boating

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dor Veteran II

dor

Posted
Posted

Winter boating and Bovril go together like, well winter boating and Bovril.

 

However this combination is under threat as I have now run out of my stock of proper beefy Bovril.

 

If you didn't notice, Bovril, that well established BEEF extract went vegetarian last year. It is now based on yeast extract and is a shadow of its former self. It's not even as good as Marmite.

 

So what's a man to do? Have any of you out there found a decent substitute for Bovril?

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dor Veteran II

dor

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Regrettably red OXO have also been reformulated and are now largely vegetable extract based, although I think they do retain a token trace of beef extract. They certainly are not what they used to be either. Both made by the same people though - Brooke Bond.

 

What does a tea merchant know about beef drinks?

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Keeping Up Veteran II

Keeping UpDonate to Canal World

Posted
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None, but I'm Vegetarian!!!! :wacko: So its hot Vimto for me!!!

 

Paula XX

I reckon Vimto is just an anagram of what it tastes like!

 

The one thing I have most problems with is Monosodium Glutamate (MSG). It used to be only Chinese food that had it, but now so many stock cubes, gravy granules, etc, are full of the stuff that I find it really hard to avoid. Does anyone know if the new Bovril has MSG in it?

 

Allan

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boatchad Contributor

boatchad

Posted
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Yuck is right, if you are going to the trouble of boiling the kettle there really is only one thing, Yorkshire tea. Ahhhhh, sublime. Pure taste and no monosodiwatsits or other objectionable gubbins. Tea and t'cut, one hand on the tiller and one round a mug of cha, life don't get much better.

 

That is what I will be doing next weekend, out for a week no wives or women allowed so we'll have to brew our own tea, still nevermind [oh and there might just be a spot of alchohol consumed to keep out the cold]. :wacko:

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JohnO Community Regular

JohnO

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Posted

Unilever acquired Brooke Bond in 1984. The Brooke Bond name has been dropped for all external communication and is used only in internal corporate communications.

Unilever acquired Bovril in 2000

Bovril contains "naturally occurring" glutamate

Marmite contains 1750mg per 100g, and has more glutamate in it than any other manufactured product on the planet.

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Guest

Guest

Posted
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Unilever acquired Brooke Bond in 1984. The Brooke Bond name has been dropped for all external communication and is used only in internal corporate communications.

Unilever acquired Bovril in 2000

Bovril contains "naturally occurring" glutamate

Marmite contains 1750mg per 100g, and has more glutamate in it than any other manufactured product on the planet.

Is that good or bad?

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Keeping Up Veteran II

Keeping UpDonate to Canal World

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Is that good or bad?

For me ... very bad. For quite a lot of people, bad too. It's a "flavour enhancer", it stimulates the taste buds so that everything has a strong taste, you can make bland foods taste good or if you are a food manufacturer you can get away with putting in less flavouring. It's VERY common with Chinese foods, they call it 'Flavour Powder' and sprinkle it on the food like salt.

 

For many people the side effects are that it makes you very thirsty and gives you a headache but most people don't realise, they just drink more - great for any restaurant that uses it - and assume that the next morning's headache is a hangover. It's even got a medical name, "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" but of course manufacturers with a vested interest tell you it doesn't exist.

 

 

Marmite contains 1750mg per 100g, and has more glutamate in it than any other manufactured product on the planet.

I'm most interested in this, because I've not had the usual MSG reaction with Marmite. Of course, that may be because I only ever use minute quantities of it on toast - but I've just looked on a jar in the cupboard and there's no mention of it or any other flavour enhancer either by name or by E-number.

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dor Veteran II

dor

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Excellent link JohnO - I read the article when it was first published, suited my cynical nature well.

 

One benefit of MSG is that you tend to use less salt, which is supposed to be a good thing.

 

I wonder how many people who complain about MSG in chinese foods realise how high it is in things like cheese and tomatoes?

 

Still doesn't solve mt bovril replacement problem though.

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Richard Bustens Experienced

Richard Bustens

Posted
Posted

I dont know Dor. i realy like my mooring where i am but there is only 1 foot of water around the boat and every lock change ime aground, i moved the boat back and forwards last week , that helps but with the bows high it just plughs itself in till the back gets stuck again it will go out sideways again now but i have to be within a foot when going back in.

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Keeping Up Veteran II

Keeping UpDonate to Canal World

Posted
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ahh that will be because it's "naturally occurring"

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly...1522368,00.html

Thanks for that - a very useful link. Maybe I don't have trouble with Marmite because I don't drink it by the mugfull, but only spread it very thinly on toast (I love it). Yes I do have get the symptoms, in a mild form, if I eat tomatoes although strangely enough apparently not with cheese. But any MSG-loaded crisps, etc, will most certainly affect me. Of course I may be unique (isn't everyone?) and the condition may not actually affect anyone else - but knowing that fact wouldn't make my headache go away.

 

Like a lot of similar articles, this one confirms that the symptoms I experience don't exist. Would that it were so! There is a significant publicity machine, promoted by those who have an interest in MSG, and many of the statements made in the newspaper article contain identical text to stock emails that were sent to me by the manufacturers and sellers of MSG. The American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says "there is evidence that mild reactions to monosodium glutamate (MSG) may occur in a small portion of the population", although adding that they are "not aware of any scientific evidence that establishes that monosodium glutamate causes particularly severe adverse reactions, or that reactions to low doses of monosodium glutamate occur and are life threatening." (Federal Register June 21, 1991). Sounds fair enough, feeling thirsty and having a headache are not life-threatening, just unpleasant.

 

As for it being a good way to cut down on the amount of salt you consume - I don't know the relative consequences of Sodium Chloride versus Sodium Glutamate, but I wouldn't want to bet my life on either.

 

Sorry to have gone on at such length. But it took me over 10 years to work out what the common factor was behind the symptoms. At one point I realised that beer and crisps gave me a headache so I gave them both up. Oh was I miserable until I discovered it was the crisps that were at fault and I could go back on the beer. So I'm staying off the MSG now,

 

Allan

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Hairy-Neil Veteran

Hairy-Neil

Posted
Posted (edited)

Like a lot of similar articles, this one confirms that the symptoms I experience don't exist. Would that it were so! There is a significant publicity machine, promoted by those who have an interest in MSG, and many of the statements made in the newspaper article contain identical text to stock emails that were sent to me by the manufacturers and sellers of MSG.

 

With few exceptions (nuts etc) most of the mainstream medical profession are of the opinion that many health problems are incurrable, that is to say food intolerance is poppycock. If there's no pill or operation for it you're stuck with it for life. The problem is compounded by the fact that vast majority of medical research is funded by the drug companies. It is not unknown for a drug company to pull the plug on the cash grants when the scientists begin to discover a condition may be atributed to diet alone and be curable simply by not eating certain things.

:wacko:

Edited by Hairy-Neil
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colinjw Collaborator

colinjw

Posted
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None, but I'm Vegetarian!!!! :wacko: So its hot Vimto for me!!!

 

Paula XX

 

But has anyone tried "Crazy Vimto"?

 

My OCM loves it and we had a ball with same a couple of years ago.

 

Recipe:

1 measure of port

Lots of ice...about 6 cubes

Bottle of Blue WKD.

 

Then stand back!!

 

Apparently, it tastes like Vimpto but I prefer to stick to beer.

 

Colin

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