Bartholomew Felther's:
Campus Culinary Coverage

No Room for recipes this week. I've just completed a consumer survey with your interests in mind. I sought bargains among the raw materials of cooking, but will defer instructions on kitchen-work till later.

Peering into countless shop windows and chatting-up the proprietors; I found some very helpful, and others markedly taciturn. The helpful, and others markedly taciturn, latter probably suspected I was a price or health inspector in mufti. And speaking of health, I saw one appalling sight. Inside one city butcher shop that seems to cater to a procession of Karori marchionesses, leading or carrying dogs. I saw a fluffy aristocrat in a tartan overcoat languidly pissing against the counter. The gossiping sybarite who owned the urinating pooch did not see what it was doing (and in fairness, nor did the butcher), but nevertheless I saw three dogs in his shop in fifteen minutes.

Make no mistake, I like dogs—but not near public meat supplies, and my tolerance does not extend to playing host to hydatid cysts in my vitals, either. I sympathise with parking problems and all the rest, but if I see more of this in that place—I may remonstrate with the manager—and if I find him obdurate, will not hesitate to publish a verbatim transcript in the public interest, together with his business address.

This country has sound regulations about dogs and food—in contradistinction to London for example, where dog turds are strewn throughout West End food shops with daffy connivance. But our regulations need enforcing, and the late A. R. D. Fairburn was correct when he said—"New Zealanders are very tolerant; espcially of the intolerable".

Here's a run-down of bean and legume prices at the vegetarian retailers: Beans—lima 33c, Dutch brown 32c, soya 25c, broad 25c, haricot 18c, lentils—red 23c, brown 28c, oddments—pearmeal 25c, oatmeal 13c, rolled oats, 13c, peas—green splits, 16c, yellow split, 16c, blue 13c. Australian brown rice. 14c, cornmeal 12c, barley 12c.

Fish shops stock cooking oils from $4 per gallon, and it pays to form a commune for a gallon and rebottle. "The cheapest fish just now is whiting" a Lambton Quay fishmonger told me. "It's good for fish pies, or fried lightly." I noticed he had some boneless fillet at 30c, skate wing at 30c, ling block at 30c, and groper soup bones at 15c per pound.

Butchers' shops with competitors in the same area arc worth watching for bargains. Woolworths and Wright Stevenson's meat lines plummet in price at 8.30 p.m. on Friday evenings as 'retailers panic' descends. Bargains now are—lamb forequarters, pet food and sausage meats, ox tripe, flap stewing chops, Lorne sausages, and lamb and sheep tongues.

Some general meat prices:—

Briskete on the bone 24c per pound, neck chops 18c, shoulder chops 18c, pet food 20-24c, sausage meals 20-25c, forequater roasts, unspecified weight 85c, 5½ pound; $1.25c.

Individual firms: Whale Bros., Cuba Street,—Beef mince, per pound 31c, calves fry 22c, lambs fry 38c, ox tripe 13c, flap stewing chops 10c.

Leo Whale Eatox, Cuba Street. —Lamb tongues 4c each, hogget shoulder fillets 32c, crumbed sausages 23.

Gear Meats, Cuba Street.—Fresh mince 32c, Sheep's hearts, 20c, Lorne sausages 23c.

Munawatu, Cuba Street.—Hogget shoulder fillets 28c, calves fry 25c.

Excelsior Meats, Cuba Street.— Beef sausages 23c, knuckle mutton 10c, shoulder chops 28c, neck chops 18c.

Vegetable shops: Potato prices varied in the city.

Pukekohe new potatoes: 21bs for 20c, 3lbs for 28c, and another variety at 10lbs for 39c. Pumpkin ranged from 6c per pound to 10c for 4lbs, butternut retailed at 12c 1b, and sundry lines were carrots 3lbs, 16c, artichokes 16c, yams 18c, beetroot 16c, parsnip 18c, leeks 15c, shallots 21b for 35c, white pears stood out at 3lbs for 25c.

Kelburn proved the best centre for vegetables as three shops in close proximity compete.

A Vivian Street Chinese importer told me Muk beans (the ones that sprout on wet sacks) are 35 cents per pound, and large sacks of rice are available now at a reasonable price.