Mr. W. S. Morrison, British Minister of Food, must have carefully studied and evaluated the weight of English family tradition before he announced his meat ration plan, which went into effect on Monday. Probably running through his mind as he considered the nation's menu and the importance of the Sunday joint in relation to national emergencies was the old music hall song of the extraordinary culinary adventures of this versatile piece of meat before it reaches complete disintegration by the following Sunday—"Hot on Sunday, cold on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, too, we turn it into Irish stew." With this thought in mind, rationing was not introduced until Monday, and like the storms which traditionally confounded the country's enemies in past centuries, the Sunday joint may also play its part for the London message published on another page states that no reaction is immediately available until last Sunday's joint has been reduced to a bone and a skewer. Then the coupon system for meat rations may be accurately assessed, Butchers are said to be of the opinion that housewives may serve unrationed meats and fish during the week and maintain the Sunday tradition by saving their coupons for the joint, which serves such a multiplicity of purposes in the average English familys weekly food bulletin. This is the most likely possibility for the Sunday joint tradition is not based entirely on the leisurely consumption of a favourite dish, but is based on a definite economic plan for the provision of food which may be utilized in different ways throughout the week according to the size of the joint and the skill of the housewife in reducing it to its utmost possible nutritive point. It may not be so nowadays but in the days of our youth the sight of the bone in some sort of dish with suet dumplings on Friday was not a rarity in families where the thrifty housewife had her "stock pot" working during the week. This about constitutes a record as far as the longevity of the joint goes, but in spite of the vogue for prepared dishes and tinned foods which are calculated to undermine the creative instinct of the English housewife, Mr. Morrison wisely looks ahead, confident that the country will still have the Sunday joint.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.