As a local I may be able to give some insight: The boy running with the salt shaker is trying to pour salt on the birds tail - when I was a very young boy I was told by my mother that if you could get close enough to pour salt on the birds tail it then couln't fly away - of course you could never get that close to a wild bird anyway - a great way for mothers to get kids out of their hair (and if salt runs freely it is dry packed and wont clog the salt shaker). Golden Syrup is not corn syrup but sugar cane syrup - commonly referred to as "Cockies Joy" as in post war periods this was a cheap food spread for farmers families (Cockie is short for "Cow Cockie" a Diary Farmer.) The Watties company is already owned by Heinz but the NZ in the beaNZ is to say it is a New Zealand product.(the company's push to say well made NZ). Hope that clears up a few questions.
Nice casual blog well done - hope the weather gets warmer down Wellington way - remember winter is really six bad weeks from the shortest day (june21st)
The cow cockie term may be traced to here: http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/Reference/FoodDrink/DrinkLocal/Milk/
the lump inn the drawing is actually a very poor (pour!!) rendition of the little bird's left wing - I must admit this is a very bad piece of printing on the label by the manbufacturer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebos
However the most important piece of information on the salt canister for newlty arrived Americans (or anybody else for that matter ) is the word "Iodised" at the top of the label. By reading your blog I see that you are very consious of the health and foods - When the first settlers arrived in NZ they were mainly from northern England and farmers - they immediately settled into the bush and slashed and burnt back the land for farming - they intoduced european farm stock of cattle and sheep and went about their lives - unfortunately many farmers became ill and farm animals died mysteriously with "Staggers" - soon the Europeans began to get sick , many died, and many fell ill with "Goitre" an inflamtion of the thyriods that gave people enormous growths about their necks.
Scientists of the time eventually worked out that New Zealand as a newly evolved volcanic Island pushed up from the seabed had a deficiency of many "Trace" elements in the young soil - one of the main elements missind was Iodine. (Maroris did not get the disease as they ate mainly seafoods and the ocean and its fish is full of Iodine). The New Zealand Government made it compulsory for salt to be sold with "Iodine" in the 1930's so that ne warrivals would get the trace element into their diet.
finally found this image that perhaps could be called a better concept of the boy trying to catch the chicken. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2407/2080290636_7522fc5433.jpg?v=0
(that was a lot of fun tracking that down - must have too much time on my hands!!!)
I'm happy to have the Cerebos salt label cleared up. I was really pretty happy with my "See how it runs" theory that it was a mouse.
That's a great picture of the old cardboard salt can. Morton's salt still comes in a cardboard container like that to this day back in the states. It's iodized salt too. Americans don't eat nearly enough fish to get their iodine the Maori way.
I think I might have The Staggers in a non-bovine form.
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11 comments:
"Se how it runs!"? What does that mean?
Also, there IS an extra I in aluminum (aluminium).
Not a drop of corn syrup in ANY of that.
"See how it runs?" is kind of like "When it rains it pours." on Morton salt.
Apparently if you make salt you need to think of some kind of clever double entendre for the packaging.
What I can't figure out is whether that's a mouse, a chicken, or a salty mouse-chicken beast that he's running after.
Does the golden syrup taste like Maple?
Is is supposed to?
M.
So, Watties = Heinz? I think so.
m/b
I took another look at the salt. It's definitely a chicken. They must really like their salty chicken over here!
Hmm... This weekend I decided that it's definitely a mouse. I figure "See how it runs" is a reference to the Three Blind Mice and "see how they run."
It looks an awful lot like a chicken though. I may contact the manufacturer to clear this up.
As a local I may be able to give some insight:
The boy running with the salt shaker is trying to pour salt on the birds tail - when I was a very young boy I was told by my mother that if you could get close enough to pour salt on the birds tail it then couln't fly away - of course you could never get that close to a wild bird anyway - a great way for mothers to get kids out of their hair (and if salt runs freely it is dry packed and wont clog the salt shaker).
Golden Syrup is not corn syrup but sugar cane syrup - commonly referred to as "Cockies Joy" as in post war periods this was a cheap food spread for farmers families (Cockie is short for "Cow Cockie" a Diary Farmer.)
The Watties company is already owned by Heinz but the NZ in the beaNZ is to say it is a New Zealand product.(the company's push to say well made NZ).
Hope that clears up a few questions.
Nice casual blog well done - hope the weather gets warmer down Wellington way - remember winter is really six bad weeks from the shortest day (june21st)
Thanks, Steve Butler.
So it's a bird. Maybe a bird with a lump of salt on his head? A tumor?
I wonder where the term "Cow Cockie" comes from.
The cow cockie term may be traced to here:
http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/Reference/FoodDrink/DrinkLocal/Milk/
the lump inn the drawing is actually a very poor (pour!!) rendition of the little bird's left wing - I must admit this is a very bad piece of printing on the label by the manbufacturer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebos
However the most important piece of information on the salt canister for newlty arrived Americans (or anybody else for that matter ) is the word "Iodised" at the top of the label.
By reading your blog I see that you are very consious of the health and foods -
When the first settlers arrived in NZ they were mainly from northern England and farmers - they immediately settled into the bush and slashed and burnt back the land for farming - they intoduced european farm stock of cattle and sheep and went about their lives - unfortunately many farmers became ill and farm animals died mysteriously with "Staggers" - soon the Europeans began to get sick , many died, and many fell ill with "Goitre" an inflamtion of the thyriods that gave people enormous growths about their necks.
Scientists of the time eventually worked out that New Zealand as a newly evolved volcanic Island pushed up from the seabed had a deficiency of many "Trace" elements in the young soil - one of the main elements missind was Iodine. (Maroris did not get the disease as they ate mainly seafoods and the ocean and its fish is full of Iodine).
The New Zealand Government made it compulsory for salt to be sold with "Iodine" in the 1930's so that ne warrivals would get the trace element into their diet.
see:
http://www.nzfsa.govt.nz/processed-food-retail-sale/fact-sheets/iodinelongqas.htm
finally found this image that perhaps could be called a better concept of the boy trying to catch the chicken.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2407/2080290636_7522fc5433.jpg?v=0
(that was a lot of fun tracking that down - must have too much time on my hands!!!)
Thank you Steve Butler!
I'm happy to have the Cerebos salt label cleared up. I was really pretty happy with my "See how it runs" theory that it was a mouse.
That's a great picture of the old cardboard salt can. Morton's salt still comes in a cardboard container like that to this day back in the states. It's iodized salt too. Americans don't eat nearly enough fish to get their iodine the Maori way.
I think I might have The Staggers in a non-bovine form.
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