A meal in a matchbox made by government scientists: Synthetic food, as tasty and more nourishing than the real thing, yet so compact that a three-course meal goes in a matchbox has been made in top secrecy by Government scientists. The research work has been done at the Ministry of Agriculture's food reserach station at ~~~~~ Aberdeen, under the direction of Dr. J.M. Hay. He and his scientists have been backed by big chemical industry groups, and their invention has been developed at the request of the Ministry of Defence. Matchbox meals can be kept almost indefinitely without deterioration. An example of the matchbox food could be soup, a dish of synthetic stewed steak followed by a sweet in the form of say, apple pueree. There would not be as much as you might be accustomed to see on a wel-filled plate, but it would be satisfying to eat, and the flavour would be indistinguishable form the real thing. The soup will probably be in a tablet form. The stewed steak will be a packet of course granules. There will be a teaspoonful or so of white powder which will be the mashed potatoes. Another little packet of powder will contain the apple puree. The only thing to be added to the chemicals will be water. Photo shows here is the meal - and the matchbox (top left) is apple puree. (top right) is the soup. (bottom left) is minced steak and (bottom right) is mashed potatoes.
Photo measures 8.25 x 6 inches.
Photo is dated 7-17-1956.
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