- Camp Coffee
Camp Coffee is a Scottish food product, which began production in 1876 by Paterson & Sons Ltd. in a plant on Charlotte St, Glasgow. Almost one-hundred years later in 1974 businessman Daniel Jenks merged with Paterson to form Paterson Jenks plc. [ [http://www.jenks.co.uk/history.asp History of Paterson Jenks plc] ] In 1984, Twelve years later, Paterson Jenks plc was bought by McCormick & Company Inc. Thereafter, McCormick UK Ltd assimilated Paterson Jenks plc into Schwartz. Interestingly, McCormick claims not to be the manufacturer on their main site, and the product can't be found on the Schwartz site either. [ [http://www.mccormick.com/content.cfm?ID=12976 McCormick claim not to manufacture Camp Coffee] ]
Camp Coffee is a glutinous brown substance which consists of
water ,sugar , 4%coffee essence , and 26%chicory essence. This is generally used as a substitute for coffee, by mixing with warmmilk in much the same way ascocoa , but it is commonly found on baking aisles insupermarkets as it is also used as an ingredient in coffeecake and other confections.The label is rather old-fashioned in tone, consisting of a drawing of a Scottish soldier (allegedly Major General Sir
Hector Macdonald ) and aSikh soldier sitting down together outside a tent, from which flies a flag carrying the drink's slogan, "Ready Aye Ready". Originally the picture depicted the Sikh as carrying a tray of coffee; it is widely believed that this was changed to avoid theimperialist connotations of the Sikh as aservant , although the company does not confirm or deny this. [ [http://greengathering.blogspot.com/2006/09/camp-coffee-and-political-correctness.html "Camp Coffee and political correctness", Green Gathering Blogspot, September 2006, (accessed June 2008)] ] [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/409264.stm BBC news item from 1999: "Coffee logo stirs racism row" (accessed June 2008)] .] The original drawing was byWilliam Victor Wrigglesworth .The brand has been around since
1885 ; legend has it that it was originally developed as a method of brewing coffee quickly for military purposes.Today Camp is a British
totem ofnostalgia , as many remember it from their childhoods.References
External links
* [http://www.mccormick.com/content.cfm?id=11259 History of McCormick UK Ltd]
* [http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/Residents/Parks_Outdoors/HeritageTrails/SouthernNecropolis/southernnecropolisheritagetrail29to31.htm Description of Robert Paterson's tomb with references to Camp Coffee]
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