.jpg) Bovril (250 g jar) | |
| Inventor | John Lawson Johnston |
|---|---|
| Inception | 1889; 136 years ago (1889) |
| Manufacturer | Bovril Company |
| Current supplier | Unilever |
Bovril is a thick and saltymeat extract paste, similar to ayeast extract, developed in the 1870s byJohn Lawson Johnston. It is sold in a distinctive bulbous jar and as cubes and granules. Its appearance is similar to the BritishMarmite and AustralianVegemite. Bovril is owned and distributed byUnilever UK.
Bovril is made into a drink by diluting with hot water or, less commonly, with milk.[1] It is used as a flavouring in soups, broth, stews and porridge, and is used as a spread, especially on toast.[2] In 2004 Unilever removed beef ingredients from the Bovril formula, rendering itvegetarian, but in 2006, reversed that decision and reintroduced beef ingredients to the formula.
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The first part of the product's name comes fromLatinbovīnus, meaning "pertaining to an ox".[3] Johnston took the-vril suffix fromEdward Bulwer-Lytton's then-popular novel,The Coming Race (1871), the plot of which revolves around a superior race of people, the Vril-ya, who derive their powers from an electromagnetic substance named "Vril". Therefore, Bovril indicates great strength obtained from an ox.[4]
In 1870, in theFranco-Prussian War,Napoleon III ordered one million cans of beef to feed his troops.[5] The task of providing this went to John Lawson Johnston, a Scottish butcher living in Canada.[5] Large quantities of beef were available across the British Dominions and South America, but transport and storage were problematic. Therefore, Johnston created a product known as 'Johnston's Fluid Beef', later called Bovril, to meet Napoleon's needs.[6] By 1888, over 3,000UKpublic houses, grocers anddispensing chemists were selling Bovril. In 1889, Bovril Ltd was formed to develop Johnston's business further.[7]
During the 1900Siege of Ladysmith in theSecond Boer War, a Bovril-like paste was produced from horsemeat within the garrison. NicknamedChevril (a portmanteau ofcheval, French forhorse, and Bovril) it was made byboiling down horse ormule meat to a jelly and serving it as a tea-like mixture.[8][9] Bovril also produced concentrated,pemmican-like dried beef as part of theBritish Army emergencyfield ration during the war. The ration came in the form of a pocket-sized tin can that contained the beef on one half alongside a driedcocoa drink on another half. The dried beef could be eaten alone, or mixed with water to create a beef tea.[10]
Bovril continued to function as a "war food" inWorld War I and was frequently mentioned in the 1930 accountNot So Quiet: Stepdaughters of War byHelen Zenna Smith. It describes the drink being prepared for the casualties atMons where "the orderlies were just beginning to make Bovril for the wounded, when the bearers and ambulance wagons were shelled as they were bringing the wounded into the hospital".[11]
When John Lawson Johnston died, his sonGeorge Lawson Johnston inherited and took over the Bovril business. In 1929, George Lawson Johnston was madeBaron Luke, of Pavenham, in the county of Bedford.
Bovril's instant beef stock was launched in 1966 and its "King of Beef" range of instant flavours for stews, casseroles and gravy in 1971.[citation needed] In 1971,James Goldsmith'sCavenham Foods acquired the Bovril Company but then sold most of its dairies andSouth American operations to finance further takeovers.[12] The brand is now owned by the Anglo-Dutch multinationalUnilever, which bought Bovril in 2001.[6]
In 2004, Unilever removed beef ingredients from the Bovril formula, rendering it vegetarian. This was mainly due to concerns about decreasing sales, particularly from exports due to an export ban on British beef, as a result of the growing popularity ofvegetarianism, religious dietary requirements, and public concerns aboutbovine spongiform encephalopathy.[13] In 2006, Unilever reversed that decision and reintroduced beef ingredients to their Bovril formula once sales increased and the beef export bans were lifted.[14] Unilever now produces Bovril using beef extract and a chicken variety using chicken extract.[15]
In November 2020,Forest Green Rovers Football Club announced a collaboration with the makers of Bovril to create abeet-based version of Bovril to be sold at theirNew Lawn stadium, where meat-based products had been removed from sale some years prior.[16]
InSouth Africa Bovril is produced by theBokomo division ofPioneer Foods.[17]
Bovril was promoted as asuperfood in the early 20th century. Advertisements recommended people to dilute it into a tea or spread it on their morning toast. Some adverts even claimed that Bovril could protect one frominfluenza.[5]
Bovril jars are commonly excavated as part of archaeological assemblages, such as atKnowles Mill in Worcestershire.[18]
Since its invention, Bovril has become anicon ofBritish culture. It is associated withfootball culture. During the winter, British football fans in stadium terraces drink it as a tea fromThermos flasks – or fromdisposable cups in Scotland, where thermoses arebanned from football stadiums.[19][20]
Bovril holds the unusual distinction of having been advertised with aPope. An advertising campaign of the early 20th century in Britain depictedPope Leo XIII seated on his throne, bearing a mug of Bovril. The campaign slogan read:The Two Infallible Powers – The Pope & Bovril.
Bovril beef tea was the only hot drink thatErnest Shackleton's team had when they were marooned onElephant Island during the 1914–1917Endurance Expedition.[21]
In the filmIn Which We Serve, the officers on the bridge are served "Bovril rather heavily laced with sherry" to warm them up, after being rescued during theDunkirk evacuation of theBritish Expeditionary Force.[citation needed]
British mountaineerChris Bonington appeared in TV commercials for Bovril in the 1970s and 1980s in which he recalled melting snow and ice on the first ascent ofBaintha Brakk (known as "The Ogre") to make hot drinks.[22][23]
In Malaysia they stir it into porridge and coffee
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