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Bottle - Kornies Food Co, Turban Brand, Essence of Coffee & Chicory, 1940s
Reg. No: HT 23837
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- Summary:
- Bottle of 'Turban' brand Instant Coffee and Chicory essence. Kornie Food Co. Pty Ltd, Bouverie St, Carlton, Melbourne. Approx. 8 fluid ozs. The label features three images of Turkish men wearing the turban, kaffiyeh and other traditional clothing.
Kornies Food Co. appears to have operated from Carlton from the 1920s to 1940s while the Turban brand of coffee and chicory essence appears to have been produced through the 1930s and 40s with bottles very similar to this item appearing in advertisements in the Argus in 1945. The promotion of the Turban brand is particularly strong in the 1940s with Kornie Foods producing a picture book based on the character in 1946: 'Turban Tim says win big prizes with this Kornies painting book'. - Description:
- Bottle of 'Turban' brand Instant Coffee and Chicory essence. Kornie Food Co. Pty Ltd, Bouverie St, Carlton, Melbourne. Approx. 8 fluid ozs. The bottle is made of brown coloured glass and is cubic in shape with a rounded neck. It has a blue painted metal screw cap lid.
The label features the bejewelled turban worn by a head of dark skinned and dark moustached Turkish man at the front. Around to the right, the label image is of a man wearing traditional Middle Eastern / Turkish dress sitting on a camel beneath a palm tree, with a building and minarets in the background. Beneath this image is text under the heading "Flavouring" and directions to make 'Coffee Cake' and an image of a coffee cake. Around to the left of the front image is the image of a black skinned seated man wearing a kaffiyeh. He is seated beneath a palm tree and is holding one cup of iced coffee while another cup and the pot sit beside him. The man is facing a large white and red building in the background.
Beneath this is the text 'Instant Coffee & Chicory' and a recipe for iced coffee.
The bottom of the bottle has: 1SM 69 stamped in the centre. Below this is number 5. And above the 9 is the number 228. - Acquisition Information:
- Donation from Karen Schamberger, 2009
| Discipline: | History |
| Dimensions: | 210 mm (Height), 48 mm (Width) |
More information
| Tagged with: | food drink preparation, bottles, coffee, advertising, cultural stereotypes |
| Themes this item is part of: | Domestic & Community Life Collection, Identity: Yours, Mine, Ours, Immigration Museum Exhibition, 2011-2021 |
| Primary Classification: | CULTURAL IDENTITY |
| Secondary Classification: | Ethnicity |
| Inscriptions: | Text on the front of the label reads: Turban Instant Coffee & Chicory Essence Kornie Food Co. Pty Ltd. Bouverie St, Carlton, Melbourne Approx. 8 fluid ozs. Text on the left side of the label reads: Instant Coffee & Chicory Use one teaspoonful to a cup of boiling water or hot milk. Iced Coffee Use one or more teaspoonfuls according to taste to a glass of iced milk. Extra delicious with cream or ice-cream added. The true mocha flavour. Text on the right side of the label reads: Flavouring Use according to taste as a flavouring for cream fillings, cakes, icings, ice-cream, etc. Coffee Cake Beat 2 tablespoons butter with 1 cup sugar to a cream, add 2 well-beaten eggs, beat mixture well then add 1 1/2 cups S.R. flour, 1/2 cup milk, 1 tablespoon Turban & lastly 1 tablespoon boiling water. Bake in moderate oven about 1/2 hour. Ice using a little Turban mixed with icing sugar and a dessertspoon butter. |
| Manufacturer: | Kornies Food Co Pty Ltd, Carlton, Victoria, Australia, 1940s |
| References: |
The Argus, Melbourne, Friday 22 August 1930, p.7. The Argus, Melbourne, Saturday 8 September 1945, p.13 |
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Comments
The visual image on the bottle label was of the head of a bearded Sikh (Indian) wearing, of course, a turban.
Bushell's current equivalent coffee essence bottle has a visual image on its label of an Arab-looking gentleman, wearing a fez.
A quick Google search uncovered a Scottish brand, dating back to the 1880s, with the brand-name "Camp", and a similar image, this time of two men, a white colonial being served iced coffee, and a turban-wearing Indian doing the serving.
I knew Turban and Bushells during the late 1950s, and these were still available in the mid-1970s, long after coffee enthusiasts had embraced the idea of buying fresh roasted beans, and grinding them freshly at home, and similarly long after Italian restaurants (such as Pelligrinis', in Melbourne) had imported expresso machines and begin popularising genuine bean coffee.
Before that, as American visitors such as Tommy Hanley, Junior (a popular TV host in the 1950s and 60s) lamented, "coffee" in Australia was a hot mix of the coffee-chicory essence.
However it was (and still is) possible to buy powdered roast coffee beans, sold in jars as "Turkish coffee" (just pour on boiling water, and stir, then let the grounds settle -- but the drink was, authentically Greek or Turkish in style, gritty-pasty).
John Gough jagough49@gmail.com
The saying, "Wake up and smell the coffee", really meant something then. Todays coffee, however excellent, just over powers one with a smell of smouldering rubber. I think the change may have happened by the early 70's. Has the EU meddled again and taken something out of the noble coffee bean?
ED,ILFRACOMBE.