Everyone interviewed for this book commented on the British food – it was one of the biggest culture shocks of all. Joyce Bleasdille-Lumsden went straight to the hospital where she was to work. It was midnight and “the night sister was waiting for me because she knew I was coming. When I reached the hospital the night sister said, ‘Are you hungry?’ and I said, ‘Yes’. They brought me scrambled egg and toast and I shall never forget that scrambled egg! It had so much water in it. It didn’t look like our West Indian scrambled egg but I was hungry so I had to eat it and it had no salt!”

Dr Victor Eastmond confessed that when he left Barbados he did not know how to cook so coming to England, he had to eat what he was given. “That was a bit of shock. The type of food we would have in the Caribbean is a lot more spicy and tasty. The food over in the UK was bland with less salt. I was used to more of a rice diet and over here was more of a potato diet.”

Neslyn Watson-Drueé “was amazed at the difference in the light; that hit me most. In the Caribbean at four o’clock in the morning, it is bright! Also, the food was bland, it was as far as I’m concerned tasteless and I had difficulty in digesting it. Food was problematic for the want of a better word.”

For Hazel Watson, “it’s the tea I wasn’t very keen on.”  For Tryphena Anderson, “the beef was raw and it was stringy! I couldn’t get used

to beans. There was no spice; everything was cooked different. One night I remember I was working on the ENT ward and I checked when I went for my tea that the supper was going to be Welsh rarebit and I thought oh good! I hadn’t eaten rabbit and I was so excited. I made sure I did everything so when they did their checklist I could get to that dining room. When I got to that dining room guess what it was? Cheese on toast! I didn’t like their cheese anyway!”

Lynette Richards-Murray remembered that people were “very kind and generous” but “the food was something else. I just couldn’t come to terms with the food because I remember the first time I had steak and kidney pie. I can still smell the wee in the pie! On Fridays we used to have fish and chips. It looked lovely, brown

and nice but there was no seasoning! I used to live on cheese and biscuits! Of course I put on a lot of weight!”

In her interview, Gloria Falode remembered: “We didn’t like the food; the curries had
sultanas in them. At Christmas time we used to get parcels from home and verybody’s parents used to send them pepper sauce, it was like gold dust! One day matron decided she wanted to see all of us and we thought we had done something bad and she was asking why we were not going to the dining room. They were concerned we were not eating properly so we told her and she said, could we go and see the chef and tell him what we wanted. The whole dietary thing changed because of us.”

Cafeteria at Mile End Hospital, 1972 (Royal London Hospital Archives: ME/P/4)