Re: [Goanet] DoYouRemember: Polson butter?

[Cecil Pinto]

Dear Roland,

Thanks for the very interesting post on classic brands below.

I Googled each of them and now am better informed.

Look forward to more such nostagia/information posts by you.

Cheers!

Cecil


Message: 2
Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2016 18:42:00 -0400
From: Roland <roland.fran...@gmail.com>
To: "Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994!"
<goanet@lists.goanet.org>
Subject: Re: [Goanet] DoYouRemember: Polson butter?
Message-ID: <c4294bf6-36ad-4261-9832-6c1152f09...@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;   charset=utf-8

There were some iconic brands in the consumables category in Bombay during
Nehru's socialist era. Not all of them were indigenous, but even despite
foreign goods being banned, a very few because of their popularity,
continued to be imported in limited quantities.

Polson's butter, Waterbury's compound, Eno's Fruit Salts, Cadbury's
chocolates, and Rose's Lime Juice Cordial (a great mix for gin) were a few
of these popular brands.

Some like Polson fell by the wayside to local competition, others set up
Indian plants allowed to use the parent name and still others like Rose's
Syrups managed to retain their import license due to a very select market.

Butter in those days was a middle-class urban luxury. Most Christian homes
had butter on the table for the obligatory toast and the butter in most
cases was Polson. Amul, an Indian brand from a Gujarat cooperative had
entered the market but had not made inroads. Amul was the superior butter
but Polsons was the tastier. Amul poured in big money to advertise but
Polson gave out their dinky coupons as part of the wrapper and every
housewife collected them. Coupons would take a few pice, later paise off
the next purchase and that had the lady of the house hooked with the new
concept.

It's funny how taste can override goodness in a consumable product. Tinned
Kraft cheese for example is not real cheese, just a salty processed
product, but even today diehards used to it will opt to buy it over the
more natural and healthy cheddar slabs.

Polson did not make cheese, it just made butter unlike its rival Amul whose
cheese was an excellent product considering it was made by an Indian
company in rural Gujarat.

Ignorance, in this case due to non-availability, is generally bliss. It was
not until my relatives from Africa came to Bombay on long leave and brought
Kenya Creamery churned butter tins did we realize that Polsons was really a
very poor cousin.

In the end whether it was Amul's superior product or just their big budget
advertising or political heft that did Polson in, we shall never know. Like
an old soldier, Polsons after ruling Bombay's roost for decades, didn't
die. It just faded away.

Roland Francis
Toronto.

[Goanet] DoYouRemember: Polson butter?

[Bernado Colaco]

In our good old golden years in the 60's and as a young person I was often 
taken by my parents to Café Central a proper coffee restaurant which was 
situated and where now stands the horrendous bharati era Filhos da mae 
building. Bun pao coated with Polson butter,  was the order of the day. As the 
years went by our standard of living slowly degraded. It was goodbye Polson and 
Café Central and welcome 'be indian by indian.
BC





A consideration:
Most Christian homes did not have butter on the table. Perhaps such was the
case in certain enclaves. I know many people who did not, and nether did


I don't quite agree with Eric that this was because of India's
'socialistic' approach. Rather, this was a country just emerging out of
colonialism, with little or no industrial base (my dad had just finished a
contract with helping Kaiser Engineer's build a steel plant in Jamshedpur
and was taking on the offer to take up a job with the next at Cubatao, Sao
Paulo state (later on to become one of the 10 most polluted places on the
planet!) Besides, there was a lack of skills. Doctors who took their
education in India and migrated Westwards were reminded, I recall, that
their education had cost the taxpayer Rs100,000 -- a huge sum in those days.

Famines were know (around 1967, if not mistaken). The US/Indian solution
was the Green Revolution (anything to avoid Red!). In fits and starts, the
US-India relationship was on the rocks, and post-colonial defiance at times
wasn't making things easier.

We could occasionally afford butter. Fresh milk was cheap, but there were
queues (in Goa till the early 1980s), and one was lucky if you got a 250 ml
plastic bag.

I remember we occasionally ate Dalda (a kind of ghee) with sugar on our
bread, as it was cheaper. Eggs were easier to come by, probably because
these were locally produced.

Our family brought back a fridge with us from Brazil, but till 1970 we
didn't have an electricity connection at home! Those were those trying
times. Nonetheless, I look back wistfully. The tough parts tend to get
edited out of our memories.

FN


End of Goanet Digest, Vol 11, Issue 507
***


 

Re: [Goanet] DoYouRemember: Polson butter?

[Frederick FN Noronha फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या *فريدريك نورونيا]

Of course, you're right on that Venantius. Event hough we romanticise the
"good old days", the 1960s were tough times for many (almost all?) of us in
India.

I don't quite agree with Eric that this was because of India's
'socialistic' approach. Rather, this was a country just emerging out of
colonialism, with little or no industrial base (my dad had just finished a
contract with helping Kaiser Engineer's build a steel plant in Jamshedpur
and was taking on the offer to take up a job with the next at Cubatao, Sao
Paulo state (later on to become one of the 10 most polluted places on the
planet!) Besides, there was a lack of skills. Doctors who took their
education in India and migrated Westwards were reminded, I recall, that
their education had cost the taxpayer Rs100,000 -- a huge sum in those days.

Famines were know (around 1967, if not mistaken). The US/Indian solution
was the Green Revolution (anything to avoid Red!). In fits and starts, the
US-India relationship was on the rocks, and post-colonial defiance at times
wasn't making things easier.

We could occasionally afford butter. Fresh milk was cheap, but there were
queues (in Goa till the early 1980s), and one was lucky if you got a 250 ml
plastic bag.

I remember we occasionally ate Dalda (a kind of ghee) with sugar on our
bread, as it was cheaper. Eggs were easier to come by, probably because
these were locally produced.

Our family brought back a fridge with us from Brazil, but till 1970 we
didn't have an electricity connection at home! Those were those trying
times. Nonetheless, I look back wistfully. The tough parts tend to get
edited out of our memories.

FN


On 28 September 2016 at 06:58, Venantius J Pinto 
wrote:

> A consideration:
> Most Christian homes did not have butter on the table. Perhaps such was the
> case in certain enclaves. I know many people who did not, and nether did
> we. And there were many other things we and they did not partake in. It was
> not financially possible. We did not have a fridge, nor a record player and
> so on and so forth. People come from different strata of society, and
> accordingly lived lives. Always hoping. This is something I have attempted
> to spell out many times. Also there is nothing homogeneous about Goans and
> lived aesthetics, as also ethics.
>

-- 
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Re: [Goanet] DoYouRemember: Polson butter?

[Venantius J Pinto]

A consideration:
Most Christian homes did not have butter on the table. Perhaps such was the
case in certain enclaves. I know many people who did not, and nether did
we. And there were many other things we and they did not partake in. It was
not financially possible. We did not have a fridge, nor a record player and
so on and so forth. People come from different strata of society, and
accordingly lived lives. Always hoping. This is something I have attempted
to spell out many times. Also there is nothing homogeneous about Goans and
lived aesthetics, as also ethics.

—Venantius J Pinto


On Tue, Sep 27, 2016 at 6:42 PM, Roland  wrote:

> There were some iconic brands in the consumables category in Bombay during
> Nehru's socialist era. Not all of them were indigenous, but even despite
> foreign goods being banned, a very few because of their popularity,
> continued to be imported in limited quantities.
>
> Polson's butter, Waterbury's compound, Eno's Fruit Salts, Cadbury's
> chocolates, and Rose's Lime Juice Cordial (a great mix for gin) were a few
> of these popular brands.
>
> Some like Polson fell by the wayside to local competition, others set up
> Indian plants allowed to use the parent name and still others like Rose's
> Syrups managed to retain their import license due to a very select market.
>
> Butter in those days was a middle-class urban luxury. Most Christian homes
> had butter on the table for the obligatory toast and the butter in most
> cases was Polson. Amul, an Indian brand from a Gujarat cooperative had
> entered the market but had not made inroads. Amul was the superior butter
> but Polsons was the tastier. Amul poured in big money to advertise but
> Polson gave out their dinky coupons as part of the wrapper and every
> housewife collected them. Coupons would take a few pice, later paise off
> the next purchase and that had the lady of the house hooked with the new
> concept.
>
> It's funny how taste can override goodness in a consumable product. Tinned
> Kraft cheese for example is not real cheese, just a salty processed
> product, but even today diehards used to it will opt to buy it over the
> more natural and healthy cheddar slabs.
>
> Polson did not make cheese, it just made butter unlike its rival Amul
> whose cheese was an excellent product considering it was made by an Indian
> company in rural Gujarat.
>
> Ignorance, in this case due to non-availability, is generally bliss. It
> was not until my relatives from Africa came to Bombay on long leave and
> brought Kenya Creamery churned butter tins did we realize that Polsons was
> really a very poor cousin.
>
> In the end whether it was Amul's superior product or just their big budget
> advertising or political heft that did Polson in, we shall never know. Like
> an old soldier, Polsons after ruling Bombay's roost for decades, didn't
> die. It just faded away.
>
> Roland Francis
> Toronto.
>
> > On Sep 27, 2016, at 4:51 PM, Frederick FN Noronha * फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या *
> فريدريك نورونيا  wrote:
> >
> > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polson_(brand)
> > --
> > _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
> _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
> > _/
> > _/  Frederick Noronha | http://about.me/noronhafrederick |
> http://goa1556.in
> > _/  P +91-832-2409490 M 9822122436 Twitter @fn Facebook:
> fredericknoronha
> > _/  Goa,1556 CC shared audio content https://archive.org/details/goa1556
> > _/
> > _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
> _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
>

Re: [Goanet] DoYouRemember: Polson butter?

[Roland]

There were some iconic brands in the consumables category in Bombay during 
Nehru's socialist era. Not all of them were indigenous, but even despite 
foreign goods being banned, a very few because of their popularity, continued 
to be imported in limited quantities.

Polson's butter, Waterbury's compound, Eno's Fruit Salts, Cadbury's chocolates, 
and Rose's Lime Juice Cordial (a great mix for gin) were a few of these popular 
brands. 

Some like Polson fell by the wayside to local competition, others set up Indian 
plants allowed to use the parent name and still others like Rose's Syrups 
managed to retain their import license due to a very select market.

Butter in those days was a middle-class urban luxury. Most Christian homes had 
butter on the table for the obligatory toast and the butter in most cases was 
Polson. Amul, an Indian brand from a Gujarat cooperative had entered the market 
but had not made inroads. Amul was the superior butter but Polsons was the 
tastier. Amul poured in big money to advertise but Polson gave out their dinky 
coupons as part of the wrapper and every housewife collected them. Coupons 
would take a few pice, later paise off the next purchase and that had the lady 
of the house hooked with the new concept. 

It's funny how taste can override goodness in a consumable product. Tinned 
Kraft cheese for example is not real cheese, just a salty processed product, 
but even today diehards used to it will opt to buy it over the more natural and 
healthy cheddar slabs.

Polson did not make cheese, it just made butter unlike its rival Amul whose 
cheese was an excellent product considering it was made by an Indian company in 
rural Gujarat.

Ignorance, in this case due to non-availability, is generally bliss. It was not 
until my relatives from Africa came to Bombay on long leave and brought Kenya 
Creamery churned butter tins did we realize that Polsons was really a very poor 
cousin.

In the end whether it was Amul's superior product or just their big budget 
advertising or political heft that did Polson in, we shall never know. Like an 
old soldier, Polsons after ruling Bombay's roost for decades, didn't die. It 
just faded away.

Roland Francis
Toronto.

> On Sep 27, 2016, at 4:51 PM, Frederick FN Noronha * फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या * 
> فريدريك نورونيا  wrote:
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polson_(brand)
> -- 
> _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
> _/
> _/  Frederick Noronha | http://about.me/noronhafrederick | http://goa1556.in
> _/  P +91-832-2409490 M 9822122436 Twitter @fn Facebook: fredericknoronha
> _/  Goa,1556 CC shared audio content https://archive.org/details/goa1556
> _/
> _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

[Goanet] DoYouRemember: Polson butter?

[eric pinto]

         They were Parsees.     They were forced out of business to protect the 
co-operatives.    It was ruled that dairies were not eligible to sell casein.  
That primary     milk/protein derivative was the 'bread and butter' of the 
trade, not fat/butter.             Viva socialism !

   
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polson_(brand)
-- 


   

[Goanet] DoYouRemember: Polson butter?

[Frederick FN Noronha * फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या * فريدريك نورونيا]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polson_(brand)
-- 
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
_/
_/  Frederick Noronha | http://about.me/noronhafrederick | http://goa1556.in
_/  P +91-832-2409490 M 9822122436 Twitter @fn Facebook: fredericknoronha
_/  Goa,1556 CC shared audio content https://archive.org/details/goa1556
_/
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/