North African puha

In December 1942 Māori Battalion troops collected puha from North African wadis to go with their Christmas pork. But the local variety was not a total success, according to Captain M.R. Pene:

All dixies were commandeered to boil the stuff in (allowing for numerous returns) but, on boiling, the dam stuff smelt like hell - it simply stank. But considering that the only eatables we've had for weeks resembling ‘greens’ were dehydrated potatoes and carrot we tucked into the so called puha smell or no smell. I fully expected the troops (and myself) to have stomach complaints but we had none. Mind you, I put this down to the fact that said stomachs, having endured hard rations since Alamein were probably cast iron by Nofilia.

From J.F. Cody's official history, 28 (Maori) Battalion (Wellington, 1956), p. 249.

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