Bovril - Blog Posts

What the heck is ‘Johnston’s Fluid Beef’? According to this Victorian age flyer in the Canada Medical and Surgical Journal of April 1883, it is “the most perfect food for invalids ever introduced, concentrated preparation for nutritious beef tea or soup, specially recommended by the Medical Faculty.” But the directions for use on page 4 may be a recipe for botulism: “Add a small teaspoon to a cup of boiling water and season to taste; or as a sandwich paste it may be used on toast, with or without butter. The can may remain open for weeks without detriment to the contents.”

The story of ‘Johnston’s Fluid Beef’ began in 1870 in the Franco-Prussian War, when Napoleon III ordered a million cans of beef to feed troops. John Lawson Johnston, a Scot living in Montreal, had the task of providing it. Transportation and storage were problematic, so Johnston created a product known as Johnston’s Fluid Beef, later called Bovril, to meet the need. By 1888, Johnston’s Fluid Beef became a British staple sold in 3,000 U.K. public houses, grocers and dispensing chemists, and remains so today. A major downturn in sales occurred in 2004 when the company changed its formula to make Bovril vegetarian. The Guardian reported in 2007: “Rather than any new-found vegetarian gusto, the move [by Bovril] to yeast extract in 2004 was largely triggered by concerns about beef consumption and BSE [bovine spongiform encephalopathy], which affected Bovril’s export market.” But by 2006, the beef was back in Bovril and the company survives. Modern directions for use are recommended.