Burgoo myth

[Jonathon Green]

FWIW. My father, who served in the British Army from 1939-45 and never set
foot in the US, let alone Kentucky, always called porridge 'burgoo' He
thought it migth have been picked it up from veterans of the Indian Army
(i.e. white Brits ruling brown India pre-1947) who woul;d probably have
encountered and mispronounced 'burghul'. That said, there must also have
been a strong naval input, certainly as seen in the cites used in the OED
(sense 1). However one can find 'burgoo' cites in the early 18C, e.g.

a1704 Ned Ward ‘The Dutch-Guards Farewel to England’ (in _Writings_ 1704)
(2nd. edn.) 142: You’ve nothing so Good for a _Dutchman_ to Eat, / As
_Burgooe_,  _Red-herring_,  _Dry’d Whiting_ and _Scate_.

(I think this is a Dutchman from Holland rather than Germany, given the
diet).

The dish started off around then as a seaman's staple, a thick oatmeal
gruel, also known as loblolly. Whether the Kentucky development (based on
maize, meat and veg.) is sequential or coincidental, I leave to the culinary
historians.

Jonathon Green