"The flint hard grain was sharp and irritating, and capable of piercing the intestinal wall" (Crawford 1995:64) It had the dubious pleasure of being referred to as "Peels Brimstone" because of its yellow sulphurous color and its effect on the digestive system. In time the relief commission provided instructions of how to cook maize "properly," although those whose who needed the knowledge most were in remote areas or could not read English During the most extreme famine conditions people had little to eat but the Indian meal. Workhouses and soup kitchens began serving more and more of it This was often done in the form of a stirabout or porridge of mostly maize meal boiled in water When possible oats or rice and any available vegetables were added to Indian meal to make soup the distribution of raw Indian meal to starving, debilitated, often homeless beggars was about as useful as a daily ration of river sand. (From an anonymous reviewer of the health commissioners post-Famine report to the lord lieutenant, cited in Geary 1995: 84-85). (from Pellagra and Nutrition Policy: lessons from the Great Irish Famine to the new South Africa by Barrett P Brenton (2009)