Origin of Names and Packs
Provita
JML Baumann had the largest bread factory in Durban, with 56% of the trade. He decided (1935) that he would like to make an above-average brown loaf, for which he would charge an extra penny per loaf. His son, William Baumann, believed that this particular type of bread should be given a specific name and he chose “Provita”, using the Latin “pro” meaning “for” and “vita” meaning “life”, as shown on the picture. Two types of “Provita” loaf were made: one with a coarse texture and one with a fine texture, referred to as “Provita Coarse” and “Provita Fine”. It proved to be a very popular loaf and outsold the normal brown bread.
It was then decided (1941) to produce a biscuit with similar ingredients and this was registered as “Provita Crispbread”. Baumann’s Biscuits in Cape Town were automatically given permission to make “Provita” biscuits, but they made theirs in a slab form with serrations down so that it could be broken into five pieces, each of a similar size to the Bakers’ “Provita”. The recipe was slightly different.
It was one of the top-selling biscuit lines and competitors did their best to copy it, using such names as “Supervita” (Weston’s), “Vitaplus” (3-Rings) and EtaVita (Enterprise), but their attempts attracted very little sales and they were soon dropped by the manufacturer. Originally the biscuit pack was a suitably printed, ordinary brown paper bag with a cellophane lining, but was later changed to the form seen above.
The Analytical Chemists, Harding and Kloot, provided the following analysis for “Provita Crispbread” (1941):
Moisture ............................... 4.03 %
Ash ....................................... 2.12 %
Protein ................................. 11.73 %
Total Carbohydrate .............. 72.55 %
Fibre ...................................... 1.60 %
Oil ......................................... 7.97 %
Calorific Value ..................... 1 906 Calaries per lb.
There were 78 biscuits per lb = 24½ calories per biscuit.