Allen but one of the good ones on Nostr: I read a history on the stuff once. It was a very typically late 19th century ...

I read a history on the stuff once. It was a very typically late 19th century product, in that the name itself means something like "Life essence of Cows" - Bo(vine) Vril. Potent health food, contains all that a body needs, etc etc. Apparently vril was a thing people believed in, it featured in fantastical fiction, mystical writing and snake oil cures alike. That kind of marketing wouldn't fly anymore so now it's just that weird intensely concentrated savoury black ooze that people like to put on toast :)