Recipes of War: Part 2

-

Only the Necessities

When we imagine a cook book or recipes, a chatty, opinion based style comes to mind. However, the Ministry of Food’s approach to cooking is simple and to the point: ‘wash and dice the vegetables. Fry the leek or onion and carrots in the fat, add the lentils.’ (18). The sentences are short and snappy and the entirety of the instructions usually consist of 10-12 lines. The recipes are rather non-descriptive, presenting the food as something essential to survival rather than a pleasure for the taste buds! The tone of the recipes lack character and are instead just instructional. The majority of the enthusiasm appears to be places into pictures and poster propaganda such as: Potato Pete and Doctor Carrot. These were vegetable caricatures designed to promote healthy eating (posters shown below). 

Potatoes, Potatoes, Potatoes

Despite, the lack of conversational tone, the Ministry did attempt to make uninteresting dishes appear delicious or appealing. Vegetables were not particular appetising to the population, and potatoes seemed to be the key ingredients to many of the war-time recipes. To combat this issue the Ministry of Food did attempt to create interesting sounding dishes, to appeal to British Households. Great examples include: ‘Surprise Potato balls’ (21), ‘potato piglets’ (30), ‘potato oven scones’ (75) and ‘sweet potato pudding’ (65). Potatoes were used in all courses including desserts!



Public health benefits

Fig 1: ⓒ IWM Archive, p. 36
The recipes and leaflets had various purposes, some were focused on sufficiency, helping households manage their rations and others had a focus on maintaining a healthy diet during the war period. For the first time feeding the country had a focus on modern ideas of nutrition. The preservation of food became significant to maintaining the benefits of nutrition. The instructions for the ‘Vegetable Casserole with Dumplings’ are very specific to the handling and cooking of the vegetables: ‘(do not scrape them) […] stir them over a low flame for a few minutes’ (47). The preservation of the vegetables was key to maintaining their nutritional value. ‘Add the prepared celery and fry without browning’ (36) – there is a constant reminder not to overcook the vegetables in order to keep the vitamins intact.
Propaganda posters such as "Doctor Carrot", were introduced to encourage families to eat more vegetables, especially carrots which were easier to cultivate all year round! The poster reminds the war-time viewer of the benefits of carrots, his medical briefcase labelled with the words "Vit A", short for Vitamin A. The caption: "The children's best friend", captivates the younger audience, encouraging them to eat vegetables. 





Images Cited:
Fig 1. from: Museum, Imperial War. Victory in the Kitchen: Wartime Recipes. London: IWM, 2016. Print.








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome!

-
Image
 My Blog on Wartime Food! This introductory post is just to welcome you to my blog and launch the ideas I aim to discuss within it. If you are curious about food recipes, rationing and agriculture during WWII, this blog is for you!  My blog posts over the next few weeks will cover my interest in World War II food so stay tuned! Link to image:  f5239096b54488ac20ab1894a96100e0.jpg Why Wartime Food? WWII was an interesting time for food, the focus was no longer concerning the enjoyment of food but, being assured that you had enough food to eat!  Great attention was payed to the production of the ingredients that went into the meals and not just the making of them! Without the constant production of fruit and vegetables, severe hunger and starvation was a prospect for many. This is where agriculture comes in- the topic of my next post! My post on gardening and agriculture will explore themes of gender, the battlefield and the urgency of production. My later posts
Read more

Recipes of War: Part 1

-
Image
"Is it Available?" The recipes in the Ministry of Food leaflets readily included food substitutes.   It was the ministry’s job to devise recipes that could make-up for the lack of certain food favourites amongst the population. The Imperial War Museum’s book Victory in the Kitchen: Wartime Recipes , showcases some of these recipes, taken straight from their archives. Many of these curious recipes are “mock” recipes including: ‘Mock Haggis’ using oatmeal and bacon ends (31) and ‘Mock Cream’ using household milk and sugar (67).   This introduces the Ministry’s effort to imitate much loved recipes at a time when certain ingredients were unattainable. The leaflets also appear to advocate eggless recipes such as: ‘Eggless Fruit Cake’ on page 73. Moreover, honey, marmalade and syrups are implemented as a supplement for sugar. The recipe for Meat Curry is a good example of this: ‘1 tablespoon chutney or vinegar, 1 tablespoon marmalade, 1 teaspoon black treacle or sy
Read more