Eating For Victory Cookbook
Healthy Cooking in Wartime Britain: Recipes From the Rationing Days
If you've ever wondered how people cooked healthy dishes when food was rationed in wartime Britain, take a look at Eating for Victory.
What do you think makes a healthy diet? The Italian diet is likely to spring to mind: it’s said to be one of the healthiest in the world. Tuscan cuisine, for instance, is based on the simple food of poor Italian agricultural communities – a cucina povera - and still uses plenty of beans and vegetables. And the dishes of southern Italy rely on ingredients like fresh tomatoes, olive oil and lots of salads, while fruit frequently takes the place of sugary desserts.
Eating for Victory
But what about a war time diet? Surely that just means deprivation and malnutrition? Well, of course it does in most cases. However, as a book entitled Eating for Victory (foreward Jill Norman, pub. Michael O’Mara, RRP £9.99) explains, during World War II, the population of Britain had a surprising healthy diet. And while the book doesn’t advocate going back to the days of powdered egg and savoury leek sandwiches, it does offer an intriguing insight into a time when a little food and lot of imagination combined to produce a distinctive, and nourishing, cuisine.
Rationing
As Jill Norman explains in the introduction, in Britain, during World War II, food was strictly rationed and continued to be so until 1954. Great efforts were made to ensure that the population was properly nourished, and that everyone had a fair share. As imports were restricted, people were encouraged to grow their own food in their gardens, (often on top of air raid shelters) and on allotments.
Every man, woman and child had a ration book – in 1942 a typical week’s ration included 2-4 oz (50-100g) cheese, 4oz (100g) margarine, 1 egg, 2-3 pints (1.2-1.8 litres) of milk and 4oz (100g) bacon. There was little, fat, little sugar and little meat.
Stale Bread
The government, through the Ministry of Food, produced information sheets and recipes, showing people how they could make the most of their ration. These are reproduced in the book and cover everything from ‘Using up Stale Crusts’ (making Crumb Fudge was one suggestion) to how make an eggless batter for coating fish. The ‘Green Vegetables’ leaflet reminded people that the leafy tops of turnips, broad beans and beetroot, and the leaves of cauliflowers, were tasty and nutritious and could be added to soups and stews.
Potato Recipes - and Pilchard Tart
Potatoes, with their high vitamin C content, received a lot of attention. People were encouraged to cook them in their skins (the vitamin C is contained just beneath the skin) and recipes reproduced in the book include potato pastry, potatoes in curry sauce and potato stew. There are also instructions on how to roast potatoes without fat.
Some dishes sound less than delicious – like pilchard tart, fish and cabbage spread sandwiches, and dripping cake. However, this book is not just a nostalgic dip into the austerity years of wartime Britain – it provides some food for thought too.
