Product Description

The period of wartime food rationing is now regarded as a time when the nation was at its healthiest. Food rationing was introduced in January 1940 after food shipments were attacked by German U-boat 'Wolf Packs'. The first food items to be rationed were butter, sugar, bacon and ham, with restrictions also placed on meat, fish, jam, biscuits, cheese, eggs and milk. The leaflets reproduced in "Eating for Victory" were distributed by the Ministry of Food and advised the general public on how to cope with these shortages. Typical contents include: recipes for steamed and boiled puddings; tips on how to use and prepare green vegetables; and hints about how to reconstitute dried eggs and use them as though they were fresh. As a result of the stringent rules put in place during wartime, people began to eat more healthily than ever before. "Eating for Victory" is a great gift book and not only does it offer a nostalgic look back at one of the hardest and yet perhaps healthiest times in history, but it is also a relevant guide on healthy eating for today.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14410 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 160 pages

Amazon.co.uk
How would you survive on wartime rations? Eating for Victory (subtitled Healthy Home Front Cooking on War Rations) makes for absolutely fascinating reading -- and may answer the question as to what the reader might have made of these more straitened times.

The book reproduces official Second World War instruction leaflets (which have never before been published in book form) and demonstrates how millions of people in Britain endured food shortages during the hardships of WWII. With a perceptive foreword by Jill Norman, Eating for Victory shows that the government endeavoured to keep morale high by producing a host of the upbeat leaflets included here on such subjects as ‘using up stale crusts’ and ‘foods for fitness’ (the leaflets are most amusing in this area, showing how much thinking has changed over the years -- the use of fats and lard looks very quaint in these more enlightened times). But what gives particular pleasure here is the verbatim reproduction of the original artwork and typefaces, which vividly conjures a lost era. To read this entertaining little book is like climbing into a time machine to take us back to the 1940s. --Barry Forshaw

Publishing News, June 07
"Anyone interested in the wartime diet, its low food miles, accent on
healthy eating and using home-grown produce will enjoy experimenting with
the recipes. I know I will!"

Sunday Times Style, 22 September 2007
"delightful"

Customer Reviews

Fascinating, enlightening
The introduction to this book sets the scene of the wartime kitchen and beyond during rationing, and continues with reproductions of wartime leaflets. For content I would have given this book five stars but marked it down by one since I found some of the reproductions rather difficult to read due to poor quality - even with my super new reading glasses.

This book is not just a nostalgic look at the past but contains valuable nutritional advice which is as applicable today with the range of foods available to us as it was then.

Given the current economic climate and the need for us all to reduce food and energy waste, there are many useful tips to pick up from this book. Filling, wholesome food and a balanced diet is possible with good planning, even with the most frugal ingredients.

I also picked up nutritional tips - the benefits of parsley for example - and how to reduce fat.

Something I now want to do is weigh out the family's weekly wartime rations and see how many days it lasts! No wonder everyone was slim during the war, but apparently slim, fit and much healthier than many people are today.

Eating through the hard times too
I bought the pair for my mum a year ago and they have ended up going round the whole family, young and old. Yes they have a nostalgic feel to them and it's food that nana used to make but thats what makes them so good, we are now having to live as if things are rationed, the meals that were made back then weren't full of e numbers and other nasty things (lets face it, we've all become alergic to them all anyway), they were wholesome and filling with no waste, after all I'm sure it's not only me that loves bubble and squeek on a monday with the sunday roast left overs. It has made me realize how lucky I am to have everything I want but I can survive on next to nothing.
Also the Make do and Mend is also full of cleaning tips and a definate must for anyone living in a period house and trying to keep things going, I live in a stone cottage and in a preservation area, with a house full of original things like Arga'sand stone floors I found good tips on how to care for these items without using chemical cleaners that corrode them away.

fascinating collection of WW2 Food Facts and recipes
If you are interested in domestic life during World War Two, this is the book for you. It is a fascinating collection of Ministry of Food "Food Facts" and recipes: including how to render fat and bottle tomatoes. A must for anyone who wants to try "Eating for Victory".