Wartime Meals

  • November 1, 2017

What were meals like in times of war?

On the home front during the First and Second World Wars, Canadians were asked to make do with less, to allow more resources to be sent to troops overseas. Food was one of the things that people were asked to conserve. One of the ways this was done was through rationing—limiting the amount of certain products people were allowed to consume. Goods like sugar, eggs, meat, coffee and chocolate were in limited supplies and homemakers created innovative ways to make new dishes that did not use as much of these ingredients but still tasted good.

Ration books were distributed to keep track of what people were allowed to have. Most dishes had to be made with readily available ingredients, so many recipes were simplified. Victory Gardens were encouraged. Broadcasts on the radio such as Mrs. A’s “Your Good Neighbour” became very popular, providing women on the home front with a week’s menu based on the considerations of rationing and the produce in season from Victory Gardens.

Submitted Photo

 

Source: Reproduced with the permission of Veterans Affairs Canada, 2017.

About Richard Schroeter

Richard has been in the multimedia game for a long time. He has a background in art and computer design and has used this experience working in television, film and photography. By day he works at Veterans Affairs, building presentations, restoring photos, editing Veterans video clips, and creating learning modules for Canadian students of all grades. By night he forages for food and figures Salty will be his go to starting point.

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