"Cookbooks and recipe pamphlets do not simply provide instructions on how to prepare meals. During World War II, they also provided instructions on how to live healthily and how to he a good citizen." W O R L D W A R I I C O O K B O O K S : Rationing, Nutrition, Patriotism, and the Citizen Consumer in the United States and Great Britain J E S S I C A J . F L I N N C O O K B O O K S H A V E B E E N U S E D T O I M P A R T D O M E S T I C A D V I C E A N D N A T I O N A L I S M T O T H E I R R E A D E R S F O R C E N T U R I E S . A M E R I C A N A N D B R I T I S H C O O K B O O K S D U R I N G T H E S E C O N D W O R L D W A R S E R V E D N O T O N L Y A S A M E A N S O F D I S T R I B U T I N G R E C I P E S T H A T T O O K I N T O A C C O U N T R A T I O N I N G A N D F O O D S H O R T A G E S , B U T A L S O A S A W A Y O F E D - U C A T I N G W O M E N A B O U T N U T R I T I O N A N D H E A L T H Y D I E T S , A S W E L L A S T O P R O M O T E T H E C I T I Z E N C O N S U M E R . D E S P I T E T H E S H O R T A G E S O F F O O D , T H E N U T R I T I O N A N D H E A L T H O F B O T H N A T I O N S I M P R O V E D D U R I N G T H E W A R Y E A R S . T H I S A R T I C L E C O M - P A R E S T H E U S E O F A N D M O T I V E S B E H I N D R A T I O N R E C I P E S D U R I N G W O R L D W A R I I I N T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S A N D G R E A T B R I T A I N BY E X A M I N I N G P R I M A R Y S O U R C E S , I N C L U D - I N G P A M P H L E T S , C O O K B O O K S , M A G A Z I N E A R T I C L E S , A N D A D V E R T I S E M E N T S . O V E R T L Y P A T R I O T I C C A R T O O N S , P O E M S , S O N G S , A N D C A T C H Y S A Y I N G S W E R E A L L U S E D A S M E A N S O F E D U C A T I N G T H E C I T I Z E N C O N S U M E R . C O O K B O O K S A N D R A T I O N R E C I P E S P L A Y E D A N I N T E G R A L R O L E I N W I N N I N G W O R L D W A R I I O N T H E K I T C H E N F R O N T . I N T R O D U C T I O N During World War I I , cookbooks and recipe pamphlets did not simply provide instructions on how to prepare meals. In both the United States and Great Britain, they also pro- vided instructions on how to live healthily and how to be a good citizen. In addition to distributing recipes that took into account rationing and food shortages, they also edu- cated women about nutrition and healthy diets and pro- moted the citizen consumer. Lizabeth Cohen coined the term "citizen consumer" in her book, A Consumer's Republic. Cohen describes how the United States govern- ment "put the market power to work politically" and the ways in which "loyal female citizens were defined in con- sumerist ways," creating the idea of the citizen consumer.1 The cookbooks also show the cooperation of the govern- ment and food companies in creating the citizen consumer. Authors had used cookbooks to impart domestic advice and nationalism to their readers long before World War I I . In the 19th century, American domestic advisors used cook- books to communicate their guidance, because middle- class American women were familiar with cookbooks.'' The first cookbook printed in the United States, Amelia Simmon's American Cookery of iyg6, displayed nationalism through recipes with names such as "Indian Pudding" and "Johnny Cake."111 During World War I I , the nationalism displayed in cookbooks went from the names of recipes to construing cookery as vital wartime defense work. Sherrie A. Inness identified the essential aspects of cookery de- fense as: "maintaining the health of the family and keeping the family's spirits high with plentiful, well-cooked, and palate-pleasing meals. 1 V G O V E R N M E N T A N D FOOD C O M P A N I E S The extent of the rationing and food shortages in Great Britain was much more severe than in the United States. Great Britain felt the effects of the German blockade and of constant air attacks on their food supply. The United States was not only an ocean away from the fighting, but it was a country large enough to be self-sufficient. The difference in rationing in the two countries can be illustrated with the example of milk: in the United States, rationing allowed an adult to have one pint of milk daily compared to the three pints of milk each adult in Great Britain was allotted weekly.v Another striking difference in rations is found with meat; Americans were allowed approximately 6 ounces of meat per day (42 ounces a week) compared with the 16 ounces of meat that the English were allotted per week.v l Despite these differences, the governments of both nations worked to distribute information about food ra- tioning and recipes to citizens. The British government was much more active than the United States government was in the distribution of food information to the public. Looking at the Ladies' Home Journal and Good Housekeeping reveals that private food companies also sought to educate consumers on war-time rationing. The first federal ration book in the United States was War Ration Book No. 1, which was distributed in 1942/' ' The ra- tioning began with sugar and went on to include coffee, butter and other fats, canned and frozen goods, and red meat . v m Meat rationing went into effect in 1943 with the War Ration Book Two, which contained red ration stamps. The red stamps were required to purchase fresh, frozen, cured, and canned beef, veal, pork and lamb, all variety meats (i.e. liver and heart), ready-to-serve meats like sausage and hot dogs, and canned meat, fish, and poultry. The stamps were also needed for butter, lard, margarine, shortening, salad and cooking oils, and cheese (with the ex- ception of cottage cheese).IX The saying "watch your P's (points) and Q's (quantities)" comes from this period in American history.x The point values of different foodstuffs were changed monthly depending on the supplies available for the consumer market and were posted in grocery stores.X1 Extra ration points could sometimes be earned by selling fat back to the butcher. x i i A n advertisement for tuna i n the Ladies' Home Journal used the fact that tuna was low i n red points as a selling point. x l " Recipe pamphlets gave tips regarding rationing, such as, "spend blue ration points on legumes for protein, to help stretch red ration points." x i v In contrast to the voluntary food restrictions of World War I , the ration-stamp system was established by law. x v E L E M E N T S S P R I N G 07 Rationing in Great Britain began earlier in the war than ra- tioning in the United States, and persisted longer after the war was over. In 1939, the British government began a sys- tem of food rationing which was not completely abandoned until 1 9 5 4 . ™ The rations in Great Britain varied slightly from month to month, as foods became more or less scarce. According to Noelle Walsh, one of the compilers of The Home Front: The Best of Good Housekeeping 1939-1945, the average weekly food supplies i n Great Britain included 4 ounces of bacon, 3 ounces of cheese, 2 ounces of butter, and 6 ounces of cooking fat and margarine. x v n Marguerite Patten provides an excellent list of the rations for an adult per week in her introduction to We'll Eat Again: A Collection of Recipes from the Wartime Years.xviii In addition to the weekly rations, there was a monthly points system. "As an example of how these could be spent, the 16 points allowed you to buy one can of fish or meat or 2 pounds of dried fruit or 8 pounds of split peas."xix Early in the war, Good Housekeeping published articles such as "Feeding Five on /3.10 a Week" (April 1940). The five people the article sought to feed were a wife, husband, maid and two children (ages 10 and 12). It laid out menus consisting of a dinner and a supper for each day of the week, practical tips, and a weekly shopping list to accompany the menus. x x The ration recipes of World War I I were primarily distrib- uted through pamphlets, cookbooks, magazine articles, and advertisements. Food companies created many pam- phlets. For example, the September 1943 issue of Ladies' Home Journal, an American magazine, included numerous advertisements for pamphlets and booklets produced by food companies. Swan Down cake flour advertised a wartime recipe booklet for 6 cents.™ Another advertise- ment offered "120 Wartime Meat recipes," using less famil- iar cuts of meat for 10 cents; an advertisement for Knox Gelatin offered recipe booklets with "all protein, no points" that were free i f one sent away for them. x x i l A Jell-0 adver- tisement in the same issue promised: "You can still say 'Welcome' in wartime." It included four recipes made with Jell-O, including a savory Jell-0 vegetable salad mold. 5 0 ' 1" Timely pamphlets from the Federal Government on cook- ing were available free of charge to those who requested them.54*™ The food companies advertised the availability of their pamphlets much more than the government did, and some commercial cookbooks also alerted consumers to the availability of the government pamphlets. The Committee on Food Habits (CFN) distributed its reports on ways to change America's food habits during the war, by mass mail- ing and conferences held every few months. Then, other organizations, such as the War Food Administration and the Office of Price Administration (OPA), passed this infor- mation on to the American public. x x v The government agencies often provided food companies with this informa- tion, and many of the pamphlets distributed by the food companies also included information from the govern- ment. In Great Britain, the women's magazine Good Housekeeping played a similar role to the American Ladies' Home Journal. Good Housekeeping worked closely with the Ministry of Food (F.M.) throughout the war; in fact, it was partly due to its relationship with the government that the magazine was able to continue publication during the war years, showing readers how to make delicious and nutri- tious meals with their rations. x x v i Due to the rationing of paper i n Britain there were not many advertisements in this magazine. Of the advertisements that were i n the pub- lication, a large proportion were propaganda and informa- tion from the government ministries, in particular the F.M. 5 0 5 ™ A full-page advertisement issued by the F.M. in a 1943 issue of Good Housekeeping, for example, promoted the use of dried eggs. It also provided an address to which citizens could send a postcard, in order to receive a free dried-egg leaflet containing "many interesting recipes." x x v i n The cooperation between the magazine and the F.M. is also evident i n an article entitled "Dried Eggs." The article reads like propaganda, promoting dried eggs as one of the best foods that wartime rationing brought to Great Britain. It offered some practical tips and tested recipes. War-time recipes like these typically emphasized that they had been "tested." The recipes in this particular article included: Bacon Omelette, Egg and Potato Fritters, W O R L D W A R I I C O O K B O O K S : R A T I O N I N G , P A T R I O T I S M , A N D T H E C I T I Z E N C O N S U M E R Parsley Eggs, Potato Surprises, and an egg and rice loaf. x x , x Ladies' Home Journal did not feature as much government propaganda as Good Housekeeping displayed, but it did in- clude advertisements from food companies offering recipes and patriotic messages. A McDougall's Self- Raising Flour advertisement in the April 1940 issue offered readers a recipe for an egg-less family cake and a coupon for a free wartime cookery book i f readers sent in the coupon in an unsealed envelope. The cookery book contained "much useful advice and a big variety of excellent tested recipes."*** Daniel Horowitz summed up the relationship between gov- ernment and food companies when he wrote that "working closely with business, labor, and consumer groups during World War I I , the United States government educated, ca- joled, and forced citizens to buy and consume food in ways that minimized the diversion of labor and foodstuffs from the war effort."5 0™ Many food companies produced recipe pamphlets and cookbooks, specifically for cooking under wartime rationing. The pamphlets and cookbooks were ed- ucational, useful, and patriotic, but they were also promo- tional. The Better Meals in Less Time for Less Money pam- phlet had recipes that used Pet Milk, and it included an advertisement for the author's radio demonstrations. x x x n Similarly, Your Share advertised for General Mills products. A n advertisement for Fray Bentos and for Oxo, in Britain, notes with a star that "all supplies of corned Beef including Fray Bentos are now distributed by the F.M." x x x m This ad- vertisement shows that the food company that made Fray Bentos brand was working with the F.M., and they seemed to be using that as a selling point as well. N U T R I T I O N A N D H E A L T H Y D I E T S Despite the shortages of food, the nutrition and health of both nations improved during the war years. This is i n large part due to the educational campaigns that both gov- ernments waged to increase citizens' knowledge of healthy diets and the importance of vitamins and minerals. They often used cartoons and rhymes in their campaigns to help citizens remember the facts. In 1942, the United States Government introduced "Uncle Sam's Food Rules," of which there were eight. The Office of Defense Health and Welfare Services advertised the food groups, telling citizens to "Every day, eat this way." Food was arranged into the following groups: mi lk and dairy products; bread and cereal; oranges, tomatoes, grapefruits; meat, poultry, or fish; green or yellow vegetables; other veg- etables, fruit; eggs; and butter and other spreads.XXX1V In 1943, the Food and Nutrition Board, under the Office of Defense Health and Welfare Services, replaced Uncle Sam's rules with the "Seven Basic Food Groups." x x x v Recipe pamphlets in the United States almost universally included a section on nutrition and meal planning, and it was not uncommon for a diagram of the seven basic food groups to be at the end of a pamphlet. In The Victory Cook Book there are useful facts about food, including the vita- m i n content and calories of the different ingredients used in the recommended meals. The Women in National Service's "Ten Rules for Wartime Eating" included keeping a list of the seven basic food groups in the kitchen or in the woman of the house's purse. Consumers were to pay atten- tion to these rules when planning and buying . x x x v l The U.S. government and food companies created and/or modified recipes to help ensure that Americans received a balanced diet. Evaporated milk, cooked soybeans, and soy E L E M E N T S S P R I N G 07 flour were added to recipes to increase protein and to wean consumers away from rationed meat and fat. Peanut butter was used as a substitute for rationed fats (shortening) and also for added flavor and pro te in . x x x v n Food companies caught on and began to advertise the nutritional value of their products. A n advertisement for Van Camp Sea Food Company tuna had this rhyme: Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man, Pack me a tuna pie, as fast as you can. Roll it and pat it and mark it with a V, To stand for vitamins "A" and "D. "xxxviii Surprisingly, considering the emphasis on stretching meat and the strict controls put on its distribution, the nation's consumption of meat actually grew during the war years, especially among the poorest third of the population. 5 0 0 0" Betty Crocker's Your Share pamphlet is filled with nutrition-oriented cartoons and rhymes. Here is a rhyme that is included in the egg section: Wcdupfy E G G S Humpty Dumpty's always on call Bursting with vitamins far as b/l Proteins and minerals, too, in his shell What we all need to help keep us well. DO YOU KNOW YOUR EGOS? Federal and state regulations for grading eggs vary. Find out your A G O O D E G G For the breakfast tabic . . . is strictly fresh (top grade). For cooking (in meat loaves, custards, etc.) . . . is a smaller egg (lowe For baking (especially cakes) . . . is a large egg (2 oz.) or measure etj full amount. The large eggs recipes