World War II Cookbooks: Rationing, Nutrition, Patriotism, and the Citizen Consumer in the United States and Great Britain

Abstract

Cookbooks have been used to impart domestic advice and nationalism to their readers for centuries. American and British cookbooks during the Second World War served not only as a means of distributing recipes that took into account rationing and food shortage, but also as a way of educating women about nutrition and healthy diets, as well as to promote the citizen consumer. Despite the shortages of food, the nutrition and health of both nations improved during the war years. This article compares the use of and motives behind ration recipes during World War II in the United States and Great Britain by examining primary sources, including pamphlets, cookbooks, magazine articles, and advertisements. Overtly patriotic cartoons, poems, songs, and catchy saying were all used as means of educating the citizen consumesr. Cookbooks and ration recipes played an integral role in winning World War II on the kitchen front.