Food Will Win the War
Eat local, meatless Mondays, go wheatless, more fruits and vegetables, less white sugar— many of the things we hear a lot about today Americans did during the First World War. The United States Food Administration, created in 1917 and headed by Herbert Hoover, campaigned to convince Americans to voluntarily change their eating habits in order to have enough food to feed our military and starving civilians in Europe. This included conserving wheat, meat, sugar, and fats, so those items could be sent overseas. The Administration advocated using alternatives like honey or molasses for sugar and corn or barley for wheat. They educated with memorable slogans, such as “when in doubt, eat potatoes” and “help us observe the Gospel of the clean plate” and invented “Meatless Mondays” and “Wheatless Wednesdays.” To free up transportation for war supplies, they encouraged buying locally produced food, or better still, growing liberty gardens.
Save the Sugar
The United States Food Administration encouraged Americans to conserve white sugar, so it could be shipped overseas for our troops and allies. Americans certainly had a serious sweet tooth. This is evident in comparing the different nations’ consumption of sugar. In 1916, Americans ate an astonishing 85 pounds of sugar per person a year! In comparison, the British consumed 40 pounds, the French 37 pounds, and the Germans only 20 pounds. Americans loved sugary sodas and spent eighty million dollars annually on candy. [1] In Philadelphia, the candy-making industry in the city had grown to over 130 chocolate and candy manufacturers, and sugar refineries operated along the Delaware River.[2] To increase sugar conservation, the Administration encouraged Americans to use less sugar in their coffee and tea, eat less candy, and stop frosting cakes. Food Administration recipes promoted fruit in desserts: fresh fruit, preserves, and dried fruit, such as raisins or dates. Alternatives to white sugar included honey, maple syrup, corn syrup, and molasses, and many wartime recipes use these substitutions.
Take the Eat out of Wheat
Eating gluten-free is not a recent trend. The Food Administration during World War I promoted going wheatless. The ravages of the war led to a food crisis in Europe, and they desperately needed wheat. The United States also had over four million servicemen to feed. The Administration urged Americans to eat potatoes whenever possible (the weight of potatoes made them impractical to ship across the Atlantic Ocean). Corn, called the grain of America, could be used to make corn bread, griddle cakes, muffins, and other baked goods. “War bread” could contain any number of alternative flours, including rice, barley, rye, oats, potato, or buckwheat. Another aim of the Administration involved stopping food waste, especially of bread. If every one of the twenty million American households wasted one slice of bread that would equal 875,000 pounds of flour wasted! [3] To curb this waste, many recipes contain bread crumbs as an ingredient to use up stale or leftover bread. Three of the four recipes we tested contain crumbs.
Meatless Mondays
Meatless Monday is popular today, but the Food Administration coined the term a hundred years ago. They pleaded with Americans to participate in lowering meat consumption, particularly beef and pork. The Administration campaigned with colorful posters and published information in pamphlets, newspapers, and magazines. To encourage meatless meals, they created recipes and sample menus for meatless days. Alternative proteins included fish, beans, peanuts and other nuts, and cheese. Many recipes feature vegetables, especially those that were homegrown. What we call nose-to-tail eating was also promoted. There are recipes for using offal, such as kidneys, liver, heart, snout, and every part of the animal, so that nothing would be wasted.
Eat Less Fat
The U.S. Food Administration advocated Americans conserve fats. But eating less fat was not for weight loss; it was so fats would be available for the war effort. The Administration promoted using less oil by baking, broiling, and boiling food rather than frying. They issued numerous tips on saving oil and drippings and how to render and reuse fats. A number of recipes substitute butter with margarine or shortening.
Sowing the Seeds of Liberty
In order to win the war, the United States needed to provide a large quantity of food. A number of organizations mobilized civilians to create liberty gardens, as growing food would allow more commercially-grown produce to be available for our troops and European Allies, who had been ravaged by years of war. Liberty gardens provided an opportunity for many people to serve.The National War Garden Commission, created in 1917, encouraged Americans to cultivate gardens.The Commission aimed to “arouse the patriots of America to the importance of putting all idle land to work, to teach them how to do it, and to educate them to conserve by canning and drying all food they could not use while fresh.” [4] Eating local meant less need for transportation, which was required to move troops, munitions, and coal. The campaign resulted in over five million gardens. [5] Communities gardens sprang up, and children tilled the land at their schools.
A number of organizations targeted youths, including the United States School Garden Army whose motto was “A Garden for every child. Every child in a garden.” Women played a large role in the war garden movement as farmerettes, soldiers of the land. The Woman’s Land Army of America equipped over 20,000 women to aid farms after the male workers enlisted in the military. Demonstration centers taught agricultural skills, such as the National League for Woman’s Service’s center in Germantown known as Little Wakefield. They grew beans, corn, cabbage, peaches, and raspberries over four acres and held classes in canning and preserving.
[1] Goudiss, C. Houston and Alberta M. Foods That Will Win the War and How to Cook Them. New York: World Syndicate Company, 1918.
[2] The Candy Making Industry in Philadelphia. Philadelphia: Educational Committee of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, 1917.
[3] Goudiss, C. Houston and Alberta M. Foods That Will Win the War and How to Cook Them. New York: World Syndicate Company, 1918.
[4] Pack, Charles Lathrop. The War Garden Victorious. Philadelphia: J.P. Lippincott & Company, 1919.
[5] Pack, Charles Lathrop. The War Garden Victorious. Philadelphia: J.P. Lippincott & Company, 1919.
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