Subject: WWII Rationing Recipies

From: [email-masked] (TBulson)
Date: 5 Apr 1995 18:39:08 GMT

A group of us is doing a gourmet dinner with World War II rationing as the
theme.  I have been having a hard time finding recipies and general
information about the specifics of rationing.  I know sugar, coffee and
meat was rationed, but in what quantities.  Can anyone recommend a source
for the information or let me know more about the whole process?

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From: [email-masked] (BASEL, LESLIE)
Date: 5 Apr 1995 22:17 MST

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Leslie Ambedian) writes...
>In article <[email-masked]>,
>[email-masked] (TBulson) wrote:
> 
>> information about the specifics of rationing.  

>I don't know where to find specific rationing information, but you might
>want to look at MFK Fisher's book "How to Cook a Wolf" (it's in the Art of
>Eating collection). 

Another semi-source is the Alice B. Toklas Cookbook for a few stories
about surviving WWII in the French countryside.  I'm not sure how
detailed the information is, but I do know that pretty much everything
was rationed in some fashion.  You escaped only by growing your own,
and/or barter. 

Boy, that is an intriguing theme...But remember Spam was popular in
Britain during WWII......

Leslie
[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 1995 13:26:46 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Andrew Clinch) writes
quoting from a WW2 diary WRT rationing:

>" What¹s more I¹ve had enough of whale meat, for even if you
>cook it with onions like mad, throw it all away and then stew, its still
>fishy. "

A friend who grew up in England in this period told me that whale meat was the 
only type NOT rationed, as it could be had in substantial amounts "on the 
hoof," as it were, also because nobody wanted to eat it.  Having been around 
more than few whales in my time, including some cooked whale parts, I can 
testify to the latter....the stuff, even if fresh, stinks so awfully that it 
has to be smelled to be believed.  I don't know how anyone can get close to 
it, let alone eat it, but as WW2 Britain proved, people did.  And aboard 
whaling ships, you could eat all you wanted, and I'm told many whalers 
developed a taste for it.

The Elitist

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 1995 13:05:32 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Allyn Weaks) writes:

>Maybe it depends on the species of whale, or the cut of meat?  When I was
>working on a farm in Norway one autumn about 15 years ago, as a special
>treat they served us stewed whale.  Though I felt horribly guilty
>throughout the meal, I have to admit it was quite tasty.  Not fishy at
>all; more like venison, very dark and lean, and rather similar to the seal
>a friend ordered in a restaurant and made me taste.

Well, perhaps you're right.  The ones I have most experience with are the 
toothed whales, the odontocetes, such as sperm whales, pygmy sperm whales, and 
dolphins.  The baleen whales (mysticetes) may be different.  Yes, the meat is 
very dark and highly vascularized.  It's rather oily, too.  Part of the stench 
comes from the rancidity of the fat in the meat; it spoils quickly.  Even a 
very fresh whale, however (I'm thinking of one particular pygmy sperm whale of 
my acquaintance) reeks.  The old time whalers mostly went after sperm whales, 
but they also hunted Greenland Right whales and some of the other mysticetes 
for their baleen.

>Or perhaps it's social circumstances?  The working classes have been known
>to riot because they were provided with salmon more than 3 times a week...

So would I...can't stand the stuff except when it's smoked the way they do it 
in Ireland.  

>And it's beginning to look like the ancient greeks used something similar
>to terpentine as perfume.

Don't know about that, but they still put it in some of their wines--"retsina" 
wines are deliberately flavored with pitch and taste like turpentine to me.

The Elitist

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From: [email-masked] (TREECV)
Date: 6 Apr 1995 18:24:47 -0400

My mother always talked about no-apple apple pie. They used ritz crackers.
I'm sure someone will have the recipe.

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From: [email-masked] (Allyn Weaks)
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 19:25:52 -0800

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] wrote:

> In article <[email-masked]>
[email-masked] (Andrew Clinch) writes

-- 
Allyn Weaks
[email-masked]

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From: "Teresa R. Taylor" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 6 Apr 1995 09:25:34 -0700 (PDT)

What a great idea!!

An excellent source would be WWII era women's magazines, such as Good 
Housekeeping, and the food columns of contemporary newspapers.  
I would think that how to cook creatively/economically under rationing was a 
popular topic for culinary writers.  

If you have access to an academic library, check the serial publications 
there.  A reference librarian may be able to assist you in finding 
indexes et.al. to help expedite your search.  

You might send a query to the Schlesinger Library -- (or is it the Sophia
Smith Collection? -- sorry, I'm a bit absent-minded tonight) -- which has
a special collection devoted to the culinary arts in America. 

If you know anyone who ran a household or a restaurant back then, why not 
ask them how they adapted, what substitutions they might have tried, what 
they did without, etc. 

Hope this is helpful.  :-)

Terry

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From: [email-masked] (douglas scott)
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 23:21:44 GMT

I've found some old cookbooks in used book stores and thrift stores
cover rationing. It seems the books that once belonged to that generation
are passing through these waypoints to oblivion.

My collection of spurious reference material is in storage, otherwise
I'd pull out some stuff to post, sorry.
-- 
===============================================================>
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