Today I'm reading a book called Grandma's Wartime Kitchen, which is a (so-far) fascinating book about women in America during World War II and the meals they made and how they coped with rationing. I think we all know about the "Victory Gardens" Americans were encouraged to keep--I believe to free up the demand the industrial food that was to be shipped overseas, but I didn't know much else about it. Two really interesting points so far:
* Because of the influence of the dairy farm lobbyists (which there seem to have been), margarine had to be white rather than yellow, but one brand of margarine actually came with a little bit of orange food dye that could be kneaded into the white goo so it would have that yellow "buttery" glow. Now I can't say for certain because I wasn't there, but would kneading orange goo into white margarine REALLY be preferable to living with white margarine??????? Or am I just a bit lazy about that sort of thing?
* I'm just going to quote this for you:
"The [American] government produced, and encouraged businesses to sponsor, pamphlets, articles, and posters that gave the home-front housewife all the advice she needed to work a ten-hour defense-plant shift, come home to serve a nutritious meal on an impeccably set table for her family, have the kitchen spotless in no time, and in the morning, look absolutely perky as she handed each family member a hearty lunch before she started the next long day."
I can only assume that women at that time had some sort of mental fortitude that I do not possess. If I had ever received such a pamphlet with such "suggestions," I think I'd have a few suggestions of mine own to share...........
2 comments:
Oh, golly me, I'd certainly share my "suggestions" with anyone who told me to do that! Please tell me they "suggested" that women get their kids to help in the kitchen?
Sounds like an intresting book...as do the others on the bottom of that link. Thanks for sharing.
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