Description
Product ID: | 9781350259751 |
Product Form: | Paperback / softback |
Country of Manufacture: | GB |
Series: | Food in Modern History: Traditions and Innovations |
Title: | Feeding the People in Wartime Britain |
Authors: | Author: Professor Bryce Evans |
Page Count: | 200 |
Subjects: | European history, British & Irish history, History, Military history, First World War, Second World War, Cultural studies: food and society, 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000, Military history, First World War, Second World War, Food & society, United Kingdom, Great Britain, c 1914 to c 1918 (including WW1) , c 1939 to c 1945 (including WW2) |
Description: | While the history of food on the home front in wartime Britain has mostly focused on rationing, this book reveals the importance and scale of nation-wide communal dining schemes during this era. Welcomed by some as a symbol of a progressive future in which ‘wasteful’ home dining would disappear, and derided by others for threatening the social order, these sites of food and eating attracted great political and cultural debate. Using extensive primary source material, Feeding the People in Wartime Britain examines the cuisine served in these communal restaurants and the people who used them. It challenges the notion that communal eating played a marginal role in wartime food policy and reveals the impact they had in advancing nutritional understanding and new food technologies. Comparing them to similar ventures in mainland Europe and understanding the role of propaganda from the Ministry of Food in their success, Evans unearths this neglected history of emergency public feeding and relates it to contemporary debates around food policy in times of crisis. While the history of food on the home front in wartime Britain has mostly focused on rationing, this book reveals the importance and scale of nation-wide communal dining schemes during this era. Welcomed by some as a symbol of a progressive future in which ‘wasteful’ home dining would disappear, and derided by others for threatening the social order, these sites of food and eating attracted great political and cultural debate. Using extensive primary source material, Feeding the People in Wartime Britain examines the cuisine served in these communal restaurants and the people who used them. It challenges the notion that communal eating played a marginal role in wartime food policy and reveals the impact they had in advancing nutritional understanding and new food technologies. Comparing them to similar ventures in mainland Europe and understanding the role of propaganda from the Ministry of Food in their success, Evans unearths this neglected history of emergency public feeding and relates it to contemporary debates around food policy in times of crisis. |
Imprint Name: | Bloomsbury Academic |
Publisher Name: | Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |
Country of Publication: | GB |
Publishing Date: | 2023-11-30 |