It started with the Great War Food Symposium at the Fort York National Historic Site in 2014. A day of lectures, displays, demonstrations and tastings. The symposium evolved into Recipes for Victory: Great War Food from the Front and Kitchens Back Home in Canada – a delectable combination of essays, recipes, photos and illustrations that let you experience the war through your eyes and your tastebuds.
The essays explore the politics of food supply during the war, in Canada and on the front. Canadians were entreated to use less of some foods – meat, flour, butter and eggs, for example – so they could be exported for the troops and allied civilians in Britain. There was a tension between the need for farm workers and the need for cannon fodder. Farm and food production fell during the war, as many men who normally worked in agriculture and food processing enlisted. Government programs promoted home gardening and preserving, enabled cultivation of vacant land, and recruited women as farmerettes in the Farm Service Corps. Continue reading
Great War 100 Reads 