Victory In The Kitchen

When World War II began, Britain had an immediate crisis on its hands: its ability to import food drastically curtailed, the island would very quickly have to find ways both to produce more and use less. For that latter task, the kitchen was the headquarters, and this little book presents the battle plan. Drawn from scattered sources in the archives of the Imperial War Museums and presented here in a charming gift book, the recipes of Victory is in the Kitchen helped guide British cooks as they coped with unprecedented scarcity and restrictions. Rustling up creative dishes out of meager rations, the recipes gathered here include scrap bread pudding, potato pastry, and sheep's heart pie, as well as adapted English standbys like Lancashire hot pot, Queen's Pudding, and crumpets. ​Interwoven with the recipes are colorful reproductions of inspirational wartime posters, while an introduction sets the historical context. The resulting package is the perfect gift for any cook, a reminder of a time when ration books and recipes had to be made to work together.

Churchill is well-known for his hearty appetite and love of food. This book gives a fascinating insight into what he ate during the Second World War, containing over 250 delicious recipes created by his personal cook, Georgina Landemare. From mouthwatering cakes, biscuits and puddings, to healthy salads and warming soups, it revives some forgotten British classics and traditional French fare. Including timeless recipes still popular today (coq au vin, potato salad, and chocolate cake) as well as some more unusual concoctions (Cervelles Connaught, or ‘curried brains’), it reveals the food that sustained Churchill during his ‘finest hour.’

From the bestselling author of The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir comes an unforgettable novel of a BBC-sponsored wartime cooking competition and the four women who enter for a chance to better their lives. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY GOOD HOUSEKEEPING • “This story had me so hooked, I literally couldn’t put it down.”—NPR Two years into World War II, Britain is feeling her losses: The Nazis have won battles, the Blitz has destroyed cities, and U-boats have cut off the supply of food. In an effort to help housewives with food rationing, a BBC radio program called The Kitchen Front is holding a cooking contest—and the grand prize is a job as the program’s first-ever female co-host. For four very different women, winning the competition would present a crucial chance to change their lives. For a young widow, it’s a chance to pay off her husband’s debts and keep a roof over her children’s heads. For a kitchen maid, it’s a chance to leave servitude and find freedom. For a lady of the manor, it’s a chance to escape her wealthy husband’s increasingly hostile behavior. And for a trained chef, it’s a chance to challenge the men at the top of her profession. These four women are giving the competition their all—even if that sometimes means bending the rules. But with so much at stake, will the contest that aims to bring the community together only serve to break it apart?

Recipes for Victory combines history and cooking as it presents domestic and military recipes (and their modern-day equivalents) used during the Great War -- in the trenches, behind the lines, and on the home front. Profusely illustrated with historical drawings and photographs, the text explores the role of the army cook, what soldiers ate in and behind the trenches, the war time efforts on the home front, the role of alcohol, the importance of food packages from home, and the problems of surplus. The text also explores the Children's Potato War Plot Fund, the Vacant Land Cultivation act, and the importance of home gardens. Three elucidating essays by Wayne Reeves, Chief Curator, Museum and Heritage Services, City of Toronto; Kevin Hebib, Program Development Officer, Fort York National Historic Site, and David Webb, Ontario Region Military Curator (ret), Parks Canada, provide fascinating details about the role of food in war.

The battle to keep the nation fed during the Second World War was waged by an army of workers on the land and the resourcefulness of the housewives on the Kitchen Front. The rationing of food, clothing and other substances played a big part in making sure that everyone had a fair share of whatever was available. In this fascinating book, Katherine Knight looks at how experiences of rationing varied between rich and poor, town and country, and how ingenuous cooks often made a meal from poor ingredients. Charting the developments of the rationing programme throughtout the war and afterwards, Spuds, Spam and Eating for Victory documents the use of substitutions for luxury ingredients not available, resulting in delicacies such as carrot jam and oatmeal sausages. The introduction of Spam in America in the forties led to this canned spiced pork and ham becoming an iconic symbol of the worse period of shortage in the twentieth century. Seventy years after the outbreak of the Second World War, this book listens to some of the people who were young during the conflict share their memories, both sad and funny, of what it was like to eat for Victory.

*INCLUDED THE TIMES AND WATERSTONES' BEST FOOD & DRINK BOOKS OF 2021* Fill your year with flavour. The official The Kitchen Cabinet compendium is here at last, with over 100 hours of dinner table talk distilled into this handy almanac, a year in the life of our kitchens to aid you in yours. Open up to find food tips and tricks, stories, recipes, anecdotes and seasonal fun, all held together with our trademark titbits of history, science and often rather lively debate. Join us as we travel across the country, ready to respond to all your culinary conundrums - as well as sharing lots of things you never even thought to ask.

A literary cookbook that celebrates food and poetry, two of life's essential ingredients. In the same way that salt seasons ingredients to bring out their flavors, poetry seasons our lives; when celebrated together, our everyday moments and meals are richer and more meaningful. The twenty-five inspiring poems in this book—from such poets as Marge Piercy, Louise Glück, Mark Strand, Mary Oliver, Billy Collins, Jane Hirshfield—are accompanied by seventy-five recipes that bring the richness of words to life in our kitchen, on our plate, and through our palate. Eat This Poem opens us up to fresh ways of accessing poetry and lends new meaning to the foods we cook.