Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
This book was written for American women trying to adjust their menus for the more restrictive diet of WW II. She very carefully covers the nutritional aspect of milk, different grains, vegetables and meats, showing which combinations give you the best nutritional value for the least amount of food and/or money. She also pays attention to reducing home use of certain types of foods because you would have access to alternatives whereas those in the military would not.
I was surprised to see the detailed nutritional analyses, and how much was understood about vitamins, types of fat, acceptable substitutes and so on.
The last quarter of the book is recipes, excellent in the way old-fashioned cookbooks often are, with only a few ingredients and less sugar than you tend to find now.
What an interesting little book! Although we've probably read about it, most of us don't remember food rationing during the WW2 years. This book gives the homemaker at the time a lot of good advice about saving money as well as providing good nutrition for her family.
It's fascinating to read about meat being 10 cents a pound and dry fruits being cheaper than fresh! And learning that potatoes and bananas are nutritionally similar! Who would ever imagine serving fried or baked bananas on a bed of white rice???
Interesting to read and find out about how they ate in the war times. Foods that were most useful to eat as for energy and health or vitamins for your body. The best foods for us but the less costly were shown also. Makes you think of how lucky we are today to have such good foods, meats and fruits and vegetable for our meals. Back then they didn't have much choices a lot of times for the foods they have available to eat with rations and all at time.
Everyday Foods in War Time by Mary Swartz Rose This book starts out with a table of contents where different foods have their own chapters. Preface starts the book. As you read the book each chapter is explained why it was important in the war times. Recipes follow at the end and each has a title and ingredient listings. Directions follow and there are no servings or nutritional information or photos. Interesting combinations of flavors. Other works are referenced
The book has a lot of still pertinent information and information that can still apply to today's dietetic needs and situations, but certain aspects of the information is confusing, like the scoring of foods in their importance in the diet and their relations to other foods. This information is confusing as to how they are scored and why are scored that way, other such talked about aspects are confusing as well leaving me question the overall information.
Another book with recipes to try!!! Honestly, this journey has been incredibly fun! It's kind of sad to see I'm at the end of the road of WWI/WWII food books. Hopefully more will be uploaded to Gutenberg in the future.
This novel is a great time capsule for anyone interested in the time period/food of the time.
Some of the nutritional advice in this book is surprisingly solid, and of course, the advice on saving money by avoiding expensive ingredients is spot on (though occasionally specifics no longer apply to modern grocery prices). I think her analogy of nutrition as building a house, with different types of nutrients being the different types of materials that are needed to make it fully snug and functional, was especially good.
Unavoidably, the specific situation of wartime rationing leads her, in my opinion, to really underplay the value of meat in a nutritious diet, and some of the unusual recipes in the back are well beyond even my extensive curiosity about different foods and flavors.
Overall, however, I think a discerning cook and homemaker could glean helpful tips and general inspiration on frugality and creativity in using ingredients. (Especially worth a try since it's available for free on kindle!)
Like many new Kindle owners, I've been skimming the lists of free books and grabbing many that caught my eye. I find our rapidly changing views of food fascinating, and reading recipes and old nutrition texts is entertaining and intriguing. Watching foods go from the "bad" to the "good" category and back again helps keep me from being obsessed with today's list of nutritional commandments.
The "war time" of the title is the Great War, or World War I, as we generally call it now. Vitamines (so spelled) were a recent discovery, and there were apparently two of them; the "anti-scorbutic property" we now call Vitamin C was being studied, but wasn't isolated yet. Housewives were being encouraged to reduce consumption of meat and butter to make them available for the troops, and potatoes had become extremely expensive and hard to find. This book, drawing heavily from USDA documents of the time, suggests alternatives for scarce foods and focuses on delivering the maximum nutrition (as it was then understood) for the least cost.
What this means for the most part is that Rose values foods high in fuel (that is, calories) relative to their cost. This turns many of our modern contentions on their heads. For example, Rose explains that although fruit is mostly water, and has limited food value, it is good to use as an appetizer. Still, in these hard times, grains and milk are more important to buy than fruit!
Some of the recipes at the back would work perfectly well today; others would definitely raise eyebrows at the very least. So if you decide to take ideas from this book by boiling oatmeal for four hours in your double boiler, or baking bananas to go with your supper, just remember that you are being a good American by doing so.
This was a sort of interesting little book. It was written by a female nutritionist in 1918 after the food administration made the statment, "FOOD IS FUEL FOR FIGHTERS. do not waste it. Save WHEAT, MEAT, SUGARS, AND FATS. Send more to our Soldiers, Sailors, and Allies." It was eye-opening to think of how much work went into the planning and preperation of meals 100 years ago. It made me grateful that my patriotism doesn't hinge upon how little wheat, meat, sugars, and fats I eat. I laughed at the section that asked "Are fruits and vegetables necessary?" And the answer was yes, to avoid constipation. Worth it for a free Kindle download, but I could have skipped it and not had anything lacking in my life.
Good book. The recipes are in the end and a few are interesting.
What is actually enjoyable is the more scientific ideas of how to substitute foods and not loose calories or vitamins/minerals while on a budget. I don't agree with everything and the "ranking" system in the end is a bit odd but it is a very good read; especially if you are a calorie counter.
Warning ahead of time, a lot of the book is about the wonders of milk.