Foreword by Jane Fearnley Whittingstall
The time of this book going to print, September 2009, marks the 70th anniversary of the start of the Second World War. Shortly after the start of the war, rationing was introduced to ensure that everyone had their fair share of the limited resources available. Each person was issued with a ration book which allowed them just one fresh egg and three rashers of bacon a week. Anyone who was a child during and immediately after the war will remember sweet rationing as a deprivation. For our parents there was more at stake than chocolate, and the ration books were a prized possession. My mother kept hers in the drawer of the kitchen table, and out they came whenever she went to the shops.
For her and other cooks, culinary skills were tested to the limit, as they rose to the challenge of creating something interesting from whatever was at hand. In-season English vegetables and fruit, bread, flour, and oats were staple ingredients. Frozen pizzas, oven chips and the array of exotic imported food we take for granted today just didn’t exist.
Housewives were proud to play their part in helping with the war effort. Many, self-taught, embraced the art of cooking enthusiastically. They used the limited resources ingeniously, respecting the available ingredients and avoiding waste. Above all, they were prepared to put the time in to get a good meal out.
However, this was a matter of necessity rather than choice, and it was with some glee that the members of the London Housewives’ Association gathered in Trafalgar Square on 4th July 1954 to burn a giant replica of a ration book, in celebration of the end of rationing.
The Second World War certainly wasn’t the first time in history that circumstances were hard and, of course, it was not to be the last. Seventy years later we find ourselves in the midst of an economic downturn, bringing with it hardship for some families. The situation now can’t be compared to that of wartime rationing, but many of us are having to tighten our belts. We are thinking more carefully about what goes into our shopping baskets, and, when it comes to planning budget-conscious and delicious meals, we could do a lot worse than seek inspiration from wartime cooks.
Since the war years our menus have been dramatically transformed. Owing to the spread of global trade and the introduction of fridges and freezers we can cook with virtually any ingredients at any time of year. But we have lost the pleasure of eating seasonal food.
Don’t be afraid this book will recommend stocking up on dried egg or Spam. You won’t find a recipe for sheep’s head stew, where the teeth are left intact to smile up at you from your dinner. Nor will you find instructions for making such daunting fare as raw beef tea.
The book is, rather, about applying the principles of wartime cooking in a modern context, using modern ingredients. It’s about the satisfaction of shopping sensibly and the enjoyment of observing the seasonal cycle of growth and harvest. If you buy fruit and vegetables when they are naturally in season they will be less expensive, not to mention tastier.
Some of the most delicious wartime dishes were created using leftovers, and the knowledge that not a scrap of food has been wasted will give you a warm glow of virtue rewarded. As well as being cost-effective, the wartime diet is considered one of the healthiest in history, owing to reduced consumption of meat, fats and sugar.
But the overriding reason for a return to cooking in this way is that fresh vegetables taste better than frozen ones, gently simmered stews made with cheaper cuts of meat are full of flavour, and seasonal dishes such as blackberry and apple crumble are treats to look forward to.