On 11 November (Armistice Day) Karen and her husband Bret, 1940s historians and re-enactors, gave a spirited and comprehensive talk complete with audio recordings from the period. The talk began by explaining the context of rationing prior to World War II: Britain saw the first widespread implementation of rationing in WW1 after there was a shortage of wheat and other commodities in 1916 when ships carrying supplies were targeted by the Germans.

People were encouraged to use every available piece of spare land for food production under the banner of ‘Dig for Victory’, even the grounds of the Tower of London were dug up! Cooking programmes on the radio attracted enormous numbers of listeners and recipe leaflets were distributed to citizens. The Women’s Institute (WI) played its part in helping to preserve fruit and veg after being supplied with mobile canning machines; it is estimated WI members canned 5 million pounds of jam and 2 million pounds of preserves. The food rationing system ended in 1954, marking a significant milestone in Britain’s return to normality.

At the end of the talk, we were invited to try some recipes from the period (see the photo below). If you want to find out more about the recipes and other homefront activities you can visit Karen and Bret’s website, Doing Their Bit: Life on the Home Front.