Wartime Recipes: From the Maritimes, 1939-1945

Arlene Gryfe is a Toronto-based professional nutritionist and home
economist.

World War II significantly transformed the lives of Canadian women,
although they were not called on to bear arms. They took on traditional
male jobs—working in factories, shipyards, lumber mills, and coal
mines. They also volunteered in droves. Above all, housewives were
encouraged to act as “soldiers on the kitchen front.”

Wartime rationing was initiated to free up consumer goods for military
use and distribution to allied countries, and to limit consumption of
commodities that were imported to Canada. Rationing of coffee, tea,
sugar, butter, and meat had a direct impact on what people ate, but even
nonrationed foods, such as eggs, were at a premium because gasoline
shortages created distribution difficulties. People reused and recycled
metal, paper, even fat and bones (for glycerin and glue to be used in
weapons and aircraft), and wasted nothing. Food leftovers were given
“new appeal” in such recipes as croquettes, molded gelatin salads,
or simply hash.

Recipes for pancakes, waffles, and similar dishes in the chapter
“Butter, Eggs and Cheese” stretch these items to the utmost. Sugar
was limited to eight ounces per person per week—a genuine hardship for
women who did much of their own baking and preserving. Hence honey,
molasses, maple syrup, and corn syrup are used frequently in the
chapters “Pies and Puddings,” “Cakes, Cookies and Squares,” and
“Pickles, Relishes, Chutneys, Jams and Jellies.”

Since alcohol was drastically rationed, and adults allowed only one
ounce of tea or four ounces of coffee per week, many ingenious ideas
involving spices and flavorings were applied to perk up beverages that
contained only small quantities of tea and coffee. Limited to two pounds
per person per week, meat often appeared in casseroles, stews, pot pies,
or creamed dishes, or was stretched with vegetables from the home
“victory” garden. In the Maritimes, fish and even lobster were cheap
and widely available, although again stretched in chowders, croquettes,
or with creamed sauces.

The recipes are in imperial measure only, but have been updated by the
author to be in keeping with present eating habits (no more boiling
vegetables for 20 minutes!). Many recipes have a brief preamble of
historical interest. There is an extensive index and scattered
throughout are black-and-white illustrations of advertisements, posters,
and newspaper articles of the day. This book will appeal not only to
those who want ideas for simple, nutritious, and economical dishes, but
also to readers who wish to learn about the eating and cooking habits of
the World War II period.