Combining my interest in WW2 and my passion for all things food and wine .....I have decided to start a thread about WW2 food experiences (bully beef anyone!!) both military and home front. Its usually at this point that I gather someone has done this already so forgive me if so!! I am also interested in the food legacy of the war-for instance my father after 6 years of service Africa, Italy, D day and on had to source expresso coffee for the rest of his life. Little pots on the stove and coffee in 60s Lancashire posted to him. I may do recipes (I am a girlie!!). Have a thing about Spam fritters which is definitely an inheritance from my mothers childhood in the war.
Apparently the home front war diet was very healthy-as per the programme 1940s house on TV a few years back. My mother remembered everyone using every inch of space to grow stuff, keep hens etc (Lytham St Annes-where the only bombs were drop offs after raids on Manchester/Liverpool).
Susan - It is a fact that the wartime diet was a healthy one as people were finally instructed on what to sensibly eat - and the rationing kept everyone on a balanced way of nutrition - in this day and age it would appear that we are all in need of this same discipline as the obesity rate in the young is fast approaching very serious levels with the attendant strain to the NHS - which - as I understand from an article in the Telegraph to-day each senior over the age of 60 is costing the NHS some 7000GBP per annum - and they are not all obese ! I think it was Magnus Pyke a few years ago claimed that the Hamburger was a good source of everything we needed to be healthy - but I rather suspect that he was on a retainer from MacDonalds - so let's have your spam fritters no matter from which part of the pig it originates - it was an enjoyable alternative to the 1914 packed MacConnachies M & V stew - or the small lambs heart sat on a tin plate surrounded by a liquid of anonymous origin - for breakfast .....OR the Dehydrated meat such as we had - only once in North Africa - once was quite enough !! Cheers
Well this is my SPAM FRITTER RECIPE! Ingredients * 1 tin of Spam * 125g of Plain Flour * 125ml of Milk * 1 Egg * Pinch of Salt * 1tbsp of Oil Method 1. Put the flour in a bowl and add the milk, egg and oil and mix together to form a batter. 2. Cut the spam in to about 8 slices and dip in the batter mixture. 3. Either shallow or deep fry the fritters in oil. For shallow frying, around 2-3 minutes is required for each side. If deep frying, heat the oil to around 170C and fry for 3-4 minutes. 4. Drain off excess oil and serve. I like a splash of woucester sauce and mustard with mine but I am a youngster Enjoy.
Tom - one of my father's stories was that once he was with his battery's horses, and for lunch he had a sardine can and a piece of bread, that was it. He let his can drop (opened) in the horses watering trough with them drinking, so he just fished it out and ate it. He had nothing else. Tough times in the Portuguese army in 1943! Susan - I can already hear my arteries crinkling at reading your recipe, but I'm sure our esteemed colleagues will try it sooner than later
An army marches on its stomach! ....or in the case of Spam, on ground-up pigs' stomachs! Regarding Magnus Pyke....two other anecdotes come to mind... 1/ the famous one about him suggesting that Black Pudding be made out of all the excess blood in the nation's blood banks in 1940....:mellow: A suggestion that was quiety dropped... 2/ to my mind the more interesting one... When at the MoF Pyke was responsible for working out the MINIMUM Daily Allowance of vitamins to be guaranteed in the Ration...years later he discovered that miraculously in the peacetime meantime, someone in Whitehall had with a stroke of his pen changed this to the RECOMMENDED Daily Allowance of vitamins....the "RDA" you'll find on all products containing vitamins etc. What HE intended as a MINIMUM....has by some penpusher's pen been changed into a MAXIMUM!!! Part of the reason we're NOT healthy? We'e not getting BY ORDER anything like as many vitamins etc. as we SHOULD be???
Phylo - we should also note that Magnus was a relative of the Pyke who dreamed up the Aircraft carrier made out of an Iceberg and a little concrete which he named Pykerite or something similar - Mountbatten fell for it and took him to the Quebec Conference during which he demonstrated how tough it was by firing a revolver at a sample - the bullet ricochetted all over the place narrowly missing all of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - Alanbrooke was not amused ! I should also remind you that that the delectable Scottish Haggis is also made from all sorts of offal surrounded by a sheep's stomach - delicious stuff ! But I do love Spam fritters with two eggs and half a dozen freshly picked mushrooms - out in the fields and hills ..... ZA - I too have eaten your Portugese Sardines - four of them and you are well fed ! they are monsters ! Cheers
My father (an Aussie) was in the Middle East (until an Italian mortar at Tobruk gave him a ticket home) and the foods he would have given his right arm for were: Fresh crusty bread, spread with the drippings from the Roast Beef tray (which I made for him every Sunday morning with a straight cup of black tea while Mum was at church) My Nan's Pea & Ham soup. Black Pudding, eggs, bacon and fried bread. Lamb's Fry and Bacon in gravy with mashed potato and peas. Tripe and onions in white sauce with turnip, swede and carrots. And for dessert: My Mum's Golden Syrup Dumplings and fresh cream. Bread and Butter pudding. I think mum was so glad that dad did return, she made sure that one or two these dishes were on the menu at home at least once a week. He lived until he was 70 which was a bonus as he should have been dead at 28 from his injuries. Cheers Geoff This little snippet gives you an idea why many of these foods were used. http://thenaturallivingsite.com/blog/2009/10/sweetbreads-and-black-pudding/
Spidge - we often had Calf's liver with onions and all the trimmings - and our family are all in the mid eighties - tripe was never served though - lamb stew was a big source of good living as were the soups Mother made - and her cakes were wonders to behold - not that we beheld them for long - they were too good to leave for to-morrow ! To-day they don't seem to have the same interest in cooking - just open another packet or can ! Cheers
Spidge - we often had Calf's liver with onions and all the trimmings - and our family are all in the mid eighties - tripe was never served though - lamb stew was a big source of good living as were the soups Mother made - and her cakes were wonders to behold - not that we beheld them for long - they were too good to leave for to-morrow ! To-day they don't seem to have the same interest in cooking - just open another packet or can ! Cheers I think children of the depression had a very different outlook on many things. The situation in Australia was just as tough as anywhere else. My mum picked up on the fruit pies, cakes, conserves and soups from her mother..............heaven. Cheers Geoff
TOM: Magnus Pyke was in fact correct. The Hamburger in terms of nutricion is very good. The problem comes with how many of them you eat!!!
I thought we'd been here before........ I can still taste those horrible Soya Links http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/weapons-technology-equipment/4513-armies-march-their-stomach.html Ron
Za Soya Links? What are those? No.1 in the category of ‘Food not to die for’ must surely go to Soya Links. These were regularly part of our field rations in Italy and consisted of about nine, 1"x 6" rectangular monsters packed in brine. You had to shake the can vigorously to dislodge them and then they would fall out with a most disgusting plop. I presume that someone must have thought that they tasted like meat but I was never to meet the gentleman concerned. Full story here: BBC - WW2 People's War - What did you eat in the War, Daddy? Ron
My father (an Aussie) was in the Middle East (until an Italian mortar at Tobruk gave him a ticket home) and the foods he would have given his right arm for were: Fresh crusty bread, spread with the drippings from the Roast Beef tray (which I made for him every Sunday morning with a straight cup of black tea while Mum was at church) My Nan's Pea & Ham soup. Black Pudding, eggs, bacon and fried bread. Lamb's Fry and Bacon in gravy with mashed potato and peas. Tripe and onions in white sauce with turnip, swede and carrots. And for dessert: My Mum's Golden Syrup Dumplings and fresh cream. Bread and Butter pudding. I think mum was so glad that dad did return, she made sure that one or two these dishes were on the menu at home at least once a week. He lived until he was 70 which was a bonus as he should have been dead at 28 from his injuries. Cheers Geoff This little snippet gives you an idea why many of these foods were used. http://thenaturallivingsite.com/blog/2009/10/sweetbreads-and-black-pudding/ Golden syrup messy but brilliant. I still do my mothers Golden Syrup steamed sponge pudding with custard Sounds like your father was like mine in terms of surviving about 40 odd years longer than he was predicted to at the field hospital. I did a thread about him JB Smethurst and his brother AB Smethurst MC (both tank commanders).. He must I realised earlier always have eaten with his left hand only but to me it was just him eating. His edict was it was great as long as it had potatoes with it. (except for apple turnovers of course ha ha
Hi Ron. It would seem what you called 'soya links' is not we had in the compo rations, I liked them as they were very tasty. They were shaped like Tobralone in a round tin, so the middle one was quite big. I remember when we were in Holland (or was it Belgium) we were issued with multivitmums because of our tinned food diet. I enjoyed my compo grub anyway. Jim
