Wartime Food better for our health?

catlovin_gal11

Don't know if this is the place to post, but I have been watching the programme that was on a while ago with Sue Perkins and Giles Coren showing about what people ate during WW 2. At the end of the programme their fitness was assessed and in just one week their lung capacity and lean mass had increased. Now they may have been reasonably fit to begin with, but this seems quite startling. The Doctor said it was because of the amount of carbohydrate eaten (mostly potatoes) and the lack of sugar, except from mostly natural sources. I'm all for getting healthier. Seems a good thing. I'm looking to find a good book on wartime recipies. Anyone know a good one ? (I know Marguerite Patten did one or two). And anyone got any proof it's a good diet?:)

griffam

http://1940sexperiment.wordpress.com/100-wartime-recipes/

I sometimes use this web site....good recipes....you could also try the oldstyle thread.....

mi_jardin

I have got a few WW2 cookbooks as I find they are particularly OS, though not always calorie friendly! As you say, margueritte patten has the trio: we'll eat again, the victory cookbook and the post war cookbook. They are very good. I picked up my copies up from Ebay cheaply.

squeaky

Here's your homework for the day...

Thriftlady's wartime experiment

Not so much wartime as just plain O/S food

Marguerite Patten Wartime Recipe Books


So pay attention because I'll be asking questions later...

spike7451

Think about it,our parents/grandparents grew their own veg,raised their own chickens all without the aid of chemicals ect.Fruit & veg was seasonal & therefore not mass produced.I saw Floyd on the Med go into a Spanish market & buy odd shaped Tomatoes ect.Veg that would not make it to our supermarkets.Uniformity at the cost of taste.
We the British public are our own worst enemy's with food.

mytimetoshine2012

Hello everyone,

This is really interesting. I have wondered about the health benefits of a WW2 diet as well, from what I have read it was much better for people because it was low in saturated fats and, as you say catlovingal 11, sugar. The portion sizes were much smaller as well though which may be difficult :-). There was a wartime recreation program on a few years ago and it covered what people ate (was it wartime Britain?), it was very interesting and involved alot of grated carrot from what I can remember!

I agree about the fruit and veg, when you grow your own or buy organic non mass produced stuff it tastes so much better. When we go abroad the cucumbers are odd shaped but taste like they used too!!

The cook books seem like a good idea - I will have a look at them. It will be nice to reduce the waistline and expand the pocket for a change rather than it being the other way round !

kaya

Our diet in the west is practicly poisonous , we are harming ourselves everytime we eat, sugars, fats, salt-then some more sugars and fats !!(we are the only animal that feasts on different species milk, and the more rotten and fermented it gets the more we seem to like it) I thought i would try some quorn mince for the first time when i went shopping-it works out cheaper than meat now as prices have risen so much which is quite surprising, the best thing anybody can do for their loved ones is to learn to cook and stop feeding them on processed pre-prepared carp that we have all come to love so much , i have a takeaway once a week as a treat and cook everything else from scratch now, healthy food can be delicious when you learn to cook and its not all about lentils and salads everyday , its about balance and moderation , we eat well and healthily in our house now and if you plan every meal before you go shopping its cheaper than you might think, last night it was a spinach and lentil curry, handmade from scratch took 40 mins, tonight it is grilled haddock and boiled tattys with minted peas which will take 30 mins, tomorrow its thai green chicken curry with golden rice which will also take only 20 mins to cook from scratch , i dont think my body is a temple but i realise it works so much better with the correct fuel in it!

SailorSam

It's not just the food that made our parents and grandparents healthier or fitter, they worked harder.
Life today is more sedentary.

RHemmings

I used to have a wartime recipe for mock goose or was it mock-some-other-type-of-fowl made from red lentils. It was absolutely nothing like fowl flesh in either texture nor taste, but was a decent main dish for a meal with veggies and gravy.

Once upon a time I found a recipe for oat burgers. They weren't bad, but needed more flavour. Unfortunately I lost the recipe before I got a chance to develop it.

Looking around I found this, which is not the same recipe, but perhaps useful for someone. I'm interested in the white cabbage "sausages", I wonder what they would be like. http://timewitnesses.org/english/food/

spike7451

Couple of good recipy websites here;

http://woottonbridgeiow.org.uk/recipes/wartime.php
http://www.allthatwomenwant.com/wartimerecipes.htm (I like this one;)

Sausage Pancakes

Ingredients:
1lb small sausages
4oz flour
1/2 pint milk
1/2 oz custard powder
Salt and pepper

Method:
Mix together the custard powder and the flour
then mix with some of the milk to a smooth batter.
Beat well for five minutes, stir in the rest of the milk.
Season with salt and pepper and leave to one side.
Fry the sausages, remove from pan and keep hot.
Pour off some of the fat and save, leaving enough in the pan to fry the first pancake.
Brown the pancake lightly on both sides and roll up with the sausage inside.
Keep warm.
Add some of the saved fat to the frying pan and add more batter for a second pancake.
Continue until all the batter is gone.
Serve very hot with fried tomatoes.

http://food.iwm.org.uk/?page_id=64

JBD

SailorSam wrote: »

It's not just the food that made our parents and grandparents healthier or fitter, they worked harder.
Life today is more sedentary.

I think this is a big factor. The wartime diet was certainly 'carb heavy' and this may not be suitable for people that don't do a lot of exercise. That means things like walking instead of driving, doing physical work , using fewer 'labour saving devices', using stairs instead of escalators and lifts. It was really a whole different way of life. Nowadays we really have to add exercise into our lives in the form of working out, going to the gym etc.