Food Revival - Food during the War

Rations
Food during the war was rationed in order to prevent waste and save money. Whilst the UK now is not under such strain, the same reasons apply to this project. 
Frederik Marquis, Baron Woolton became The Minister for The Ministry of Food in 1940. He decided it wasn't enough just to ration food for the country, but to treat the population as consumers and educate them on nutrition so they could get the most out of the limited food that was available. The result of this was that housewives became more aware of nutrition and the population became healthier. The Ministry released leaflets about foods, such as the Magic of Carrots, which provided many uses for the vegetable. Similar principles are in place today to use ingredients in multiple ways for multiple meals.

Dig for Victory
The campaign encouraged people to transform their front and back gardens into vegetable plots. The goal was to replace imported food, thus freeing up shipping space for more valuable war materials and saving the country money as well. This extended to livestock, and people who could began to keep chickens to get a supply of eggs off ration, as well as rabbits who were good for meat and their fur could be traded.
Overall, the campaign was a massive success: by 1943, it was estimated that home gardens were producing over one million tons of produce, and by 1945, around 75% of food consumed in Britain was produced in Britain. 

Canning and Preserving
During the war, refrigeration and freezing were not common, so the Ministry of Food provided people with the know-how on preserving food to keep it for longer, in order to prevent waste.

Food Eating Centres
Flora Solomon was in charge of Marks and Spencer's canteens and decided to open a set of "British Restaurants" in order to feed people who had been bombed out of their homes.
They were initially called "Communal Feeding Centres” but Churchill didn't like the connotations of socialism so changed the name to British Restaurants. These restaurants were set up in churches, community centres etc., and charged low prices for meals. The waste from these centres went to pig farms to feed the animals.

Campaign posters/propaganda
Many campaigns were run during the wars to promote the new ventures by the Ministry of Food in saving waste and money and encourage housewives to use foods more consciously. Some posters played on the idea of helping to contribute towards war efforts such as fig 1. Other posters that did this promoted the campaign Dig for Victory (see fig 2) which encouraged people to grow their own vegetables, and by doing this they helped the ensure victory for the country. Fig 3 is an American poster, but shows the encouragement there was in repurposing food in multiple meals, to save money and waste.

fig 1

fig 2

fig 3

Characters such as Potato Pete and Dr Carrot were also invented in order to get children to eat their vegetables. Carrots were promoted as there was no shortage of them and they are very healthy. The Ministry promoted multiple uses for them such as carrot juice and carrot jam to name a few. A Disney cartoonist in the USA created an entire carrot family for the purpose. Potato Pete was also invented and even had his own song. (fig 4)

fig 4