Americans honored their “war service” with these…
When Americans sat down to Christmas dinner in 1918, the meal wasn’t just a celebration — it was an act of patriotism.
During World War I, the US Food Administration urged households to save wheat, sugar, meat and fats so more food might be shipped to troops abroad — and it backed a cookbook, “Win the War in the Kitchen,” stuffed with ration-friendly recipes.
Today, the National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City preserves that cookbook through its online exhibit, “War Fare: From the Home Front to the Frontlines.”
“Everyone must help if we are to win,” the cookbook declared. “Fats are the most precious thing in this war,” it added, noting the Army needed them both to feed troopers and produce glycerin for explosives.
Even sugar mattered: “Saving that ounce a day is part of YOUR WAR SERVICE.”
The cookbook drew contributions from food firms, American Red Cross dietitians, ladies’s auxiliaries and magazines of the period — with endorsements from figures like Herbert Hoover, then head of the US Food Administration, and President Woodrow Wilson.
The 1918 “Win the War in the Kitchen” cookbook urged Americans to preserve food. National WWI Museum and Memorial
A photograph taken on the Western Front in France reveals a member of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (W.A.A.C.) proudly displaying two recent loaves of bread baked for British troops. National WWI Museum and Memorial
It was pushed by patriotism, said Lora Vogt, the museum’s vice president of training and interpretation.
“Hoover helped lead the nation, not by saying, ‘The government is mandating this,’ but instead, ‘Each of you American families get the opportunity to support our nation and support American ideals by changing how you eat,’” Vogt told Fox News Digital.
While wartime substitutions like carrot espresso, soybean loaf and calls to “make every day a fish day” stuffed on a regular basis meals, Christmas still called for dishes that felt particular.
Below are seven dishes that would have appeared on some 1918 American Christmas tables.
1. Relish tray
Before charcuterie boards dominated social media, the centerpiece of a vacation desk was the relish tray, full of pickles, celery, carrots, olives, nuts and fruit. The choices have been cheap, relied on preserved meals and required no wheat, meat or sugar.
“This was the charcuterie tray before charcuterie trays were the thing,” Vogt said.
2. Maple syrup cake with maple icing
“Americans eat more sugar than other folks do, more than is really good for them,” the cookbook said.
“Americans eat more sugar than other folks do, more than is really good for them,” the WWI cookbook said. Zaliya – stock.adobe.com
Home cooks have been inspired to skip frostings and instead to sweeten truffles with maple syrup, honey or molasses, making a maple syrup cake with maple icing a festive workaround.
3. Corn fritters
Corn fritters seem in the WWI cookbook as an instance of a simple, wheat-saving facet.
“Millions of people get along very well who never taste wheat. It won’t hurt us to do with less wheat,” the e-book said.
“Millions of people get along very well who never taste wheat. It won’t hurt us to do with less wheat,” the WWI e-book said. National WWI Museum and Memorial
Vogt said the recipe is still a good one today: “If you come home from work one day, and you’re like, ‘I have nothing to cook,’ you can pull that together in no time.”
4. Buckwheat chocolate cake
Buckwheat, rye, cornmeal and oatmeal have been promoted as options to flour, and the WWI cookbook urged households to rethink how they baked.
The buckwheat chocolate cake supplied a real deal with while still honoring the conservation message, and Vogt has even made them as muffins.
Buckwheat, rye, cornmeal and oatmeal have been promoted as options to flour, and the WWI cookbook urged households to rethink how they baked. National WWI Museum and Memorial
“I can genuinely attest … they’re solid,” she said.
5. Puritan turkey stuffing
The cookbook’s Puritan stuffing didn’t call for any precise turkey meat — only turkey fats.
Made from cornmeal, oatmeal, stale bread, chopped nuts and turkey drippings, the stuffing was designed to be economical and celebratory.
Puritan turkey stuffing was designed to be economical and celebratory. MSPhotographic – stock.adobe.com
As Americans put together to rejoice the nation’s 250th yr, the recipes offer a look back at a conventional vacation menu — one with lots of parts that still really feel acquainted today, Vogt famous.
6. Meat: possum, tongue and mallard
During the WWI period, some meats have been more sensible, regional and even celebratory.
The cookbook included meats from chicken and turkey to venison, rabbit and squab, while some households served possum, tongue or wild duck.
During the WWI period, some meats have been more sensible, regional and even celebratory. National WWI Museum and Memorial
Cookbooks from the early 1900s confirmed the “beautiful intersection of the fantastic tapestry that is America,” mirrored in the meats that appeared on vacation tables as households relied on regional and cultural traditions and made use of every half of the animal, Vogt said.
7. Plum pudding
The spirit of the Sugar Plum Fairy still discovered its approach onto WWI tables, as plum pudding remained one of the period’s most beloved Christmas desserts.
Households relied closely on dried fruits like prunes, raisins and dates.
Plum pudding was one of Americans’ most beloved Christmas desserts during WWI. Michael Gray – stock.adobe.com
“While the ingredients and the making of the meal were important, it was about the memories that were made … who you were bringing around the table,” Vogt said.
She added that American troopers overseas have been eating whatever was out there abroad — sometimes even snails in Paris and donuts from Salvation Army tents, as one soldier wrote in letters preserved in the museum’s archives.
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