Food Will Win the War

Meatless Mondays, Wheatless Wednesdays, vegetable gardens and chickens in every empty lot and backyard. When the United States entered World War I, Minnesotans responded to appeals for personal sacrifice and changed the way they cooked and ate in order to conserve food for the boys "over there." Baking with corn and rye, eating simple meals based on locally grown food, consuming fewer calories, and wasting nothing in the kitchen-not even bread crumbs-became civic acts. High-energy foods and calories unconsumed on the American home front could help the food-starved, war-torn American Allies eat another day and fight another battle.

Rae Katherine Eighmey is a food historian who has written several historical recipe books and coauthored Potluck Paradise: Favorite Fare from Church and Community Cookbooks. An avid foodie, she tested all the recipes in this book for modern kitchens.