“Win the War” Cook Book (1918) – WWI Food Conservation Recipes by the Woman’s Committee, Missouri
Book details
- Title
- “Win the War” Cook Book (1918) – WWI Food Conservation Recipes by the Woman’s Committee, Missouri
- Publication year listed
- 1918
- Format
- Public domain eBook
- Reading access
- Free online reader; no registration required
- Source record
- View on Archive.org
About this book
“Win the War” Cook Book (1918) – WWI Food Conservation Recipes by the Woman’s Committee, Missouri
Author: Reah Jeannette Lynch, editor; St. Louis County Unit, Woman’s Committee, Council of National Defense
Year: 1918
Lynch, Reah Jeannette, editor. “Win the War” Cook Book . St. Louis: Woman’s Committee Council of National Defense, 1918. Contextual Background The “Win the War” Cook Book was compiled and published in 1918 by the St. Louis County Unit of the Woman’s Committee of the Council of National Defense, Missouri Division. It was produced during the final year of World War I in response to federal calls for food conservation on the American home front. Spearheaded by women’s civic organizations, this cookbook aimed to educate households—especially homemakers—on how to reduce consumption of essential foodstuffs like wheat, meat, sugar, and fats, which were desperately needed for American troops and Allied forces abroad. The cookbook is both a practical and patriotic artifact. It offers hundreds of recipes using alternative ingredients (such as barley, cornmeal, and soybeans) and provides clear nutritional guidance, substitution tips, and instructions for stretching limited resources. Its moral tone is underscored by appeals to national duty and sacrifice; it even equates failure to conserve with betrayal, invoking the names of Benedict Arnold and Aaron Burr. Quotations from Abraham Lincoln, W