When Americans sat down for Christmas dinner in 1918, the meal wasn’t just a celebration \u2014 it was an act of patriotism. During World War I, the U.S. Food Administration urged households to cut back on wheat, sugar, meat, and fats so more food could be shipped to troops overseas. This led to the creation of a cookbook called "Win the War in the Kitchen" that was filled with ration-friendly recipes.<\/p>\n
The National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City preserves this cookbook through its online exhibit, \u201cWar Fare: From the Home Front to the Front.\u201d The cookbook emphasizes the importance of conservation, stating, \u201cEveryone has to help if we want to win.\u201d It highlights the value of fats, which were needed for feeding soldiers and producing glycerin for explosives, and encourages saving sugar, noting that \u201cSaving that ounce a day is part of YOUR WAR SERVICE.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cookbook received contributions from various sources, including food companies, American Red Cross nutritionists, women’s charities, and magazines of the time, with support from notable personalities. This collective effort was driven by patriotism, as Lora Vogt, the museum’s vice president of education and interpretation, explains. The approach was not about government dictates but about giving American families the opportunity to support the nation by changing their eating habits.<\/p>\n
While wartime substitutes like carrot coffee, soybean bread, and the call to make every day a fish day filled everyday meals, Christmas still called for dishes that felt special. Here are seven dishes that would have been on some American Christmas tables in 1918:<\/p>\n
The centerpiece of a holiday table was the relish tray, full of cucumbers, celery, carrots, olives, nuts, and fruit. This was an inexpensive option based on preserved foods that required no wheat, meat, or sugar, essentially the charcuterie tray of its time.<\/p>\n
Given the emphasis on reducing sugar consumption, home cooks were encouraged to sweeten cakes with maple syrup, honey, or molasses. A maple syrup cake with maple glaze was a celebratory solution for special occasions like Christmas.<\/p>\n
Corn fritters were a simple, wheat-saving side dish that appeared in the World War I cookbook. The recipe is still viable today, offering a quick and easy meal option.<\/p>\n
Buckwheat, rye, cornmeal, and oatmeal were alternatives to flour, and the World War I cookbook urged families to rethink their baking. The buckwheat chocolate cake was a treat that aligned with the conservation message and remains a solid option.<\/p>\n
The Puritan stuffing did not require real turkey meat, just turkey fat. Made from cornmeal, oats, stale bread, chopped nuts, and turkey fat, this filling was designed to be economical and celebratory.<\/p>\n
During World War I, meats like possum, tongue, and wild duck were more practical, local, and celebratory. The cookbook included a variety of meats, reflecting the "beautiful intersection of the fantastical tapestry of America" and the reliance on regional and cultural traditions.<\/p>\n
Plum pudding remained one of the most popular Christmas desserts of the era, with households relying heavily on dried fruits like prunes, raisins, and dates. This dessert was a way to enjoy the spirit of the season while adhering to the conservation guidelines.<\/p>\n
The Christmas dishes of 1918 offer a glimpse into a traditional holiday menu with elements that still feel familiar today. The emphasis was not just on the food but on the memories made and the people brought to the table. As American soldiers overseas ate whatever was available, the home front’s efforts to conserve and celebrate with alternative dishes played a significant role in supporting the war effort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction to Wartime Christmas When Americans sat down for Christmas dinner in 1918, the meal wasn’t just a celebration \u2014 it was an act of patriotism. During World War I, the U.S. Food Administration urged households to cut back on wheat, sugar, meat, and fats so more food could be shipped to troops overseas. This<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[20908,20907,77,15215,2092,18912,17336,19131,20910,20275,9436,1793,19990,20914,20917,20760,921,3838,15545,20328,107,20909,917,20911,16576,20920,20611,9656,6680,20913,2087,13667,17280,20268,20919,197,20918,20921,926,20916,20915,11601,15016,17143,17585,913,20912,15544,18199,20905,20906,15321,1954],"class_list":{"0":"post-28595","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lifestyle","8":"tag-advocatus","9":"tag-american-red-cross","10":"tag-baking","11":"tag-bread","12":"tag-buckwheat","13":"tag-cake","14":"tag-carrot","15":"tag-celery","16":"tag-charcuterie","17":"tag-chocolate-cake","18":"tag-christmas","19":"tag-coffee","20":"tag-cookbook","21":"tag-corn-fritter","22":"tag-cornmeal","23":"tag-cucumber","24":"tag-dessert","25":"tag-fat","26":"tag-fish-as-food","27":"tag-flour","28":"tag-food","29":"tag-food-preservation","30":"tag-fruit","31":"tag-glaze-cooking-technique","32":"tag-glycerol","33":"tag-mallard","34":"tag-maple-syrup","35":"tag-meal","36":"tag-meat","37":"tag-molasses","38":"tag-nut-fruit","39":"tag-oat","40":"tag-oatmeal","41":"tag-olive","42":"tag-opossum","43":"tag-patriotism","44":"tag-puritans","45":"tag-raisin","46":"tag-reducing-sugar","47":"tag-rye","48":"tag-side-dish","49":"tag-social-organization","50":"tag-soybean","51":"tag-staling","52":"tag-stuffing","53":"tag-sugar","54":"tag-sugar-industry","55":"tag-turkey-bird","56":"tag-turkey-meat","57":"tag-united-states-food-administration","58":"tag-war-in-the-kitchen","59":"tag-wheat","60":"tag-world-war-i"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28595"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28597,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28595\/revisions\/28597"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}