The Stomach for Fighting Food and the Soldiers of the Great War

by Duffett, Rachel

• ISBN13: 9780719084584
• ISBN10: 071908458X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-12-01
• Publisher: Manchester University Press

Summary

Food is critical to military performance, but it's also central to social interaction and fundamental to our sense of identity. The soldiers of the Great War didn't shed their eating preferences with their civilian clothes and the army rations, heavily reliant on bully beef and hardtack biscuit, were frequently found wanting. Nutritional science of the day had only a limited understanding of the role of vitamins and minerals, and the men were often presented with a diet that, shortages and logistics permitting, was high in calories but low in flavor and variety. Just as now, soldiers on active service were linked with home through the lovingly packed food parcels they received; a taste of home in the trenches. This book uses the personal accounts of the men themselves to explore a subject that was central not only to their physical health, but also to their emotional survival.

Author Biography

Rachel Duffett teaches history at the University of Essex

Table of Contents

List of figures	p. viii
Preface and acknowledgements	p. ix
List of abbreviations	p. xvi
Food and war	p. 1
Before the war	p. 26
First taste: eating in the home camps	p. 67
Feeding the men: army provisioning, the cooks and the ASC	p. 105
Eating: the men and their rations	p. 146
Beyond the ration: scrounging, supplementing and sharing	p. 187
Conclusion	p. 229
Bibliography	p. 236
Index	p. 261
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