Grandma's Wartime Kitchen : World War II and the Way We Cooked

Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Generation of Cooks
Review: I just purchased this book for my mother as a Christmas present, as she was born just before the USA's involvement in WWII. I gave it to her yesterday at our family gathering. Once she saw the cover, it was VERY difficult to get her to stop looking through it...she had to force herself to put it away!

I did check it out before I wrapped it...like Mom, I enjoy reading cookbooks in general, as well as being an American history buff. I don't know if I would actually try any of the recipes in this book (just not the kind of stuff I usually eat these days) but the chapters on food rationing and wartime entertaining (usually just glossed over in most books about the era) were very interesting! I just gave this book three stars since I would have liked more historical photos, as well as pictures of some of the completed dishes. If you enjoyed this book, I would also recommend the "Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook" which was first published in the 40's, as another view of American cookery at that point in time.

Rating:
Summary: A look back in time to our "home front"
Review: I just purchased this book for my mother as a Christmas present, as she was born just before the USA's involvement in WWII. I gave it to her yesterday at our family gathering. Once she saw the cover, it was VERY difficult to get her to stop looking through it...she had to force herself to put it away!

I did check it out before I wrapped it...like Mom, I enjoy reading cookbooks in general, as well as being an American history buff. I don't know if I would actually try any of the recipes in this book (just not the kind of stuff I usually eat these days) but the chapters on food rationing and wartime entertaining (usually just glossed over in most books about the era) were very interesting! I just gave this book three stars since I would have liked more historical photos, as well as pictures of some of the completed dishes. If you enjoyed this book, I would also recommend the "Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook" which was first published in the 40's, as another view of American cookery at that point in time.

Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Generation of Cooks
Review: Those of us living in this age of plenty have no idea what it was like to cook during World War II when sugar, butter, meat and oh, so many canned foods were rationed. I was a very little girl then and didn't understand so many of the hardships my mother endured. This book answers so many of the questions left unanswered and for me it is a joy to read. I do remember many of the recipes included here and for old times sake, I plan to give many of them a try. This book is a must for anyone interested in food or food history. We may not cook this way today-- we don't have to. But these old make-do recipes can teach us all a lot.

Rating:
Summary: THE WAY WE WERE
Review: With Grandma's Wartime Kitchen, Joanne Lamb Hayes has filled a void in the culinary history of the 20th century. Those of us old enough to remember WWII, food rationing, victory gardens, and canning marathons will welcome this book, which puts between two covers so many of the meat-, butter- and sugar-stretching recipes women cooked in those lean years. They will also love reading the stories of how women coped and cooked, often working in munitions factories all day, then coming home to cook for their children. What imagination, what grace-- and all of this without dishwashers, microwave ovens and so many of the time-saving appliances we take for granted in this pampering age of plenty! The recipes look wonderful, as on-target today as they were in the 40s and I, for one, am eager to try them. But even if you never cook from this book, you'll love curling up with it. No dose of history was easier to swallow. Take a hard look at this book, Gen Xers. Keep it on a handy shelf. You can learn a lot from your grandmothers!