File

This file contains five brochures produced in 1918 by the Canada Food Board. It chronicles the Canadian government's efforts to deal with the food shortages caused by the First World War by optimizing the use of the nation's food resources. With these booklets, the Board encouraged the population to avoid waste and choose meat and wheat substitutes so these popular products could be saved and sent overseas to the soldiers at the front.

A first booklet entitled Bread Recipes Which Save Food for our Soldiers and Allies suggests using the following substitutes for wheat flour: corn, oat, barley, rye, buckwheat, rice and potato flours, along with oatmeal and cornmeal. The brochure is aimed at both bakers and housewives. In it, merchants are strongly encouraged to promote these products to their clients. Users of this booklet can find tips for adapting their own recipes, along with new recipes for breads, cakes and desserts.

Two other publications focus on growing and consuming produce at home. Fruit and vegetables are presented as a significant food resource that must be used more extensively and more regularly: "[…] these are perishable foods and in order to avoid very great waste—which would be little sort of criminal, in view of the situation in Europe—they must be handled promptly and carefully." The larger of these two booklets looks at canning, drying and storing fruit and vegetables to preserve them. The health implications associated with these preservation methods—particularly with regard to sterilizing and sealing the jars used for canning—are addressed multiple times. Community canning efforts, led by women's organizations or cooperative associations, are also encouraged. The second booklet suggests different ways of preparing fresh vegetables along with how to use similar products that have been dried for future use.

Fish Recipes. Canadian Fish and How to Cook Them is another booklet in the same series that urges Canadians to consume more of this abundant resource. It emphasizes that the high protein content of fish makes it an ideal meat substitute. There is advice on what to buy, the primary methods of preparing and cooking fish, along with various recipes for the different types of fish and seafood found in Canadian waters.

In the same spirit as the others, the last booklet highlights the many uses of potatoes, which can be used in breads, cookies, muffins, scones, cakes, pie crust, etc. The publication also includes tips on buying, storing and growing potatoes.