This collection includes primary documents about the food conservation program that took place in the United States during World War I. During this time there was great need for food in Europe for both the military as well as civilians. The U.S. Food Administration created programs to conserve food. “Meatless Tuesdays” encouraged Americans to limit their consumption. Other programs promoted the establishment of “war gardens,” small backyard kitchen gardens in which people grew their own vegetables. The collection also includes books that describe these programs and explain how to preserve and cook food.

Although the 45 sources are listed without annotations and in no particular order, the website has a solid search feature. Teachers could introduce this website by searching the word “poster” and using the images of government-created posters to start a classroom discussion on limited resources during World War I. In addition, students should be shown the use of the “display gallery view” feature when looking at their search results. This feature makes it much easier to find relevant information at a glance.

Teachinghistory.org Teacher Representative Todd Beuke wrote this Website Review. Learn more about our Teacher Representatives.

This website features digital scans of 75 cookbooks published in the United States between 1798 and 1922, providing a unique window into 19th century social history, and especially the history of immigration and the introduction of new foods into "American" cuisine. Each book can be browsed by date, author, or interest (including military cooking, quantity cooking, regional cooking, and ethnic influences), is available in downloadable PDF format, and is accompanied by a brief annotation providing useful information about the book's author, intended audience, and place of publication. All recipes also can be searched by name and ingredient. A search for "turkey," for example, reveals it to be a common ingredient in chicken salad—because, as Carrie Shuman writes in her 1893 Favorite Dishes, "the Irishman would say, turkey makes the best chicken salad." To accompany these recipes, the website includes images and explanations of close to 100 kitchen items found in the cookbooks, such as a piggin (small wooden bucked used for dipping liquids), a firkin (water-tight barrel often used for pickling), and a jelly press (used for rendering lard or pressing fruit).