Eating for victory : food rationing and the politics of domesticity

Mandatory Food Rationing During World War Ii Significantly Challenged The Image Of The United States As A Land Of Plenty And Collapsed The Boundaries Between Women's Public And Private Lives By Declaring Home Production And Consumption To Be Political Activities. Examining The Food-related Propaganda Surrounding Rationing, Eating For Victory Decodes The Dual Message Purveyed By The Government And The Media: While Mandatory Rationing Was Necessary To Provide Food For U.s. And Allied Troops Overseas, Women On The Home Front Were Also Required To Provide Their Families With Nutritious Food. Amy Bentley Reveals The Role Of The Wartime Homemaker As A Pivotal Component Not Only Of World War Ii But Also Of The Development Of The United States Into A Superpower. Rationing Is Good Democracy -- Woman As Wartime Homemaker : Family, Food, And National Security -- Islands Of Serenity : Gender, Race, And Ordered Meals -- Meat And Sugar : Consumption, Rationing, And Wartime Food Deprivation -- Victory Gardening And Canning : Men, Women, And Home Front Family Food Production -- Freedom From Want : Abundance And Sacrifice In U.s. Postwar Famine Relief. Amy Bentley. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [219]-234) And Index. Victory gardens, ration books. While men fought overseas, women fought the war at home, by going to work and, more subtly, by feeding their families. Mandatory food rationing during World War II challenged, for the first time, the image of the United States as a land of plenty and collapsed the boundaries between women's public and private lives by declaring home production and consumption to be political activities. In this fascinating cultural history, Amy Bentley examines the food-related propaganda surrounding rationing. She also explores the dual message purveyed by government and the media that while mandatory rationing was necessary (enabling enough food to be sent to the U.S. military and Allies overseas), women, black and white, were also "required" to provide their families with nutritious food. Eating for Victory explores the role of the Wartime Homemaker (media counterpart to the more familiar Rosie the Riveter) as a pivotal component not only of World War II but of the development of the United States into a superpower.