British Restaurants were set up by Local Authorities
Lord Woolton set up ‘ British Retaurants’ his aim was to
make sure that people were properly fed. At British restaurants people could
get a meal at a reasonable cost. Minced beef with carrots and parsnips was a
typical dish. Woolton pie, at first known as Lord Woolton pie, was a variable
dish of vegetables, created at the Savoy Hotel in London by its then Maitre
Chef de Cuisine, Francis Latry. It was one of a number of recipes commended to
the British public by the Ministry of Food during the Second World War.
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British Restaurants were set up in a variety of different
premises such as schools and church halls. They served as a temporary,
emergency system for feeding those who had been bombed out and also provided
meals for office and industrial workers.
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| Athol Street Restaurant 1942 |
Food rationing was introduced in stages from January 1940,
with the result many of the staple items of the normal British diet became
‘luxury’ goods. Butter, sugar, tea, jam, cheese, eggs and meat were amongst the
items strictly rationed. Queuing for these rationed goods became common place
and there would be a rush to the shops when fresh meat or fish was available.
There was also a points system which gave shoppers a choice of foods such as
breakfast cereals, canned fruit, fish and condensed milk with each having a
points value allocated to them. The Ministry of Food advised the public on how
to make the best use of these sometimes meagre rations, producing recipes, posters
and radio programmes.
Source
Liverpool Central Library
Liverpool Records Office
Robert F Edwards
