What Shall We Cook Tomorrow? Ireland on the Kitchen Front

In February 1941, the Cookery Editor of Model Housekeeping in the article published in Irish Grocer stressed: ‘It is no longer with us womenfolk a question of what we shall have for breakfast, dinner or tea, but what can we get and what can we afford’ (6). Although not directly involved in the Second World War, at the time known in Ireland as the Emergency (1939–1946), the Irish economy was strongly affected. As Ireland was dependent on outside suppliers for certain commodities, including fuel, machinery, fertilisers, ‘the possibility of expending agricultural output was severely constrained’ (Kennedy, Giblin and McHugh, 1989, p.50). As a consequence, the availability of such consumer goods as bread, tea, butter, cooking and heating appliances decline d, prices increased, the standard of living fell and the prevalence of diseases associated with poor nutrition increased (Kennedy, Giblin and McHugh, 1989, pp.49–52; Litton 2001, pp.115–17; Evans 2014, p.80). Finally, in 1942 the government was forced to implement the full rationing system, which was aimed to provide the equal distribution of scarce goods (Evans 2014, pp.44–68)