Inspired by the many Käthe Buchler photographs featuring food and food-related activities, Everyday Lives in War organised a ‘Food in Wartime 1914-1920’ workshop on 27 April 2018. This community-focused event included: academics who spoke on food in the trenches, on the home front and the impact of the war on the coffee trade; volunteer researchers from a community project working with young people in Glasgow on a WW1-type allotment. Internationally, the Workshop attracted a German academic who spoke about the Turnip Revolution and malnutrition in Germany, and a Swedish community researcher who shared a long-forgotten story of the women’s so-called Potato Revolution in Sweden 1917. The event allowed for a sensory experience of being ‘transported back in time’ as both lunch and afternoon tea were prepared according to FWW recipes, including Curried Rabbit, Bully Beef Stew & Maconochie Stew. For several visitors, this proved to be a feast for both eyes, nose and pallet, as some were vividly reminded of their childhood.
The Workshop (in particularly the re-creation of a WW1 menu) generated interest from TV’s BBC News London, who covered the event on two slots the same day. Estimated audience: 4.9 million.
The event inspired German participants to develop a similar multi-disciplinary, international conference in Germany the following year.
More videos to be added shortly…