Culture History Food Posters From the Past Are Recipes for the Present By Lloyd Alter Design Editor University of Toronto Lloyd Alter is Design Editor for Treehugger and teaches Sustainable Design at Ryerson University in Toronto. our editorial process Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter Lloyd Alter Updated August 13, 2020 credit: Migrated Image Share Twitter Pinterest Email Culture History Travel Sustainable Fashion Art & Media Holidays Community A couple of years ago I was surprised to see that the message on a poster from World War II was awfully similar to the messages we were trying to send at TreeHugger, such as growing your own food, walking instead of driving, and conserving everything we have. Two years ago I did a slideshow, Frugal Green Living: Posters for the Movement, and last year I used them as we counted down to Copenhagen: Posters from the Past that Can Guide Us in the Future. I have been collecting American, Canadian and British posters ever since, and use them in lectures on the importance of heritage. The first of two slideshows, this one on food posters comes from one of the best sources, the Hennepin County Library in Minneapolis. Credit: Maine Historical Society Planting the Victory Garden credit: Migrated Image The Minneapolis Library holds The Kittleson World War II Collection, which "includes posters [that] illustrate a variety of themes including patriotism, recruitment, vigilance, conservation of resources, and the value of doing one's job well." Many of them are about planting your garden and growing your own food. Credit: Hennepin County Library in Minneapolis. Planting the Victory Garden credit: Migrated Image Both World Wars were going on for quite a while before the American cleanup hitters arrived; Canada, Australia and Great Britain posters started several years earlier. In Canada, some of the best graphic artists in the country pitched in. Some of the best posters are at the Canadian War Poster Collection at McGill University in Montreal. I find this kid with the shovel a bit scary, I'd be careful. Credit: Canadian War Poster Collection Planting the Victory Garden credit: Migrated Image The Canadians were good at promoting gardening and farmwork. Planting gardens is back with a vengeance. Credit: Canadian War Poster Collection Dig For Victory credit: Migrated Image The British posters I find are generally pretty straightforward, and hard to find; there doesn't seem to be a high quality, coherent collection. (There are a couple of older, lower resolution ones like Weapons on the Wall) Credit: Nip it in the Bud Dig For Victory credit: Migrated Image Vegetable gardening is the political thing to do these days, setting an example for the citizenry. Eleanor Roosevelt did it in WWII and Michelle Obama is doing it now. Credit: Home Shopping Spy Wartime tips Beans are Bullets credit: Migrated Image But everything changed when the Americans joined the party, and mobilized their artistic resources as well as their military ones. Cory Bernat curated a great exhibit of posters on view this summer at the National Agricultural Library -- "When Beans Were Bullets: War-Era Food Posters from the Collection of the National Agricultural Library." Many are duplicates of the Hennepin collection but it is a goldmine. Credit: Beans are Bullets Beans are Bullets credit: Migrated Image "There is no royal road to food conservation. It can be accomplished only though sincere and earnest daily cooperation in the 20,000,000 kitchens and at the 20,000,000 dinner tables of the United States..." -- Herbert Hoover, speaking to the press the day Food Control was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, August 10, 1917. Credit: Beans are Bullets Beans are Bullets credit: Migrated Image You actually really didn't have much choice about gardening; food was rationed and there was not a lot of it. Credit: Beans are Bullets Living With Less credit: Migrated Image Rationing was a tough sell, but people were encouraged to make do with less. Credit: Hennepin County Library in Minneapolis. Beans are Bullets credit: Migrated Image And don't forget to join a Sheep Club! Credit: Beans are Bullets Preserving the Harvest credit: Migrated Image Once you planted all of that food, you have to preserve it. Canning was time-consuming, but cheap and effective, and promoted north and south of the border. Credit: Canadian War Poster Collection Preserving the Harvest credit: Migrated Image American WWI posters tended to overdo the lady in the flag, but made the same point. Credit: Beans are Bullets Preserving the Harvest credit: Migrated Image Yes, the American posters from World War I were pretty dour. Credit: Beans are Bullets Preserving The Harvest credit: Migrated Image The delivery got a bit more sophisticated by World War II. Credit: Minneapolis Public Library Preserving the Harvest credit: Migrated Image Credit: Minneapolis Public Library Choosing the Diet credit: Migrated Image There was a big push to eat less meat and more fish, as meat could be easily canned and shipped to feed the soldiers. Needless to say, we have much the same message today for different reasons. Credit: Canadian War Poster Collection "Fish Feed Themselves" credit: Migrated Image Unlike cattle, fish (back then anyways) fended for themselves. Credit: Vintage Posters New York Fighting Food credit: Migrated Image They exhorted the fishermen to bring in more of it. Credit: Beans are Bullets Green is Good credit: Migrated Image The British tried to push the virtues of more vegetables and a vegetarian diet. TreeHugger has been doing much the same, noting that cutting back on red meat is one of the most effective ways of reducing your carbon footprint. TreeHugger founder Graham Hill has been promoting the concept of the Weekday Vegetarian, which lets you cut back without having to completely give up meat. Credit: Weapons on the wall Use local, More Economical Foods credit: Migrated Image Wheat was in short supply; people at home were encouraged to eat what was local and available. Credit: Beans are Bullets Portion Watch credit: Migrated Image Canadians were encouraged to eat smaller portions, leaving more food to be shipped overseas. Portion size is still a big issue, a big contributor to the obesity crisis. Credit: Canadian war Poster Collection Lose the Sugar Fix! credit: Migrated Image Sugary treats may be fun to eat, but the troops need the energy more. Kids were trained to do without. Another issue that has obviously not gone away. In fact, with the introduction of high-fructose corn syrup, our consumption has just gone up. Credit: Beans are Bullets The Greatest Crime In Christendom? credit: Migrated Image Waste was a big deal; it still is. But really, I think they are overstating the case a bit here. But food waste still is a crime. Credit: Beans are Bullets Don't Waste Food! credit: Migrated Image It is extraordinary how big the campaign was about wasting food. Today, over 40 percent of our food is wasted -- and that can feed a lot of people. They promoted cooking with leftovers. And today, so does TreeHugger, for economic and carbon footprint reasons. Credit: Minneapolis Public Library Don't Waste Food! credit: Migrated Image In Britain, the message was much the same. Credit: Weapons on the Wall Don't waste Food! credit: Migrated Image The British at least did it with a bit more humour and style. Credit: Weapons on the Wall Food is a Weapon credit: Migrated Image The message about not wasting food is still important. A third of the world's rice crop is eaten by rats; 40 percent of our food ends up in the garbage or the dumpster. Reducing waste is as important as ever. Credit: Minneapolis Public Library "We Want Your Waste credit: Migrated Image Kitchen waste was useful stuff as animal feed. It makes a lot more sense than sending it to landfill. In many cities today, there is a green box collection that takes kitchen waste and makes useful compost out of it instead of burying it. Credit: Wikimedia commons There is No Such Thing as Waste credit: Migrated Image Even when you get down to the grease, it still has value. Then it was for the glycerin for making explosives; now it is collected and made into biodiesel. The reason has changed, but the methods are the same. If we are going to reduce our carbon footprints and use less oil, we have to do what our grandparents did, using the posters from the past as templates for the future. Credit: Minneapolis Public Library