Children get a taste for First World War food
BLACK Country schoolchildren were given a flavour of life during the First World War when a special Armistice Day menu was served up in schools in Wolverhampton last week.
The menu, featuring bully beef, vegetarian stew, Trench cake and suet pudding, was designed to give children a taste of what life was like in the trenches and on the Home Front 100 years ago.
At the beginning of the war, soldiers received just over 1lb of meat, 1lb of bread and 8oz of vegetables each day. But by the end of the war the official ration for the average British Tommy had been reduced dramatically. Fresh meat was getting harder to come by and they received just 6oz of bully beef – corned beef; soldiers on the actual frontline got even less.
Fortunately, pupils didn’t go hungry when they tucked into the special Armistice Day lunch menu. For mains they were able to choose between bully beef hash and green cabbage served with homemade bread, or vegetarian Maconochie’s stew, made with root vegetables and served with creamed potatoes and homemade bread.
That was followed by Trench Cake – a fruit cake traditionally made by people back home and sent to loved ones on the frontline – or sticky toffee suet pudding with custard.
Councillor Peter Bilson said, “This special menu gave young people a chance to reflect and remember those who fought for our freedom and experience a little of what soldiers in the trenches and those at home had to eat during the First World War.”
Councillor Lynne Moran added, “Schools across Wolverhampton have been holding a wide range of activities to educate pupils about the First World War, and the Armistice Day menu was an inspired way to give them a taste of life 100 years ago.”