Bully Beef & Biscuits: Food in the Great War

by John Hartley

A "well-researched, well-written, humorous and engaging" exploration of soldiers' rations during World War I (Destructive Music).

Napoleon Bonaparte is often credited with saying that "an army marches on its stomach." A hundred years after his time, the soldiers of the Great War would do little marching. Instead, they would fight their battles from cold, muddy trenches, looking out across No Man's Land towards another set of trenches that housed the enemy. It is one of the remarkable successes of the war that they rarely went hungry. During the war, the army grew from its peacetime numbers of 250,000 to well over 3 million. They needed three meals a day and, using the men's own letters and diaries, John Hartley tells the story of the food they ate, how it got to them in those trenches and what they thought of it. It's the story of eating bully beef and army "dog biscuits" under fire and it's the story of the enjoyment of food parcels from home or eating egg and chips in a caf� on a rare off-duty evening. It's also the story of the lives of loved ones at home--how they coped with rationing and how women changed their place in society, taking on jobs previously held by men, many working as farm laborers in the Women's Land Army. This is a book which will appeal to food lovers as well as those with an interest in military and social history.

Genres: History, Food, World War I, Nonfiction

549 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 28, 2015

About the author

John Hartley is Professor of Cultural Science and Director of the Centre for Culture and Technology at Curtin University, Perth, Australia. His books include Creative Industries (2005), Television Truths (2008), Story Circle (2009), and Digital Futures for Cultural and Media Studies (2012).

Reviews

[Ollie Lau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very insightful if somewhat repetitive in places and perhaps lacking a little content. While I did not want for primary source content, I think John could have dropped some of it for a little more analysis.

I did enjoy the recipes and photos, and plan to try some of them though!

[Boyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Insight and Tastefully Written

I enjoyed this work and it filled the gaps into certain aspects of my Great War historiography. How food supplies found their way to the soldiers is an important logistical concept. The book also details the food provided with recipes. A great resource in the study of The Great War.

[Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Napoleon Bonaparte is often credited with saying that 'an army marches on its stomach'. A hundred years after his time; the soldiers of the Great War would do little marching. Instead; they would fight their battles from cold; muddy trenches; looking out across No Man's Land towards another set of trenches that housed the enemy. It is one of the remarkable successes of the war that they rarely went hungry. During the war; the army grew from its peace-time numbers of 250; 000 to well over 3 million. They needed three meals a day and; using the men's own letters and diaries; John Hartley tells the story of the food they ate; how it got to them in those trenches and what they thought of it. It's the story of eating bully beef and army 'dog biscuits' under fire and it's the story of the enjoyment of food parcels from home or eating egg and chips in a cafe on a rare off-duty evening. It's also the story of the lives of loved ones at home - how they coped with rationing and how women changed their place in society; taking on jobs previously held by men; many working as farm labourers in the Women's Land Army. This is a book which will appeal to food lovers as well as those with an interest in military and social history.