Friday 24 July 2015

1940

It is the 1940's week end here in our little town and the shops (and tomorrow the shop assistants) are all dressed accordingly.   Many of the windows are covered with sticky paper in criss-cross patterns, flags hang everywhere and some people have dressed their shop windows with a variety of things 1940-ish.

Tomorrow couples, the men in army, navy and air-force officer's uniforms  and the ladies in 'fashionable' silk dresses and those little fox furs which you draped round your neck so that the teeth clamped on the brush of the fox to hold the thing together (ugh) will stroll round the market square.  Jeeps will run up and down the market square; sometimes there is the odd gun or even a tank and there is a general air of the end of the war.

At coffee this morning we were chatting about the war, which many of us can remember, and how our parents strove to keep the fear and worry at bay.   One of our 'gang' - well into her nineties, talked of working in the Post Office during the war and of having to deliver telegrams, often holding the worst possible news.   Then we began to talk of the food - about food like bananas being missing, about chocolate being rationed (one of our gang is almost a chocoholic), about what we had to eat.

The upshot is that friend E has decided to hold a 1940's lunch in her home on Sunday - even when he heard what we are having, the farmer agreed to come too.   So wartime lunch, courtesy of E, will be held at 1pm on Sunday and the principal food on the menu will be Spam Fritters!

21 comments:

The History Anorak said...

Spam fritters are quite nice - when you have them by choice, rather than necessity.

Mac n' Janet said...

Would love to go to a 40's weekend, even if I had to eat Spam.

Wilma said...

Found your blog via JG's Going Gently and will add you to my blog roll. We just this week added Spam to our emergency hurricane food supply. It's not bad if you can fry or broil it. Cheers from Belize, Wilma

Doc said...

In Hawaii spam is a daily staple and is served in most restaurants even some of the finer ones.

donna baker said...

I did not know they had Spam in Europe. Thought it was an American invention. I had never had it until I met my husband and every once in a while will have a fried Spam sandwich with him, though I still won't eat bologna.

Terry and Linda said...

SPAM! I grew up on Spam and so did my children!

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

1940s weekend good. Spam bad :o)

Joanne Noragon said...

It sounds to be fun. My biggest memories of the war years are my mother losing her rationing book and grandma cutting the yellow coloring into margarine so it would look like butter. And, my uncle coming home and buying me a tricycle. What a thrill to walk up the street and turn the corner into the hardware store, and ride home on a completely unanticipated tricycle.

Rachel Phillips said...

I still like Spam and baked beans and it is stocked in Waitrose so I am not the only person buying it. It is near the Fray Bentos steak and kidney pies. I don't recall it ever being served as Spam fritters, that sounds a bit modern to me.

angryparsnip said...

I make a very good Spaghetti Carbonara with Spam. Some famous California chef was in a contest and used it in place of pancetta.
And like Doc said in Hawaii Spam is king. It is what save them after the war.
Spam sushi is so good. Usually the Japanese markets have it in the pre-made fast foods.
I also grew up eating it. I don't eat it often but it is good.
Have fun!

cheers, parsnip

Heather said...

My youngest daughter and her husband are at War and Peace 2015 in Kent this weekend. It is a re-enactment weekend with personel of many nationalities, weapons, vehicles, etc., from the war years. Herr Flick and Lieutenant Gruber and others from 'Allo 'Allo have been there too. Your weekend sounds great fun with the whole village taking part.

Sheila said...


My parents emigrated from England in 1936 to the US because my father
had received a good job offer. Of course, we didn't have anything like
the food rationing that you did in the UK. But I do remember eating a
lot of canned corned beef hash rather than Spam. I also recall how we saved
all the rendered bacon fat though I've always wondered to what use it was put.


John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

Should be a fun weekend if the weather is kind. If you haven't Googled Spam yet then you really should; there's lots of fascinating stuff on the Wiki site.

Hildred said...

I have a nice little recipe book with Wartime Recipes - and still use the Purity Cook Book my mother used in the Forties - Spam Fritters, eh? Hmmmm....

Midlife Roadtripper said...

Take photos, take photos! And Spam fritters? I'm from the home of Spam. The Hormel company in Austin, Minnesota. The only thing my dad, a WW2 vet, knew how to cook was fried Spam and eggs. I've seen Spam cooked a hundred ways, but never disguised as fritters.

Have a good time.

Cro Magnon said...

I was born in '46, so have no personal memories of wartime itself. In the latter part of the war my father was commissioned into the army as an accountant (looking for fraud). As a result he met all sorts of troops who were in transit camps in the south. The Canadians had huge shipments of frozen beef sent over, and father was given large joints on a regular basis. He used to hand it round to the needy (and keep plenty for themselves).

Dear old Spam Fritters; I seem to remember sprinkling them with vinegar.

Frances said...

I was born in 1945 and I regularly had spam fritters as a child……a bit greasy I seem to remember, but perfectly eatable if that is what you are used to! I expect we had them with baked beans too. I hope the rain doesn't spoil your weekend.

Elizabeth said...

We had spam fritters at school - they really were so horribly greasy they made you feel queasy!
Granny had a splendid fox fur she wore often.
Longing to hear all the details of the 1940's lunch.

Frances said...

My Virginia childhood did include Spam and lots of other thrifty menu items. As an adult, I don't think that I have ever bought or eaten any Spam. I do still see it on grocery shelves over here in NYC, so clearly, someone is still buying it.

Please do take you camera along to the Sunday fritter lunch. I would love to see the table.

Best wishes.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Look to Saturday's post to see how the first day of the 1940'a week end went. Thanks for calling in.

Rachel Phillips said...

Maybe a fritter was just too way out for my mother, we always had it as plain cold spam