Peace History Society

ICREFH has held biennial symposia since 1989 on various topics of European food history, each of which has resulted in the publication of a book of the papers given. To date, nine volumes are in print and a tenth is in preparation. These symposia are notable for the use of pre-circulated papers so that sessions consist of workshop-type discussions. ICREFH’s Eleventh Symposium will be held in Paris early in September 2009.

The aim of the Symposium is to shed some light on the question of how wars and food are related to each other and how they are intertwined. How did the special circumstances of war lead to the development of new eating and drinking customs and patterns? How did it help to promote new foods or to replace others? How did war help new consumption patterns to develop? Did war provoke the development of gendered eating styles, did it stabilize male and female consumption patterns or did it destabilize them? What long-term effects of wartime foods on public health can be observed in Europe? Did governments try to learn from these experiences and did war influence health policy after the end of war(s)? All of these questions make interesting topics for contributions. The Symposium hopes to create a perspective of comparison within Europe.

Further information about the Symposium can be found in the forthcoming ICREFH Newsletter for Spring 2008. To request a copy if you are not normally on the ICREFH mailing list, please email p.j.atkins@durham.ac.uk

Papers may be offered in one of the four following sub-themes. To stimulate discussion at the Symposium, contributors should address one or more of the following research questions in their papers. Papers should not only describe the development of particular topics, but should also assess the short and long term consequences which affect nutritional habits of today.

(1) Food allocation, food shortages and rationing in time of war:

How was food allocated for the civilian population during twentieth-century European wars?

How did government strategies differ in Europe?

Were the armed forces given priorities in food allocation? What food was considered necessary for the fighting man?

What rations were allocated to the armed services and civilians? What role did nutritional sciences play in these decisions?

(2) Alternative strategies for consumers:

Did food control and food shortages alter consumer behaviour during European wars in the twentieth century?

Did governments provide recipes and nutritional information for civilians?

Did the black market have a significant effect on food supply during wartime?

(3) The social and health implications of wartime food consumption:

Did war change patterns of eating and eating behaviour in either the short or long term?

Were governments stimulated to develop food and nutrition policies by war? Did these policies persist in the post war era in the long term?

Were food-related diseases present in wartime Europe?

(4) Innovations in food supply and technology during war time:

Did war accelerate innovations in food processing and preservation?

What “inventions” were made and how and where were they implemented?

Did technological change persist to influence postwar food consumption?

Anyone wishing to propose a paper for ICREFH XI should complete the attached Application Form. It is essential that an abstract of up to 200 words is supplied. Papers will be selected for the Symposium by ICREFH’s Technical Committee and proposers who are successful will be informed by 31 May 2008 and sent further information.

Application Form

ELEVENTH SYMPOSIUM

of the

International Commission for Research into European Food History

(ICREFH)

Food and War in Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

8-11 September 2009

Please e-mail this application form to: adrouard01@noos.fr

or post it as soon as possible to the symposium administration, care of:

M. Alain Drouard, rue parrot 16, Paris 12, France 75012.

Applications must be received at the latest by 31 March 2008.

NAME _________________________________________________________

TITLE _________________________________________________________

INSTITUTION________________________________________________________

ADDRESS _________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

PHONE _________________________________________________________

FAX _________________________________________________________

E-MAIL _________________________________________________________

Provisional title of Paper: _________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

Summary of Topic (100-200 words

Signature_____________________________________________Date____________

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