Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 14055-h.htm or 14055-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/0/5/14055/14055-h/14055-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/0/5/14055/14055-h.zip) FOOD GUIDE FOR WAR SERVICE AT HOME Prepared under the Direction of the United States Food Administration in Co-Operation with the United States Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Education With a Preface by Herbert Hoover United States Food Administrator 1918 [Illustration: Reproduced by courtesy of National Geographic Society] ANNOUNCEMENT In the spring of 1918 the Collegiate Section of the United States Food Administration was called upon to prepare a simple statement of the food situation as affected by the war, suitable for elementary and high school teachers, high-school pupils, and the general public. The demand arose because of the wide adoption of the three courses on this subject then being sent out weekly to universities, colleges, and normal schools throughout the country. This little volume is the response to that request. It was written by Katharine Blunt, of the University of Chicago, Frances L. Swain, of the Chicago Normal School, and Florence Powdermaker, of the United States Department of Agriculture. The records of the Food Administration have been open to the writers and they have had the advice and criticism of its officials and specialists. No effort has been spared to secure accuracy of statement in the text. OLIN TEMPLIN, Director of the Collegiate Section. July 1, 1918. PREFACE The long war has brought hunger to Europe; some of her peoples stand constantly face to face with starvation. All agriculture has been seriously interfered with. Food production has been lessened to the point of danger. Millions of men who had given all their time and energy to raising food have been killed; more millions are still fighting; other millions have gone from the farms into the great war-factories. Women, too, have been drafted from the fields and home gardens into the factories and to replace the absent men in a host of occupations. Great stretches of once fertile land have been temporarily ruined by the scourge of war; some are still under falling shot and shell. Belgium and France have lost millions of acres of productive land to the enemy. The fertilizers necessary for keeping up the production of the land still available are lacking.