In World War One food was scarce, rations were measly and meals repetitive. With energy-sapping battles to be fought and won, what was the staple diet of a trench Tommy? When the war began, soldiers had very little choice in their meals, being allowed 10oz of meat and 8oz of vegetables per day (it is estimated that adults need around 20oz of vegetables and 6.5oz meat per day). Rare extra nourishment would sometimes arrive in the form of parcels from relatives, which included tins of sardines, biscuits and chocolate. By 1916, German submarine blockades meant that the meat ration was reduced to 6oz of ‘bully beef’ (corned beef) a day, with frontline soldiers receiving even less. Beyond 1916, portions of meat were only served every nine days. The staple diet in the trenches consisted of pea and horse meat soup, but where kitchen teams could not source local vegetables this heady conconction will also have included weeds, nettles and leaves. Shared cooking equipment meant that even tea and coffee was pea and horse meat flavoured. A despised mainstay of soldiers’ food intake was ‘Maconchie’s Meat Stew’, a thin wattery broth consisting of fatty meat with sliced turnips and carrots.
Along with the shortage of fresh vegetables, this stew led to cases of diarrhoea and other gut related illnesses. ‘Tommies’ took to, where possible, growing vegetable patches in the trenches and hunting and fishing for their food when not in combat. During the winter of 1916, there was a major shortage of flour, which led to dried, ground turnips being used to produce horrid bread that also caused diarrhoea.
Making Maconochie
Maconochie stew is normally prepared in a dug-out or reserve trench, so whipping it up in a modern day kitchen shouldn’t be too difficult at all. Here’s how:
Ingredients:
340g beef (or one can of corned beef) 140g waxy potatoes 30g onions 30g carrots 30g beans, cooked (white beans such
Eating any food that was warm or fresh on the frontline was almost unheard of. By the time soups and stews reached soldiers in cooking pans, petrol cans and jars, they were cold, with little to go round after spills. Bread and biscuits were also stale, meaning soldiers mixed them with potatoes, sultanas and onions to boil up a grating, sandy soup. As part of mindgames with their German counterparts, the British Army enraged its soldiers when it announced that its soldiers were given two hot meals per day. Designed to make the German army see British soldiers as unbeatable, the tactic worsened morale among many British soldiers, who wrote over 200,000 angry letters demanding that the grim truth be made public.
as navy or great northern) 60ml beef stock or water 15ml flour 15ml fat (lard or rendered beef fat) Salt to taste
Method:
1. If using fresh beef, cut into ½ inch to 1 inch pieces. 2. Thinly slice potatoes, onions, and carrots. 3. Steam or boil the beef, potatoes, carrots, and onions until tender. 4. Heat the fat in a pan. 5. Add cooked potatoes, carrots, onions, beans, and beef over medium heat. 6. Make a batter of the beef stock or water with flour. 7. Add batter to the stew. 8. Cook until thickened. 9. Salt to taste.
German soldiers in a Flanders trench, 1914.
Food was scarce, rations were measly and meals repetitive.