| Type | Bread |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Britain |
| Main ingredients | Wholemeal flour |
The National Loaf was a fortified wholemeal bread, made from wholemeal flour with added calcium and vitamins, introduced in Britain during the Second World War by the Federation of Bakers (FOB), specifically Dr Roland Gordon Booth. Introduced in 1942, the loaf was made from wholemeal flour, known to be more nutritious, and fortified to prevent nutritional deficiencies like rickets. There was limited shipping space for flour imports (and limited domestic wheat), so more efficient use of limited resources was a major consideration. The loaf was abolished in October 1956.
Working with the government, the FOB published four recipes for wholemeal bread, which became the only recipes that could legally be used to make bread in the U.K. The National Loaf was criticized as grey, mushy and unappetising; only one person in seven preferred it to white bread, which became unavailable. The government insisted on it because it saved space in shipping food to Britain and allowed better utilization of existing stocks of wheat.
Eleanor Roosevelt, the American First Lady, visiting Buckingham Palace in 1942, noted that "We were served on gold and silver plates, but our bread was the same kind of war bread every other family had to eat."
When the National Loaf was abolished in 1956, laws were passed that required fortification of all non-wholemeal breads with calcium, iron, Vitamin B1 (thiamin) and nicotinic acid, aiming to prevent an increase in malnutrition.
See also
- Rationing in the United Kingdom
- Chorleywood process -- used to make bread from low-gluten warm-climate wheat, like that grown in the UK; makes for a mushy loaf compared to traditional strong flour made from hard wheat.
- Woolton pie
References
- "The 1940s House: The Kitchen". Discovery Communications, Inc. 2010. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
- ^ "The 20th Century". Federation of Bakers. 2007. Archived from the original on 11 July 2007. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
- Derek J. Oddy (2003). From plain fare to fusion food: British diet from the 1890s to the 1990s. Boydell Press. p. 171. ISBN 978-0-85115-934-8. Retrieved 15 March 2012. - Richard W. Lacey (1994). Hard to Swallow: A Brief History of Food. Cambridge University Press. pp. 108–9. ISBN 9780521440011.
- Angus Calder, The people's war: Britain 1939-45 (1969) pp 276-77 - "Unconventional Ingredients". The Great British Bake Off. Season 4. Episode 8. 8 October 2013. BBC Two.
- Edna Healey (2012). The Queen's House: A Social History of Buckingham Palace. Pegasus Books. p. 275. ISBN 9781453265277.
Further reading
- Braine, Theresa (12 April 2020). "British bakers have reintroduced World War II bread in fight against coronavirus". New York Daily News. Retrieved 13 April 2020.