Bryce Evans is a member of that relatively rare species, the British academic food historian. He has written a number of books, including one on the birth of aviation food, and the latest is an in-depth treatment of a neglected topic, the public feeding of Britons during wartime.

Evans confirms that the food parcels delivered to the doorsteps of vulnerable people during the covid lockdowns were just the latest incarnation of emergency feeding that over more than a century has involved the state, the voluntary sector and retail caterers. In the twentieth century, this had a proud tradition in two world wars, although how successful it was is open to debate. Previous disregard by historians reflected the negative public image of queues and ration books, something to be thrown off as soon as peace broke out. At last, we now have a monograph-length, critical treatment of the various schemes, plugging an important gap in our knowledge of British food history.

There was nothing new about the public provision of food in early twentieth-century Britain. But the legacy of the Victorian and Edwardian philanthropic soup kitchen, sometimes with a religious or political agenda, presented a challenge for politicians seeking to formulate a food policy that balanced the need to keep the population nutritionally healthy against national shortages of foodstuffs in the First World War. An important win for the government was the general public’s acceptance of rationing implemented by the new Ministry of Food. This was supplemented from 1917 to 1919 by the so-called National Kitchens (the name was rebranded from Communal Kitchens because of their notional association with socialism). At first these dispensed take-away food, but this was soon supplemented by dining-in. The popularity of communal food provision in an atmosphere untainted by the idea of charity was not to outlive the war, however. The death of the Minister of Food, Lord Rhondda in 1918 and the spread of Spanish Flu were factors, and the last National Kitchens closed in 1921. They had been less well-liked by politicians than the general public.

After a brief chapter on the interwar period, Evans moves on to the Second World War. The Ministry of Food was born again in 1939 and in 1940 Lord Woolton was appointed minister. He was of working-class origin, a businessman, and not shy of publicity. In his three years in charge, he resurrected the National Kitchens idea, now called British Restaurants, and encouraged its spread nationwide. This meant the availability of plain but substantial meals at a reasonable price to anyone in need. The difference from the First World War was the extensive bombing of cities, causing displacement and widespread demand for emergency feeding. There was resistance in some cities and locally the catering trade and certain councilors dragged their feet to the extent that a patchy geography of provision emerged. Nevertheless, British Restaurants made a contribution to the war effort that no amount of political bickering could obscure.

One fascinating aspect of public feeding in the Second World War was the attention given to the decoration of the British Restaurants. Art from state and royal collections was displayed and war artists were employed to paint murals. This, coupled with the lack of a class-based atmosphere, were radical innovations that dispelled any connection with the Poor Law era. Often entering a British Restaurant was the first experience customers had had of eating out, other than in an industrial canteen, and it provided a preview of the more democratic food system that emerged post-war. Evans deftly unpicks the political implications and relates them to the parallel development of rationing, another policy that levelled opportunities.

The final substantive chapter deals with public feeding in air raid shelters, based on the rather different fare of jam tarts, biscuits, pies, sausage rolls, cake and hot beverages. Although this was planned to be temporary, the amount of bombing meant their extension to 4,000 centers. They were supplemented by Community Kitchens, Community Feeding Centres, Dock Canteens, Cash and Carry Centres, Emergency Food Kitchens, Evacuee Feeding Centres, Emergency Meals Centres and Rest Centres, all under the aegis of the Ministry of Food.

Feeding the People in Wartime Britain is an impressive piece of scholarship and deserves a wide readership among historians of the modern era. It is written in an accessible style that will also appeal to general readers. It is thoroughly indexed, with a full bibliography and 26 pages of end notes. My main quibble is the title. The book is about public feeding in wartime, mainly in National Kitchens and British Restaurants. This it does very well. But it is not about the broader topic of wartime food policy, including food supply, nutrition, and rationing, that made it possible to keep the British people fed. For this wider vision we must turn elsewhere.