The Taste of War: World War II and the Battle for Food [Hardcover]

Lizzie Collingham (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 29, 2012

A New York Times Notable Book of 2012

Food, and in particular the lack of it, was central to the experience of World War II. In this richly detailed and engaging history, Lizzie Collingham establishes how control of food and its production is crucial to total war. How were the imperial ambitions of Germany and Japan - ambitions which sowed the seeds of war - informed by a desire for self-sufficiency in food production? How was the outcome of the war affected by the decisions that the Allies and the Axis took over how to feed their troops? And how did the distinctive ideologies of the different combatant countries determine their attitudes towards those they had to feed?

Tracing the interaction between food and strategy, on both the military and home fronts, this gripping, original account demonstrates how the issue of access to food was a driving force within Nazi policy and contributed to the decision to murder hundreds of thousands of 'useless eaters' in Europe. Focusing on both the winners and losers in the battle for food, The Taste of War brings to light the striking fact that war-related hunger and famine was not only caused by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, but was also the result of Allied mismanagement and neglect, particularly in India, Africa and China.

American dominance both during and after the war was not only a result of the United States' immense industrial production but also of its abundance of food. This book traces the establishment of a global pattern of food production and distribution and shows how the war subsequently promoted the pervasive influence of American food habits and tastes in the post-war world. A work of great scope, The Taste of War connects the broad sweep of history to its intimate impact upon the lives of individuals. 

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Every now and again a book comes along that transforms our understanding of a subject that had previously seemed so well worn and familiar.  That is the measure of Lizzie Collingham's achievement in this outstanding global account of the role played by food (and its absence) during the Second World War.  It will now be impossible to think of the war in the old way.”

(Richard Overy, LITERARY REVIEW (UK) )

“Fascinating…After this book, no historian will be able to write a comprehensive history of the Second World War without putting the multifarious issues of food production and consumption centre stage.”

(Andrew Roberts, FINANCIAL TIMES )

“Lizzie Collingham's book possesses the notable virtue of originality...[She] has gathered many strands to pursue an important theme across a global canvas. She reminds us of the timeless truth that all human and political behaviour is relative.”

(Max Hastings, THE SUNDAY MAIL (UK) )

“Powerful and important”

(Diane Purkiss, THE INDEPENDENT (UK) )

“Ambitious, compelling, fascinating”

(THE GUARDIAN (UK) )

About the Author

Lizzie Collingham is the author of Imperial Bodies: The Physical Experience of the Raj and Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors. Having taught history at Warwick University she became a Research Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge. She is now an independent scholar and writer. She has lived in Australia, France, and Germany and now lives near Cambridge with her husband and small daughter.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 656 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The (March 29, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594203296
• ISBN-13: 978-1594203299
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #94,029 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars COMPELLING AND ORIGINAL ! April 12, 2012

By Paul Gelman

Format:Hardcover

This is an excellent book which examines WW2 through a new and original perspective, namely:the way the various countries have coped with the food crisis which was part of almost everyone of them, with the exception of the US. More than 20 million people died from starvation and malnutrition. The author describes in great detail the Hunger Plan as devised by Herbert Backe in Nazi Germany and whose purpose was to starve the East European countries to death, especially the Ukraine. The ultimate aim of Hitler was to move German families into the Ukraine to farm the land there. Backe had concluded that if the war was to be won, the only way to do it as to feed the entire Nazi army from Russia. This was to be achieved by exterminating "the useless" eaters, among them the Polish Jews. She then describes the impact of food shortages on the populations of Japan and the other Far Eastern countries as well as the British peoples and the way each government managed the crises. More than 60 per cent of the Japanese military deaths were caused by starvation or other diseases linked to malnutrition, while no Allies armies starved to death.The Japanese also exterminated a countless number of Chinese prisoners of war. Churchill said that the only thing he was worried about was the food issue and the U-boat threat which could have endangered the supply of food to Britain.
It is a very well-researched book,supported by new documents, war diaries and war letters. It exhausts this particular angle of this most horrible conflict of the twentieth century or human history. Highly recommended.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars a well written, a researched and a referenced book July 4, 2012

By Alter Wiener

Format:Hardcover

Being a captive for three years in forced labor and concentration camps in Germany, I saw thousand of co- inmates dying of starvation. In camp Blechammer in Germany, at the working place, I came in contact with prisoners of other nationalities. There, I realized that every Jew was a victim but not every victim was a Jew. I saw many Russian POWs, as well as captives from other nations, dying of starvation, which is a slow and excruciating process. I suffered from constant hunger and witnessed starving co-prisoners begging the guards to shoot them. I couldn't understand why valuable workers, within a war economy desperately short of labor, were being starved.

I had no idea how many people had been victims of starvation during wartime and peacetime in so many different countries in the world as narrated in the TASTE OF WAR. Lizzie Collingham, the author makes the reader aware that food is often an all-consuming preoccupation for many people all over the globe. Ambitions to become agrarian empires drove Germany, as well as Italy and Japan, to wage war and to commit atrocities. Lack of food was a major factor in Germany's defeat in 1917. Hungry soldiers' will to fight dissipated while their horses were dying of hunger. In 1942, Hitler justified his decision to start WWII in order to capture living space, agrarian land to grow food and to achieve autarky. By invading Russia in 1941, Hitler's two evil plans, General Plan and Hunger Plan, called for the annihilation of millions upon millions of Russian, Ukrainians, Jews and others in order to secure ample food for a Grater Germany. In other words, to free up more food for Germans more people needed to be annihilated.... And indeed between 1939 and 1945 many European civilians, among them six million Jews, were systematically plundered, murdered and deliberately starved to death. Ironically, many German civilians were starving for the Führer and many Japanese civilians were starving for the Emperor. In The Soviet Union soldiers were fighting on empty stomachs; they didn't fight for Stalin but despite Stalin. Collingham mentions (p 264) about the impact of starvation on the human body as reflected in a study conducted by Jewish physicians in the Warsaw ghetto. Dr Myron Winick, in his excellent book "The Final Stamp" describes in much detail the consequences of starvation to the human suffering and eventual death. Allotted space doesn't permit me to elaborate the effect of famine and hunger in other counries.

TASTE OF WAR is a well written, a researched and a referenced book. It is dense, over 500 pages, but loaded with significant detailed revelations that I, as many readers, have probably not been aware of. It portends a world calamity stemming from a shortage of food for all inhabitants of this planet. The mechanized farms help to increase the growth of produce and commodities but it will not be enough to feed another predicted several more billion people by the year 2050, and perhaps sooner. Read more ›

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book on a neglected topic June 5, 2012

By William Pilon VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

The Taste of War: World War II and the Battle for Food by Lizzie Collingham is an excellent book on how the need for food self-sufficiency (referred to as "autarky" in the book) motivated the various combatants, basically forcing both Germany and Japan into war, and how the constraints in their various food situations drove the strategies of the belligerents. Collingham organizes the book into two broad sections. First she examines the entire war more or less chronologically with emphasis on how the need for or constraints on access to food drove the war's progression and events. The second section provides a detailed examination of each belligerent's food supply and strategies. The book is very well researched and referenced. It is also pretty well written, especially for such an academic and esoteric topic. I recommend it very highly.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening and Engaging July 30, 2012

By Kelly Hock

Format:Hardcover

The Taste of War is one of the most interesting books I've read, about World War II or otherwise. This heartbreaking but important book looks at a very central question to the war, that is often overlooked: What's to eat? In answering this question, The Taste of War explains why battles were fought, why some were lost and some were won, and why the Nazis planned to wipe out millions of people. It taught me that this was not only a war for freedom, it was a war for food.

Well-written and engaging, The Taste of War examines the role of food for each major player in the war, and on both sides. The way that food was handled varied widely, from the well-fed American troops to the hardships of procuring food in the Soviet Union to the starving, self-reliant Japanese troops. I was surprised at just how complex and difficult feeding the troops, and a nation, really is. From farming, which requires not only people to do it, but incentives to give the food to the government rather than to the black market, technology to make it efficient, and a means to transport it, to rationing, to the attitudes of governments towards their own people, the issue of food touched everyone and drove tactical decisions. We get to see, in depth, how Germany, England, China, Japan, the United States, and many other countries felt about food, handled food in their policies and decision-making, procured food, and distributed food. It was a fascinating read from beginning to end....

The book is divided into four main parts: How food played into the decisions and tactics of Germany and Japan; How both sides of the war handled the farming, import, distribution and rationing of food for its people and soldiers; each country's politicial views of food and their attitude toward feeding their troops; and the world of food after the war ended. I wondered how such a dense book that covered a single topic would keep my interest, but I found myself looking forward to reading it, every time I picked it up. Being a foodie, I found the discussion of what the people and troops ate, and the methods of getting food to their people, fascinating. I was moved to read about how a lack of concern and/or a lack of supplies led to the starvation of millions, and how starvation affects a person physically and mentally.

The Taste of War took an extremely complex, broad and emotional subject and made it easy to understand. It is a must-read for anyone learning about World War II, and anyone interested in learning more about food and its role in history. Read more ›