The First World War and working-class food consumption in Britain

Abstract

We reassess the changes in British working-class diets through the First World War. The 1918 Sumner Committee's work on this was limited by a lack of consistency across household surveys. Our rediscovered 1904 data allow a cleaner comparison. Although calorie intake was maintained, we find a closing of the nutritional gap between skilled and unskilled workers. We also find reductions in intakes of several key vitamins. These were possibly side effects of the food control system. For many unregulated foodstuffs, such as fruit and vegetables, prices rose dramatically as production fell, and this may have been what caused the fall in vitamin C intake among skilled workers.