100 years in Spokane: Locals adjusted diets to bolster war effort

Could the Great War be won at the family dining table?

The Spokesman-Review ran an editorial headlined, “One Wheatless Meal Daily Is Vital.”

“If the American people should go on consuming wheat as usual, that would mean we should have almost no wheat at all to send to our allies in Europe,” said the editors. “If we fail them in this vital requirement, it may mean the loss of the war. This is not mere alarmist conjecture. It is the cold, appalling truth, as the official records show.”

The editors said that “in normal times, the American people eat wheat bread three times daily.” If people would cut out bread in just one of those daily meals, it would cut wheat consumption by a third, enough to solve the problem.

Meanwhile, in another section of the paper, local housewives explained some simple ways of cutting back on wheat. The most popular solution was to simply make corn bread more often. They were also cutting out cake and other such desserts.

They were also going meatless more often, and having fish, cheese and eggs instead.

However, some people were not convinced. They believed that going meatless would have alarming consequences.

One local doctor said that he went meatless one day recently, and as a result he “dreamed that night of fire and murder.” His household, for one, was planning to keep eating meat.