Shelf Life

Life Without Sugar: Americans, Desserts and WWII

After the U.S. entered WWII in December 1941, Japan invaded the Philippines, America’s largest sugar cane supplier. This led to a shortage of granulated sugar in the U.S., and sugar rationing began. Bakers and cooks had to modify their recipes to make foods people loved, without sugar. So, they turned to substitute sweeteners such as honey, molasses, maple syrup and corn syrup. Sweets without Sugar, by Marion White, was published in May of 1942 - just in time for the beginning of sugar rationing in the United States. In this cookbook, Marion White offers the reader a range of desserts. Examples include tea cakes, caramels, pies, ice creams, sauces, fillings, and frostings, all with sugar substitutes. Desserts, without a doubt, played a prominent role in many Americans’ lives, so learning how to make them taste just as good without granulated sugar was a feat. This cookbook reveals the importance of desserts as comfort, and normalcy in times of war and the ways in which sugar substitutes enabled women at the home front to play an important role in the war.

Food Rationing During World War II

Food rationing was a new way of life for civilians living in the United States during the world wars, but especially during World War II. In addition to sugar, coffee, canned goods, meats, butter, cheese and eggs were also rationed. Some of the rationing was due to lack of product, ex: cane sugar from the Philippines, while other food rationing was civilian redirection of food to soldiers. Keeping morale high was difficult, especially when they were being promised abundance but having to ration their food. “With demand exceeding supply, government officials immediately recognized the need for rationing programs and price controls, especially for food, to offset spiraling inflation, undermine black markets, and ameliorate the inequitable distribution of goods” (Bentley 137). Of course, the government was concerned with having enough goods to supply the demand of the American people, but they were more concerned with having enough goods for the soldiers at war. A stamp method was put in place to ration sugar and coffee. Consumers would claim one stamp every few weeks to purchase five pounds of sugar and coffee. This was the simple system that made the distribution fair to the people who could afford it. This was certainly far below pre-war consumption. There were ways around it, which commonly included the use of maple syrup, corn syrup, honey and molasses. Marion White explains to the reader and cook who purchases her book that if she had access to some sugar, to use it in frostings, and use the substitutes in cakes. Some recipes work better than others with the substitutes she recommended.

Sugar Substitutes in the 1940s

By 1942, xylitol, sorbitol, erythritol, and maltitol had been invented, but were certainly not readily accessible to the common housewife. Instead, granulated sugar substitutes commonly used were honey, maple syrup, corn syrup and molasses. These still had calories in them, but, as Marion White points out, far fewer calories per tablespoon compared to granulated sugar. Of course, these substitutes were liquid, so recipes had to be changed and developed to incorporate these substitutes, especially in baking. In the introduction of the cookbook, Sweets without Sugar, White explains “There are other sweetening agents, just as energizing as sugar and richer in their nutritive value - honey, molasses, corn syrup and maple syrup. To substitute these products for the sugar we cannot have is merely a matter of adjusting habits, and revising the old recipes” (9). These words would have been reassuring to the housewife worried about pleasing her family with lack of sugar. It was absolutely crucial that no matter what ingredients the mother had on hand, she prepared a delicious (and nutritious) meal for her family each night as a way to maintain a sense of serenity and comfort. Families wanted the comfort of home cooked meals during the major changes happening mid-war and post-war. This meant women had to learn how to make the foods and desserts her family was accustomed to, without many of the normal ingredients. Cookbooks like Sweets without Sugar, were perfect for the wife and mother trying to make life feel as normal as possible for her family. An example of a comforting recipe from this cookbook would be Marion White’s honey sweetened bread pudding. 

The Role of Desserts in American Lives    

It’s no secret that sugar has, does and will continue to play a prominent role in Americans’ diets. Sugar is added to much of America’s processed foods that people are now addicted to. This was not necessarily the case for Americans living in the 1940s, but they loved sugar just the same. Different cultures have different views on sugar and sweets. For example, in Japan, Japanese people love sugar arguably more than Americans, but the difference is they are taught the self-control that Americans lack. They often make sculptures and very intricate desserts with sugar and do not eat them, just look. When they do eat sugar, it’s often in smaller quantities and with lots of self-control. “Rather, it is the case that contrary to many popular assumptions about sugar, the Japanese demonstrate that it is possible to love sugar without necessarily having to eat it” (Holtzman 44). Different cultures have different beliefs on diet and sugar. How much sugar people eat is learned; everything from commercials on TV, what their parents feed them for dinner, what their friends like and what they have access to. The society a person lives in and the culture they learn about greatly impacts how much sugar they will be eating. Sugar is often a comfort food for people living in the United States. People look to their grandmother’s chocolate chip cookies for comfort in times of need. Sugar plays a much bigger role in some peoples’ diets, like Americans’ than others’ like the Japanese.   

 

For Further Research:

White, Marion. Sweets without Sugar. M.S. Mill Co., 1942.

Bentley, A. “Islands of Serenity: Gender, Race, and Ordered Meals during World War II.” Food and Foodways, vol. 6, no. 2, 1996, pp. 131–56.

Holtzman, Jon. “To Love Sugar One Does Not Have to Eat It.” Gastronomica, vol. 16, no. 3, 2016, pp. 44–55, https://doi.org/10.1525/gfc.2016.16.3.44.

Kimura, Aya H., et al. “Nutrition as a Project.” Gastronomica, vol. 14, no. 3, p. 34.

Kotynski, Anne E., and Heath A. Demaree. “A Study Named Desire: Local Focus Increases Approach Motivation for Desserts.” Motivation and Emotion, vol. 41, no. 4, 2017, pp. 455–64, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-017-9622-x.

Neuhaus, Jessamyn. “The Way to a Man’s Heart: Gender Roles, Domestic Ideology, and Cookbooks in the 1950s.” Journal of Social History, vol. 32, no. 3, 1999, pp. 529–55.

Yang, Mei-ling. “Creating the Kitchen Patriot: Media Promotion of Food Rationing and Nutrition Campaigns on the American Home Front during World War II.” American Journalism, vol. 22, no. 3, 2005, pp. 55–75, https://doi.org/10.1080/08821127.2005.10677658.