A digital series hosted by Museums and Galleries Edinburgh has been exploring wartime Edinburgh through cookery, sampling World War Two recipes and rationing.
As part of the Auld Reekie Retold project, staff have been experiencing food eaten during the war through cooking, filming themselves testing recipes from the time and sharing on YouTube.
Launched during lockdown last year, the Cooking Up the Past initiative delved into the history of the Edinburgh College of Domestic Science. The project team filmed their attempts at baking soda scones from a 1932 college recipe book in their home kitchens and shared the results online.
This year, the team is back in museum stores and on location. Curator Vicky Garrington and Collections Assistant Oliver Taylor from the Auld Reekie Retold team discovered objects in store that link to wartime rationing, from ration books and powdered eggs to booklets on chicken-keeping. They also visited the Pilrig allotment of Collections Engagement Officer Russell Clegg to find out about Edinburgh’s part in the wartime ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign.
Vicky and Oliver used blackberries picked from the allotment to recreate a recipe from a Stork margarine wartime cookery book, producing a fruity custard pie which would have been eaten by hungry wartime families.
Commenting on the newest video, Curator Vicky Garrington said:
It’s great to see one of Edinburgh’s beautiful and productive allotments featured in this film by Museums & Galleries Edinburgh. We know how important spaces for growing and engaging with nature are for Edinburgh’s communities, but many of us aren’t aware of the huge push to ‘Dig for Victory’ that happened in Edinburgh during World War Two.
Oliver Taylor, Collections Assistant, added
It was great to be able to cook together in the same kitchen for this episode of Cooking Up the Past. Our attempts at soda scones from the Edinburgh College of Domestic Science cookery book had mixed results, but we seem to have struck gold with our delicious custardy wartime pie. It was also brilliant to be back in our stores, showcasing objects not currently on display, such as ration books used in Edinburgh grocers and powdered eggs and milk that would have been a godsend for families finding it hard to make their fresh rations stretch.
Rationing was introduced by the British Government in 1939, and finally ended in 1954, nine years after the end of World War Two. It was designed to ensure fair access to the limited supplies of fresh produce available during this difficult period of international conflict. Many people supplemented their rations with food grown in their home gardens or on allotments, with some even keeping chickens or pigs to provide additional eggs and meat. Edinburgh increased its number of allotments during World War Two, and even turned park land over to food production.
Project Manager of Auld Reekie Retold Nico Tyack added:
Cooking up the Past is a fun way to bring our stored collections to life. Historic recipes can give us an insight into the way people lived during different periods in history, and there’s something about tasting a dish your relatives may have eaten in the past that transports you to that time.
Joan Parr, Service Director Culture and Wellbeing for the City of Edinburgh Council, said:
Cooking up the Past has been a fantastic project undertaken by our Auld Reekie Retold team and I hope viewers are encouraged to try the recipes.
The launch of this latest episode comes on International Museums Day and is fitting as it is a great example of how our Museums have adapted over the last two years and maximised the use of digital and virtual ways to engage with our audiences. I’m excited for where we go next.
Auld Reekie Retold is a major three-year project which connects objects, stories and people using Museums & Galleries Edinburgh’s collection of over 200,000 objects. Funded by the City of Edinburgh Council and Museums Galleries Scotland, the project brings together temporary Collections Assistants and permanent staff from across our venues. The Auld Reekie Retold team is recording and researching objects then showcasing their stories through online engagement with the public.
Visit Museums & Galleries Edinburgh on YouTube to see the latest film Auld Reekie Retold film and look out for more Cooking Up the Past films from the team.
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