Jamie's Ministry of Food | Geelong

GEELONG

Where it all began

The UK's first Ministry of Food was set up by the British Government during the Second World War to establish a national network of food advisors and cooking teachers to educate the public about food and nutrition so they would be able to feed themselves properly with the rations available. It proved to be an example of how a government could quickly and successfully educate people in times of crisis. In Australia, the Commonwealth Rationing Commission was set up after limited rationing was introduced in 1942. Wartime recipes were circulated in magazines, pamphlets and on government-sponsored radio programs, alongside advice on how to make use of available food. Although the Australian government feared that rationing would have an adverse effect on people's health, the opposite proved true. As in the UK, the period saw a drop in the number of people suffering from diet-related problems.

Today's Modern Day Epidemic

These days the food crisis isn't about rationing: it's about people not understanding food at all. Cooking skills used to be passed down through the generations but now that chain has been broken. A rise in busy working families, the popularity of convenience foods and a lack of compulsory food education in schools has resulted in a generation of people who have not been taught the basics of cooking.